As of now, New Yorkers have just about all the fun when it comes to super speedy grocery delivery in the U.S. Companies like Fridge No More, JOKR, Gorillas and, starting next month, Buyk are all building out a network of small, delivery-only grocery stores that promise to deliver your food in as few as ten minutes
But based on its current job listings, Gorillas is prepping to make a move out west. The company is currently hiring the following positions:
- Launcher, San Francisco
- Rider Crew Member, San Francisco
- City Operations Manager, San Francisco
- City Operations Manager, Los Angeles
- Demand Planner, West Coast
- Workforce Management Associate, Chicago
Germany-based Gorillas certainly has the cash to fuel such expansion. The company just raised $290 million in March, and has raised $335 million in total. There also currently isn’t that much competition in terms of speedy delivery grocery services on the West Coast. Food Rocket launched 15-minute grocery delivery in San Francisco at the end of May. Gopuff has a number of locations across California (and Chicago), though its delivery times are a comparatively “sluggish” 30 minutes.
Gorillas, like its rivals, operates dark stores in neighborhoods that have a limited delivery radius of typically one to one and a half miles. The economics of that certainly works in densely packed urban areas like New York, Chicago or even San Francisco, but Los Angeles is sprawling (though it does have a ton of people). I’m curious to see which neighborhoods Gorillas will start with and how it will expand.
As I’ve said before, I believe this new crop of speedy delivery services are not the next Kozmo.com’s. and they have the potential to turn grocery shopping into an on-demand utility. There is power in the idea of ordering a pint of ice cream and having it arrive at your doorstep 10 minutes later, and it could upend traditional notions of going to the grocery store in person (moreso than the pandemic did).
We’ll have to wait and see on that front, but in the meantime, one good thing about the Gorillas job openings is that they are all full-time with benefits, even the delivery driver position.
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