Gopuff Expands Alcohol Delivery With Liquor Barn Acquisition

Philadelphia-based Gopuff announced the acquisition of Liquor Barn — an independent Kentucky chain selling beer, wine and liquor — from private equity firm Blue Equity in a Monday (June 21) press release, adding the deal “cements its leadership” in terms of convenience and delivery.

The deal will help the delivery company become “more deeply entrenched in the Bluegrass State,” said Gopuff Senior Vice President of Business Daniel Folkman in the release.

“We look forward to working closely with Gopuff as we integrate” the two companies, Jonathan Blue, chairman of Blue Equity and Liquor Barn, which has 23 retail locations in its home state, said in the release.

Gopuff said in the release that its service brings the convenience store to the customer, delivering everyday items at all times of the day and night. It offers such items as baby and pet products, cleaning supplies, over-the-counter medicine, food and alcohol, along with local favorites.

The delivery company doesn’t physically visit convenience stores and bring the offerings to the customer. Instead, it warehouses goods and delivers them on demand to customers’ doors within 30 minutes of an online or mobile app order. Gopuff has more than 275 “micro-fulfillment centers,” the release stated.

Since the end of last year, it has acquired BevMo and Fancy convenience stores. Last week, it entered an agreement to buy San Francisco’s rideOS, which builds technology for routing and dispatch services.

Gopuff raised $1.15 billion in funding in March. At the time, the delivery company said it would use the cash, in part, to expand “across the U.S. and internationally, introducing new product categories, and investing in top-tier talent and new technology.”

The new funding “validates” the success of Gopuff and the progress it has made, said Gopuff Co-Founder and co-CEO Yakir Gola at the time.

Gola and Rafael Ilishayev founded Gopuff in 2013 while both were students at Drexel University.