GoPuff to Ruin College Students With Soylent On Demand

The eyebrow-raising meal replacement is now available by super fast delivery in Philly and 11 other cities.

Every Thursday, get the latest dispatches from Philly’s business and innovation community delivered right to your inbox.

If you’ve been craving Soylent — you know, that beige, gooey substance that can apparently replace any meal — why not get it delivered right to your door in less than 30 minutes?

goPuff is making on-demand delivery of the eyebrow-raising product available beginning Wednesday in Philadelphia and 11 other cities like Boston, Austin and Portland. goPuff will be the only Soylent retailer offering on-demand delivery in almost all of the cities.

To start, customers can get their hands on five Soylent flavors— Original, Cacao, Café Coffiest, Café Chai and Café Vanilla, and the startup will distribute the beverages in single servings and 12-pack cases. Now goPuff shoppers will really have no reason to cook or visit a grocery store ever again.

Over time, consumers have come to either love it or loathe it. When Soylent first exploded on the food, or rather, tech scene in 2014, the startup that concocted it said the product could replace any meal. And despite Soylent’s apparent “Elmer’s glue-like” consistency and “chalkboard-eraser taste,” experts have said the product is healthier than the average North American diet. Some even say its biggest benefit is its potential to eliminate the world’s wasteful and gluttonous ways. And despite the lawsuit that has been lobbed at the company, and the think pieces that have called Soylent a “dangerous cult,” the startup is ready to leverage the goPuff deal to bring its ready-to-drink food to college students too busy to visit the dining hall.

For goPuff, though it already has a wildly expansive inventory — it sells everything from vaporizers and candy to sex toys and school supplies — Soylent just might be a whole new direction. But their missions already match on one level.

“Soylent’s commitment to providing on-the-go options for busy consumers perfectly aligns with our company’s impulse and on-demand promise,” said goPuff’s vice president of business development. We look forward to giving people more of what they want, when they want it, no matter their location.”

Follow @fabiolacineas on Twitter.