1520 Grocery Delivery Closes Its Doors

There are so many benefits to living in a big city like New York City. First, great food is never too far away. There is also no real need to drive with such good public transit.

And now with services like JOKR, Gorillas, and others, you never even have to go to the grocery store.

1520 is one of the many companies that have started delivering groceries to you in 15 minutes or less in New York and other cities.

The difference? They are now closed. What does this mean for the future of fast delivery? We’ll explain below.

Quick Summary:

1520 may have closed its doors but many others are still around
Fast grocery delivery looks like it’s here to stay—at least for a while
Larger cities can expect to see more fast grocery delivery options opening up

Grocery Delivery

This day and age we never need to leave our house to do anything. Many of us work from home, with the help of Amazon we can get things delivered in just a few days (or hours). If we have a need for groceries, we can get them delivered in just a few hours, and if we live in large cities we can get things delivered in less than 20 minutes.

1520 was one of those services that did this.

Many of the companies like Gorillas, JOKR, and others offer delivery of groceries in 15 minutes or less. 1520 offered this service in 15 to 20 minutes— get it?—and had a larger delivery area than most of the other companies, which is how they differentiated themselves.

Personally, living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, I truly wish I had some sort of delivery service that could bring me groceries in 20 minutes or less. We love Instacart, but that usually takes at least an hour, and sometimes I need something right away, and am just feeling too lazy to get out of the house.

Inevitability

Unfortunately as of Friday December 3, 2021, 1520 is no more.

Through a round of funding, 1520 brought in $7.8 million. It sounds like a lot, but when you compare it to companies like JOKR, which has raised $260 million, it just wasn’t enough.

When Uber and Lyft started, they weren’t the only ones—not even the first rideshare company (RIP Sidecar). Grocery delivery done in 15 minutes isn’t new. There will be more companies opening up to fill this niche, and some will become the big players.

Most of the time when a company closes, they are bought by one of the larger companies who are after their customers. Think of a company like Postmates being bought by Uber. Postmates had a ton of customers and a system already in place. When Uber bought them, they got their customers, plus any restaurants that weren’t already working with Uber Eats.

Essentially, a company will buy a smaller company so they can expand faster.

Unfortunately for 1520, as of the writing of this article, no company has bought them. JOKR did consider purchasing it but decided not to move forward with the business deal.

The Future and What It Means For Gig Workers

The vast majority of these ultra-fast grocery delivery companies are not hiring gig workers. Instead they are opting to hire employees for their delivery personnel. That doesn’t mean that you’re out of luck if you’re looking for work.

On the contrary, if you are looking for work, this is a great way to get a “normal” 9-to-5 and make extra with side gigs such as Uber, Instacart, Lyft, or any of the others you can do on your own schedule.

Plus, most of these companies are delivering on bikes, rather than cars, so it would also be a great way to stay in shape.

As time goes on, companies like 1520 will come and go, and they will get into more areas. Places like New York and Chicago seem to be starting places for most of the companies, and as the success continues they will expand to other areas.

I look forward to having a faster grocery delivery service near me, but I fear that’s a long way away for my area. If you live in a large city like Boston, Las Angeles, or Washington, D.C., expect services like this to come and come quickly.

Those of us that live in rural or more spaced out areas, it may not be possible for a service to meet the 15 to 20 minute deadline these types of companies are doing.

Though, 10 years ago I never would have thought I could have McDonalds or my groceries delivered to my house in an hour, and now I’m complaining I can’t get it in 15 minutes.