American fast food chain Chick-fil-A has announced it will be opening a temporary break room in New York City for food delivery drivers.
The pop-up break room, fittingly called The Break Room, will offer respite for food delivery drivers to warm up, charge their phone, and grab a cup of coffee during the cold months. The free space, which is located in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, will allow workers access to bathrooms, bike storage, outlets for phone chargers, seating, and Wi-Fi.
In a press release on Wednesday, Chick-fil-A said gig workers can enter The Break Room by “showing proof of a delivery within the past week via an eligible third-party food delivery app,” such as DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub, Postmates or Seamless.
“In metro areas like New York City, we see the same food delivery workers come through nearly every day of the week, several times a day, and how taking an extra second to warm-up between deliveries or offering a glass of water helps to fuel them on for their shift,” said Jared Caldwell, a Chick-fil-A restaurant owner in New York City. “The food delivery community helps to power our businesses, and this is just our small way of showing appreciation for all they do.”
The effort comes after data from 2021 showed that food delivery has more than tripled since 2017. New York City has an estimated 65,000 food delivery drivers workers alone, while the fast food chain reported that the highest number of food deliveries across the city took place during the winter months of 2022.
Food delivery drivers in New York City have recently been demanding more rights. A slate of new laws came into effect in January 2022 that guaranteed drivers the right to use bathrooms of restaurants they’re delivering from when picking up an order. That same month, New York City also passed legislation that provided more transparency in tipping.
There has been a huge surge in food delivery services ever since the Covid-19 pandemic forced restaurants to turn to apps like Grubhub and UberEats in order to keep their businesses going. Food delivery services saw 70 per cent growth from 2019 to 2020, while food delivery transactions grew 96 per cent alone from February to December 2020.
The Break Room will be located at 1477 Third Ave between East 83rd Street and East 84th Street, beginning Thursday 16 February through Thursday, 13 April. The pop-op will be open Monday through Saturday from 11am to 7pm.
