Since the COVID-19 pandemic, food and beverage delivery services are more popular than ever, and delivery workers have become increasingly busy.
Chick-fil-A, one of the largest fast-food chains in the US, has sought to give their NYC delivery workers a brief reprieve between jobs by building a break room (stylized as “Brake Room) in the Upper East Side.
The “Brake Room”—accessible by any of the 65,000+ delivery workers in New York City—will offer delivery workers coffee or tea and clean restrooms to use between deliveries. The latter is especially important as public bathrooms in NYC are rare and, more often than not, unclean.
Other features of the “Brake Room” are multiple outlets for charging phones, couches and chairs for lounging, and an indoor bike dock. The space will follow Chick-fil-A’s business hours, opening at 11 am and closing at 7 pm from Mondays to Saturdays.
As dining in restaurants became prohibited during the pandemic, food delivery became a lifeline for restaurants to keep afloat. While restaurants are open for dine-in once again, the demand for food delivery has yet to cease.
However, delivery jobs are tough in cities like New York City, where most workers use bikes to do their jobs, leaving them exposed to the elements. The New York City local government has vowed to give delivery workers a respite, but it seems the fast-food giant has beaten them to it.
“The food delivery community is an extension of the same experience Chick-fil-A restaurants provide our guests, and an increasingly significant part of the business,” Joe Saracino, SVP of brand strategy, advertising and media, said in a statement.
