New Civic Commerce Initiatives: Chick-Fil-A & Sainsbury’s Pop-Ups

Published 22 March 2023

Author
Marta Mąkolska
3 min read

Epitomising an approach explored in Civic Commerce: Socialising the Retail Revolution, two major brands – Chick-Fil-A in the US and Sainsbury’s in the UK – have debuted temporary concepts aimed at supporting the daily lives of delivery and shift workers in and around big cities (New York and London).

  • Chick-Fil-A’s Break Room for Delivery Workers: American fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A has unveiled The Brake Room, a temporary concept in New York’s Upper East Side, aimed at under-pressure food delivery workers, who are often unable to take a break between jobs on frenetic shifts.

    Offering free refreshments, including tea and coffee, bathrooms, sofas, wi-fi, phone charging and an indoor bike locking station, the space is open from Monday to Saturday between 11am and 7pm. To enter, users are asked to show a delivery driver profile for a food app such as DoorDash or Uber Eats. The initiative launched on February 16 and runs until April 13.

    The online food delivery market in the US shows no signs of slowing down: revenue is projected to reach $231.3bn by the end of 2023 – and $384.7bn by 2027 – growing at an annual rate of 13.56% (Statista). According to CNN Business, there are more than 65,000 food delivery workers in NYC.

  • Sainsbury’s Overnight Drive-Thru Helps Shift Workers Eat Well: In the UK, supermarket chain Sainsbury’s promoted its healthy Flourish range of food and drink with a temporary overnight drive-thru targeting shift workers. According to the brand’s research, 79% of British shift workers say unhealthy eating patterns are made worse by overnight working.

    Dubbed the Flourish Fuelling Station, the pop-up was open from 5pm to 8am over three nights (January 25-27) at Sainsbury’s petrol station in London Colney, Hertfordshire (north of London).

    See also Trends in Drive-Thru + Fast-Food Hospitality.