Sharebite, the food ordering platform built exclusively for workplaces, has partnered with WeWork, a global leader in flexible space, to support New York City’s restaurants and give back to the community amid the pandemic. Through an employee lunch program, the two companies will help feed hungry children in NYC by donating more than 15,000 meals to nonprofit food rescue organization City Harvest. The employee lunch program revolves around recently launched Sharebite Stations, which offer employees across WeWork’s four headquarter offices in NYC access to safer lunch ordering through contactless delivery. 

“Creating a positive social impact, supporting our local economy, and providing optionality for our employees are three top priorities for WeWork,” says Hamid Hashemi, Chief Product and Experience Officer at WeWork. “We’re proud to work with Sharebite to create a program that accomplishes all three.”

Each Station is powered by Sharebite’s enterprise-ready technology platform, enabling companies to centrally manage employee food ordering and facilitate contactless deliveries at designated drop-off points inside office buildings.

Together, the partnership between WeWork and Sharebite illustrates not only the impact private companies can have on community outreach, but also the impact returning to work can have on local restaurants. COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the hospitality industry; at the start of the pandemic, an estimated $1.9 billion in sales and more than 250,000 jobs were lost as reported by the New York State Comptroller. 

Companies that partner with Sharebite have the opportunity to directly contribute to the recovery of the restaurant industry. Both Naya, a popular Middle Eastern fast-casual chain in NYC, and Fields Good Chicken, a burgeoning fast-casual chicken eatery with five NYC locations, have seen increased business following WeWork and Sharebite’s partnership, largely driven from employees returning to the office ordering through Sharebite. This has allowed Naya and Fields Good Chicken to bring back furloughed employees and return to more normalized staffing levels. 

“When we started reopening our five Fields Good Chicken locations, Sharebite Stations provided us large weekly group orders at a time where walk-in traffic was really slow. They graciously waived all commissions during this period, which greatly helped stabilize our business. We benefited greatly from participating in these group orders, which allowed us to bring more of our team members back to work,”  says Jeremy Tannenbaum, Operations Manager at Fields Good Chicken.

“Our partnership with Sharebite has been a key factor in helping Naya keep our doors open and survive this pandemic. When the COVID lockdown went into place, our walk-in, dine-in and corporate catering revenue disappeared overnight. Sharebite reached out to us on the first day of the lockdown, offering to voluntarily waive commission fees and provide us with relief at a time we needed it the most.” says Hady Kfoury, Founder of Naya. 

WeWork joins the ranks of leading companies that have joined Sharebite to stimulate the recovery of the restaurant industry and give back to the city. These include the majority of the top law firms in New York City, including Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, along with many of the most prestigious investment banks, private equity & hedge funds, tech companies and real estate firms. 

“The partnership between Sharebite and WeWork is a clear example of how the private sector can play a key role in helping New York City and its longstanding small business establishments recover from the damage this pandemic has inflicted,” says Dilip Rao, CEO and Co-founder of Sharebite. “We look forward to helping companies like WeWork safely bring employees back to the office and help alleviate childhood hunger via our partnership with City Harvest.”

It is estimated that 1.2 million New Yorkers face hunger every year, including one in five New York City children. By working with Sharebite, companies have the opportunity to position themselves as better corporate citizens and improve their ESG and corporate social responsibility footprint. Sharebite’s partnership with City Harvest ensures that a portion of proceeds from every order placed through the platform is donated to helping combat childhood hunger. 

“Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, City Harvest has ramped up our operations significantly in order to meet the surging need for emergency food we are seeing across New York City,” says Gabrielle Mizrahi, Senior Manager of Business Partnerships. “We are incredibly thankful for Sharebite’s steadfast support as we work to rescue and deliver 118 million pounds of food for New Yorkers in need this fiscal year—nearly double what we were planning for before the pandemic.”

Sharebite is currently rolling out Sharebite Stations across the U.S.