By Sonia Schnee | Posted Thursday, September 29, 2022
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Newark Working Kitchens (NWK) was launched in an effort to keep Newark’s local restaurants open and Brick City residents fed. This initiative was powered by Audible, the major online audiobook and podcast service, which has its headquarters in Newark.
Just last month, Audible launched a new meal delivery service app, called “NWK Delivers (NWKD).” The app was created to continue and expand the work of Newark Working Kitchens.
Aisha Glover, VP of Urban Innovation at Audible, was kind enough to answer some questions about the app and how it’s designed to help restaurants and residents of Newark.
Aisha Glover, VP of Urban Innovation at Audible
What inspired the creation of an app, now? How has the mission evolved?
AISHA GLOVER: As Newark continues to emerge from the pandemic, Audible is focused on creating sustainable, long-term solutions that can serve the city for years to come. We recently introduced NWK Delivers, a meal delivery service that builds upon the incredible impact of Newark Working Kitchens by harnessing the purchasing power of Newark-area employers to continue supporting both local restaurants and residents.
With downtown corporate foot traffic still reduced and a hybrid return to work for most large companies in the city, NWK Delivers reroutes corporate cafeteria spend to participating NWK restaurants. Offering employees an array of food choices from across Newark, the program not only continues to boost the local economy but also maintains a critical meal match component for the city’s most vulnerable residents.
It’s our hope that NWK Delivers can grow to offer a scalable urban-impact model for other corporations and cities seeking to breathe life into their ground-floor retail economy, support long-time neighborhood businesses and provide meals to residents in need.
How does the app work? Who is your target audience?
As offices continue to reopen, NWK Delivers will allow Newark-area corporations and their employees to access and support some of our city’s most cherished restaurants.
Through the contactless and turnkey NWK Delivers app, employees can order lunch every morning from several NWK businesses, which will then be delivered to their offices later that afternoon. In order to encourage engagement, Audible is offering a company-provided stipend for employees ordering through the app.
Why Newark (as opposed to somewhere else)? How were the participating restaurants chosen?
Newark is our home and since moving our headquarters here in 2007, to be part of the renaissance of this great American city, we have instituted a range of distinctive practices and policies to maximize the company’s impact in the local community. To date that has resulted in over $775 million in economic activity.
With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, our commitment to our hometown only deepened. Seeing the inordinate impact urban centers like Newark, small businesses and those in the service economy were facing, we launched Newark Working Kitchens (NWK) in a matter of weeks to support the city’s local restaurants and vulnerable residents at a time of crucial need. Since then, NWK has served over 1.5 million meals to low-income seniors and families and helped over 30 local restaurants stay afloat.
The next stage of this proven impact model, NWK Delivers seeks to provide Newark’s restaurants and residents with reliable and long-term support that can bolster the local economy for years to come.
Tell us about Audible’s 1:1 meal plan.
Through an extensive meal matching plan, NWK Delivers will continue to serve the tens of thousands of residents who have come to rely on Newark Working Kitchens over the past two years. For every meal order placed, Audible will donate an additional nutritious meal to a resident in need via a targeted delivery model in collaboration with community organizations
While helping Newark’s most vulnerable, this 1:1 program will also effectively double the revenue impact for participating restaurants, helping to preserve and create hundreds of jobs for cooks, servers and delivery people.
What’s next on the horizon? Where do you go from here?
In the coming months, we aim to expand NWKD to other Newark-based corporations to increase investment in the city’s restaurant economy and continue to help the most vulnerable in the community.
Finally, where do people go to download the app, and learn more about your Newark Working Kitchens?
Employees of companies participating in NWK Delivers can download the app via their phone’s app store, but anyone can learn more about Newark Working Kitchens at www.newarkworkingkitchens.com and learn more about Audible’s other community work in Newark at www.audible.com/about/impact.
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Newark Working Kitchens is comprised of the following Newark-based restaurants:
9 Thai Cuisine • Andros Restaurant & Diner • Black Swan Espresso • Blueprint Café • Bulgogi Zip • Casa d’Paco • City Rub Smokehouse • Cornbread • Fresh Coast • The Green Chicpea • Harvest Table • Kilkenny Alehouse • King’s #1 Family Restaurant • La Cocina • La Tienda Tapas • Marcus B&P • McGovern’s Tavern • Mercato Tomato Pie + Novelty Burger • O’LaLa Empanadas • Panzz Seafood & Wings • Pita Square • Queen Pizza • Robert’s Pizza • Sigri Indian BBQ • Sihana Café • Uncle Willie’s Wings • Vonda’s Kitchen • The Walla