Circle of Care

Supporting Restaurant Delivery Worker Relationships Through Care-Centered Tools

Youer Zhao

How can we support the food delivery system in ways that make the people behind it feel seen, respected, and valued? Designer Youer Zhao saw a need to humanize platform-based employment, creating tools that help small and medium-sized restaurants in New York City actively recognize and collaborate with food delivery workers—turning everyday logistics into opportunities for care and connection.

Food delivery workers interact with tools in a co-design session to understand their daily routines and uncover key insights from their experiences.

Over 60,000 food delivery workers complete more than 400,000 deliveries every day in New York City. These workers are essential to how the city eats—yet are often treated as invisible when picking up orders. Restaurants prioritize customers but overlook the value of their relationships with food delivery workers. Many restauranteurs lack the tools, knowledge, or empathy to support food delivery workers as an integral part of their service experience.

Circle of Care is a service platform designed by Zhao to help small and medium-sized restaurants build more thoughtful and collaborative delivery workflows. The project supports restaurants in shifting from passive logistics to active recognition—through spatial design, communication tools, and public visibility.

The system includes:

A dine-in customer taps the NFC-enabled pickup sign to view restaurant policies and participate in the feedback system.

  • NFC-enabled touchpoints that let food delivery workers and dine-in customers view restaurant policies, leave feedback, and feel acknowledged. 

  • In-store care toolkits—encouragement boards, structured pickup signage, and low-cost order management hangers—help restaurant staff improve daily operations and foster respect.

A food delivery worker writes a message on the encouragement board to express appreciation and engage with the restaurant.

  • Insight portal, used via a tablet allows restaurants to track dual feedback, manage content, and track satisfaction data. 

  • The Circle Recognition Program then highlights participating restaurants across platforms, reinforcing positive behavior and boosting visibility.

Pilots in NYC showed tangible benefits: food delivery workers felt more respected, owners gained clearer pickup workflows, and dine-in customers left messages of support. As one food delivery worker shared: "Reading the policies made me realize they're not as cold as I thought."

With Circle of Care, Zhao shows that scalable, human-centered interventions can bring care into everyday service moments—and make the invisible visible.

Youer Zhao

Youer Zhao is a systems-focused and impact-driven researcher and strategist based in New York. She specializes in uncovering the root causes of complex challenges and developing innovative, sustainable solutions through systems thinking and research-driven design.