New Website Helps Night Shift Workers Find Food

​Visit almost any city or town and you may find dozens or even hundreds of places to eat. Those who work first or second shift can easily drive down the street and find places nearby to get a quick lunch and be back at work in time to clock back in. If the employer is big enough, they may have an in-house cafeteria with food made fresh for the day.

Those who work the third shift may not have it so easy to find something to eat unless they bring their own lunch to work. Left over cafeteria food that was fresh for the day may be stale by the third shift and the left over pickin's may not even be very appetizing. Most local restaurants have closed before the third shift even clocks in and many of those that are still open may be too far to drive in the allotted time. Finding something fresh or different for lunch is a challenge many third shift workers face on a daily basis. Someone found an excellent solution to this problem:

I was in the process of seeking a night shift job in the accommodation industry. A couple showed up just before midnight after a long journey with car problems and long delays. As they were checking in, they asked where they could get something to eat and the staff training me had no information for them. The day shift concierge services offer a long list of local options, but nearly all listed venues had closed long before that visit. The customer went to bed hungry.

That was what started my search. I thought if I was going to be working the night shift, I should be able to answer such a simple question. Just this has now turned into a full time commitment.

I began researching all local restaurants to find those that were at least open to midnight. I discovered filters and found several 24 hour fast food places and 24 hour grocery stores, but that filter left out those who were open well past the average closing time of most restaurants. You can search for “what is open now”, but nearby results are usually limited while options dozens of miles away make up most of the results. Ask siri and the results often leave out options in nearby zip codes even though they may be within driving range. I ended up researching hundreds of local options to find just those that are open to midnight or later and still close enough to be reasonable. Most people don't have the time to do all that research when they just want to go get something to eat.

As I created my database, it occurred to me that other area accommodations might also be interested in a similar list, so I began researching all local accommodations to create specialized lists sorted by mileage for each location. It was during all this research that a third shift employee of our local hospital suggested their third-shift staff would love such a list where they work. They have a cafeteria, but the food made fresh for each day is pretty lame by the time the third shift checks in.

So, now, I also research local employers with third shift staff. I provide a list of late night food resources sorted by miles from their door in each case up to a 10 mile radius around each location. On average, I find about 30 or more late night food sources within ten miles of each location (ranging from 10 to 65 options); most are places the employees knew nothing about. New options are being added as they open. Everything is sorted by miles. The farther down the list you go, the farther away that option is.

For now, the directories are designed so the employees can find nearby places to check out and this service is only offered in the Asheville NC region. We eventually plan to add late night food delivery services to those places that want that option with long term goals of expanding to other regions.​

​If you work the third shift in Asheville, visit NightClerkFoodService.com to check out your nearby late night lunch options. Your third shift employer not listed yet? Just ask.  http://nightclerkfoodservice.com/third-shift/