On-board dining, a new order

Forget the drab food menu on Indian trains, on-board dining is all set for a revamp.

Not only will passengers be served pre-cooked meals or ready-to-eat meals from reputed brands, they will also get an option to order regional cuisine from food courts set up by the Railways through emails and SMS.

The Railway Minister on Tuesday said that a pilot food court project will start shortly between New Delhi-Amritsar and New Delhi-Jammu Tawi sections.

In addition, passengers will get an opportunity to give their feedback on the quality of food served on-board through an IVRS mechanism. The Railways will also seek third party audits of its catering services by certified agencies.

Ready-to-eat brands welcomed the move and said this will give a huge opportunity for a segment that is still nascent in the country.

Chitranjan Dar, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Foods Division, which has the Kitchens of India and Aashirvaad ready to eat meals, said, “Ready-to-Eat packaged food is a hygienic, preservative-free meal option. Given that such packaged food can counter balance the seasonal availability of vegetables and provide year-round meals, it will benefit both consumers as well as agriculture.”

He added that passengers can be offered a wider variety of hygienic and safe products encompassing both the premium and popular segment.

Sanjay Sharma, CEO of MTR Foods, said, “We look at it as the first step of Ready-to-Eat being recognised as a safe, hygienically prepared and tasty food option for rail commuters.” He said ready-to-eat meals are already being served on flights.

Analysts believe that although the segment is small, it is growing at a fast rate year-on-year.

Sahil Gilani, Director-Marketing and Sales, Gits Foods Products, said that this will increase the awareness and acceptability of ready-to-eat meals and hoped that the Railways would seek reputed vendors through a clean supply chain and transparent mechanism.

Our Mumbai Bureau adds: The key beneficiaries would be ITC, Nestle with its cuppa noodles, Hindustan Unilever with its Knorr soup packs, and Marico with its masala oats.

Abneesh Roy, Associate Director, at Edelweiss Securities said that apart from pushing their existing ranges these companies would also innovate to tap this opportunity.

“Marketing efforts and the willingness to offer customised RTE packs has extended the reach of convenience foods,” said Reetesh Shukla, Associate Director, at Technopak.

COMMENT NOW