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Premium trains run by the Indian Railways may soon start serving pre-cooked meals from companies such as ITC and MTR.
The Railways, which serves cooked food such as dal , chapatti and rice, prepared by caterers, have already received positive feedback on pre-cooked food.
Premium trains are run on high-demand routes and have dynamic fares, 2-3 times higher than the Rajadhani. Tickets for such trains can only be booked online and the rates are inclusive of food.
The Railways now wants to serve better food on these trains, and brand them as a special category, Devi Prasad Pande, Member-Traffic, Railway Board, told Business Line .
As a test case, the Railways served food provided by caterers as well as pre-cooked meals on select premium trains, including those on the Secunderabad-Delhi, Chennai-Delhi, and Bangalore-Delhi routes.
Positive feedback “We took feedback from over 4,500 passengers, and about 80 per cent said they preferred pre-cooked meals,” said Pande. He said the Railways would try to add regional cuisine, such as upma , idli , sambhar in trains from the South, and dal and shahi paneer in those from the North.
The Railways said it would fix the rates for the pre-cooked food, but early indications are that these will not be different from what caterers charge. For non-vegetarian packs, however, the rates could be higher. But given the high volumes and branding opportunity, the rates may come down, Pande said.
Firms in the pre-cooked food market include ITC, MTR, Godrej Tyson Foods, McCain, Kohinoor, Ushodaya Enterprises, Vadilal, Haldirams and Venky’s.
The Railways want the brand and contact details of the company to be displayed on the packs so as to allow passengers the option of registering complaints if any.
On an average, premium trains provide the Railways 21 per cent more income, and see 80 per cent occupancy levels in return trips.
Reetesh Shukla, Associate Vice-President, Food Services and Agriculture at Technopak Advisors, said ready-to-eat operators are expanding their portfolio keeping in mind regional tastes, time shortage and convenience.
Technopak pegs the ready-to-eat food segment at about ₹2,000 crore and expects the market to grow at a compounded growth rate of 25 per cent over the next three years.
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