On the day when you oversleep and hardly have time to brush and bath, breakfast is the farthest thing on your mind. Imagine how it would feel if it is made available on your way to office? Nice and comfy! That is what is felt for a sizeable chunk of commuters using Noida’s Sector 15 Metro station when for a change they did not mind the jostling crowds and hot weather. Why? Because they could avail fresh and piping hot breakfast –– tasty, hygienic and well packaged –– priced between Rs.50 and 70, right at the station. All it required was a phone call. Alas! it lasted for two weeks, the duration of the pilot project run by TravelKhana, a player in food on the move, segment.
Each day a limited option was available allowing people to try poha, upma, idli, vada and cheese and vegetable sandwiches. A combo pack too was offered which included a lassi or lemonade and chips.
Priyanka, a software engineer commuting six days a week from Noida Sector 15 to Rajendra Place by Metro, describes those two weeks as blessed. Her regular morning argument with mother over eating breakfast ceased temporarily. “I just hope they launch it soon so that mama can wave goodbye cheerfully.” For the Mansoor and Heena the couple residing in Dwarka and employed at Noida’s Sector 6 export house the breakfast facility was of great help. “Preparing breakfast and lunch for two in one go, when we need to catch the 8 a.m. train is very tough and taxing. It was heavenly to get food the moment we got off the train,” tells Heena. In fact Mansoor has already called up TravelKhana enquiring as to when this facility will be commenced on a regular basis.
Explaining the test run, soon to be tried in Mumbai’s suburban trains, TravelKhana’s CEO, Pushpinder Singh says it is essentially to gauge people’s reaction and feedback to the concept of availability of food packets for breakfast and dinner at stations. “Being a new concept we want to get feedback. Once we have that we will launch first at Mumbai and then Delhi,” he reveals.
The Delhi pilot has been promising. “Many customers ordered throughout the two weeks while many called up later asking us to continue,” beams Singh. He was happy that people liked the quality of food. “We choose caterers registered under the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Besides the extensive first time audit we conduct regular audits from time to time ensuring quality, hygiene and standardisation,” avers Singh. He emphasises that customers’ complaints are taken seriously with services of many caterers terminated because of unsatisfactory products.
Singh seems assured about the success of his business model which is based on hard facts. He counts the sizeable population of bachelors and young couples among the service class –– who do not cook regularly at home but yearn for quality food at reasonable prices –– as the bedrock of the business. This move on part of TravelKhana is a natural progression for the company delivering food packs to train passengers at the station of their choice.
TravelKhana is expected to start operations with an average of 110 orders next year hoping to grow it by eight times each year. Thus as of now one must wait for good times.
