Having taken over the civil station canteen, the district Kudumbashree is planning to develop a larger clientele and tap other revenue sources by developing it into a catering unit while using the canteen space for promoting its various schemes.
Kudumbashree officially took over the canteen on Wednesday and has deployed a 17-member team to run it. The team was recruited under Kudumbashree's subsidiary unit Keralasree. The canteen, which was in a dilapidated state, has also been given a facelift. So far, Kudumbashree has invested ₹5.50 lakh while the plan is to peg the total investment around ₹7 lakh.
“We have painted the building and drawn and written on the walls information on various Kudumbashree schemes to create awareness about them among our customers. We will also set up a kiosk for Kudumbashree products in the canteen in due course. The district administration has been very supportive of our endeavours,” said Rajeena T.M, assistant district mission coordinator.
Kudumbashree plans to run an on-the-job training for its team using its skill development experts at the canteen with aim of ensuring professional quality in operating the services. The idea is to find out the best candidates among the team to be assigned cooking, serving, and parcel delivery at offices. “We plan to develop it into a catering unit accepting party orders from offices and outside,” Ms. Rajeena said. In view of the prevailing restrictions on account of COVID-19, only the team assigned will be allowed to run the canteen and training will also be restricted to them.
The canteen will offer breakfast, lunch, and evening snacks, mostly steamed healthy snacks. It is now being operated from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., which will be further extended when the customer flow so warrants. Kudumbashree remains confident of serving around 250 customers a day. The civil station staff will be served at a subsidised rate.
