TIRUMALA: Driven by an overarching mission to ensure that no visiting pilgrim goes hungry in the sacred hill town, the Sri Venkateswara Annaprasadam wing of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) served over 9 crore (90 million) free meals between January and September 2026.
What began as a modest scheme on April 6, 1985, under the then Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, catering to 2,000 pilgrims daily, has scaled into one of the world’s largest religious continuous food distribution networks.
Now, the operation averages nearly 1.8 lakh daily meals, frequently exceeding 3 lakh servings during peak festival rush.
Sustained entirely by interest accrued from a `2,900 crore fixed deposit trust corpus built through pilgrim donations, the round-the-clock culinary operation relies on more than 1,000 workforce and Srivari Seva volunteers working in synchronised shifts across three specialised mega kitchens.
New automated kitchen capable of preparing 2 lakh meals a day on anvil
The culinary operation relies on a tri-tier kitchen model to ensure uninterrupted food delivery across dining halls, accommodation complexes, and waiting compartments.
The Matrusri Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Centre (MTVAC) serves over 80,000 pilgrims daily with structured menus spanning breakfast (upma, pongal, chutney, sambar) to full lunch and dinner courses.
Meanwhile, the Sri Akshaya Kitchen focuses on quick-turnaround items, including wheat/suji rava upma, pongal, curd rice, tomato rice, milk, tea, coffee, and packaged beverages for large crowds. Additionally, the Vakulamatha Centralised Kitchen, established in 2024, handles bulk catering, and transports food across 28 satellite locations, including accommodation complexes, the Central Reception Office (CRO), and pilgrim sheds.
To sustain this daily output, the TTD consumes massive quantities of food materials every 24 hours, including 15.8 tonnes (15,788 kg) of rice, 3.1 tonnes of sunflower oil, 2.86 tonnes of toor dal, 5.65 tonnes of wheat and others.
To ensure waiting pilgrims do not go hungry during long wait times, mobile distribution units continuously supply food, tea, milk, and buttermilk directly inside the Vaikuntam Queue Complexes, Narayanagiri sheds, and outdoor queue lines.
Looking forward, the TTD is modernising its food delivery infrastructure by constructing a new automated satellite kitchen capable of preparing 2 lakh meals per day. Additionally, new dining halls at PAC-5 (Venkadri Nilayam) offering simultaneous seating for 1,500 devotees have been commissioned, alongside QR-code donation kiosks at MTVAC to enable seamless digital contributions.