Delhi-based cloud kitchen Cheferd Foods is providing free meal service to daily wagers and marginalised communities across South Delhi. “It’s been 15 days since we started distributing meal packets, and we have given away over 10,000 meals across AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, and slums around the Okhla, till now.
The food i s distributed during the lunch hours of 2:00pm to 4:00pm every day,” says Sehaj Singh Kukreja, Co-founder, Cheferd Foods that runs brands like POMP, Burger in My Box, and Deli Salad co. The meal box menu is changed every day and offers a variety with items like Rice+Dal/Chana/Rajma and more. “The meals are prepared at our base kitchen in Greater Kailash,” says Co-founder Tushar Anand. “We have a team of 10-12 people who prepare, pack and distribute the meals.
One of our team members stands with a sanitiser compression sprayer, and everyone is asked to sanitise their hands before collecting the food.” At present, the overall distribution is 700 to 800 boxes a day and they hope to soon scale it up to 1,500 to 2,000 boxes. The cloud kitchen aims to continue this service for at least one-and-a-half months. About starting the initiative, Kukreja says, “Society is going through an unprecedented time, but the most affected people are the ones at the bulging bottom of the pyramid.
They are the most vulnerable in this situation. Our food distribution service is to ensure that we do everything in our capacity to help them in this hour of need. We believe that if as many enterprises come out in their support, we will prove to the world what a truly cooperative society means. We sincerely request all business leaders to do anything in their capacity in and around their operational bases.”
Appreciating the local authorities and police officials, Anand says that they have been ext r eme l y supportive. “Initially, a team of police officials present outside AIIMS helped us maintain order while distributing the meals,” he adds. Cheferd Foods is also extending three masks per person to create awareness around the pandemic. “The set of masks is given to whoever asks for it, and the teams will also distribute masks to people found without wearing one , ” conclude s Kukreja.