While India’s F&B industry continues to be gripped by uncertainty, with up to four out of 10 restaurants not expected to survive the COVID-19 pandemic, the MNC fast food segment offers a glimmer of hope.
The lifting of the lockdown in large parts of India a week ago saw a muted response in most restaurant and retail outlets, with global food brands being a notable exception. Since they have the bandwidth and resources to rapidly employ institutional reforms, companies like Pizza Hut, McDonalds, KFC, are seeing a slow, but steady trickle of consumers.
Talking about the contactless dine-in experience introduced by the brand, Neha, Marketing Director, Pizza Hut India, says, initial hesitation in dining out will soon be replaced by cautious visits to malls and restaurants.
“Contactless dine-in will be the centerpiece of tomorrow for casual dining or quick-service chains. Our contactless dine-in estates are safe and enable our valued customers to experience the completely digital process, right from viewing the menu via QR codes placed on the table to making payments.”
To ensure high standards in food preparation and handling, Pizza Hut has upgraded all its existing stringent safety and hygiene processes across India.
The brand has been transparent about how the food is prepared, packed and delivered via its end-to-end contactless process and takeaway, which assures customers that the food they are consuming has not been touched by any other hand. Pizza Hut has also trained their restaurant staff as per upgraded Safety and Hygiene norms using several in-person and digital tools.
Similarly, McDonalds outlets have instituted temperature checks at entrance, staggered entry into the restaurants to ensure minimal crowding, face-shields and gloves for staff, wall-to-wall visors at ordering stations and a slew of other measures; hand sanitisers and disposable everything have become ubiquitous.
Moksh Chopra, Chief Marketing Officer, KFC India, informs, “We have reopened 150 restaurants for dine-in in a responsible manner and in complete compliance with the latest directives of the relevant authorities as well as the SOPs issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.”
Taking pride in following gold standards processes is Burman Hospitality Pvt Ltd (Taco Bell’s Master Franchise Partner in India).
Mandeep Singh Sethi, Vice President – Operations, says, “In the coming weeks, as we re-open our restaurants with additional hygiene and safety measures, our processes would get more stringent. We will eliminate all non-essential human interaction, encouraging consumers to refer to the digital menu boards as well as encouraging cashless payments.”
Offering some relief for restaurants is the news that tech start-up Staqu’s proprietary video analytics platform JARVIS (Joint AI Research for Video Instances and Streams) will be integrated with cameras installed at the partner kitchens of Dineout.
This will help exercise the necessary supervision over the safety regulations undertaken, and ensure that all measures are being implemented by the staff.
A live stream of the kitchen proceedings will also be available to the end customer to assure them of the hygiene compliance. This will help reinforce consumer confidence, thereby increasing footfalls to the restaurants.