Leading QSR chains plan to tap train passengers by opening stores at railway stations
Train passengers will soon be able to order burgers and pizzas of their choice on the Indian Railways website and have them delivered right to their coaches. For last-minute purchases, vendor boys will be waiting on platforms with ready-to-serve burgers, pizzas and Indian thalis.
Leading quick service restaurants (QSR) such as Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, Subway, KFC and Pizza Hut are venturing into new territory by opening stores at railway stations to tap train passengers in the country. The potential is huge: the Indian Railways operates about 12,000 trains carrying 23 million passengers every day. Such outlets are set to come up in food courts planned at stations such as Howrah, Mumbai, Madurai, Agra, Pune and Visakhapatnam. This step is expected to help quick service restaurants push sales and transform the food offered on the country’s rail network. Some restaurants are even tweaking their menus and techniques to cater to train passengers.
“With the rapid growth of passenger traffic and growing disposable in-come, brands cannot choose to ignore this segment for too long,” said Gaurav Dewan, chief operating officer of Travel Food Services, which has bid for setting up food courts in six rail-way stations. “These passengers on an average spend around 2100-125 on a meal. While the passenger spends in a railway station are less than that in an airport, the former will give us al-most double the volume of business than in an airport.”
K Hospitality Corp, the holding company of TFS, has lined up investments of 2oo crore to expand its presence across airports and railway stations over the next two to three years. The food courts will host both international and national brands:Domino’s offering pizzasMM Maroosh offering Lebanese cuisine, Curry Kitchen offering North Indian dishes and others.
The potential for the QSR industry is huge as the The Railways carries 23 million passengers every day
RJ Corp, which holds the franchisee rights for Yum! Brands-owned KFC and Pizza Hut and UK coffee chain Costa Coffee, among others, has also bid to set up food courts at six railway stations. “This is an avenue to provide quality, tasty and, most importantly, hygienic food for passengers,” said Rohit Aggarwal, director of Lite Bite Foods, which will open Burger King and Indian cuisine chain, Naashto, stores in Mumbai.
