Snapshots of Food Industry News
Mother Dairy Doubles Supply of Fruits and Vegetables in Delhi-NCR
Mother Dairy has doubled its supply of fruits and vegetables, through their Safal retail stores, in Delhi-NCR. Before the lockdown it used to supply around 160 to 180 tonnes and is now supplying over 300 tonne per day to meet the rising demand. Mother Dairy has been facing logistical challenges amid the nationwide lockdown, but has still almost doubled its supply so consumers do not face inconvenience. Despite the shortage of labour and transportation issues the company is likely to increase the supply to 400 tonnes in a few days.
Mother Dairy has enough stock of apples which it has stored in a cold chain facility however, it is sourcing other fruits and several vegetables from Delhi and neighbouring states like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. It is procuring onions from Maharashtra and potatoes from Agra in UP. Of course, it is facing problems too as it is unable to procure pineapple and fresh coconut from Kerala, and sweet lime from Andhra Pradesh. The company is also ensuring the enforcement of social distancing at its stores to check the spread of coronavirus. It is also taking other precautionary measures in the entire supply chain.
Swiggy Sets up COVID-19 Relief Fund for Delivery Partners
Food delivery platform Swiggy has now set up a relief fund called ‘Swiggy Hunger Saviour Covid Relief Fund’ The fund will be used for ensuring the safety and welfare of Swiggy delivery partners and their families. The fund will also be used to provide sustenance support through food and grocery care packages to the partners and their families who are facing hardships. Additionally, parents and family members of the Delivery Partner currently not covered by existing medical insurance will also be covered by the fund towards medical or hospitalisation expenses related to COVID-19.
The corpus for the fund has been created by Swiggy with primary contributions from the founders, senior leaders, employees and investors, as well as donations from customers.
Swiggy has set a target of Rs 10 crore for this fund and has already raised over Rs 4 crore through initial contributions. Swiggy CEO Sriharsha Majety has committed 50 per cent of his annual salary towards this fund. Through the fund, Swiggy delivery partners are now covered with ‘Income-Protection Insurance’ where up to 14 days of income is insured if tested positive with COVID-19.
Parle to Donate Three Crore Packs of Parle G Biscuits
Parle Products will donate three crore packs of Parle-G biscuits in the next three weeks, through government agencies. With the country going for a 21-day lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic the biscuits will be contributed to the needy. The company has decided to work with the government and distribute the biscuits through government agencies. They will donate one crore packs of Parle-G biscuits every week for the next three weeks.
The company’s manufacturing units are functioning with 50 percent of workforce keeping in mind government advisories. However, Parle Products is making sure that there is sufficient quantity in the market so that there is no panic as people are going all out to buy everything, especially biscuits as they have a long shelf life. Even though the Centre has exempted biscuit manufacturers from the restrictions of the lockdown, the company is facing issues in some pockets as local authorities have not allowed transport of raw materials and finished products.
Bonn Group Distributes over 32,000 Packets of Breads and Burgers
As the country is going through a 21-day lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bonn Group of Industries has donated 32,000 packets of breads and burgers in Delhi and Ludhiana to the hungry and needy. The company says they are going with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda that ‘no one will go hungry’ in the troubled times of COVID-19 emergency and so have distributed these foods to the needy people, who are residing in Gurudwara or on the streets. They have also provided bread packets for 280 children in an institute that looks after them, because they are suffering from illness and away from home and are being taken care of by the institute.
The Bonn Group of Industries, is known for upholding all safety and hygienic standards even though it is currently functioning with 50 percent of workforce because of government advisories, so as to curb an increase in the coronavirus outbreak. The company says they feel happy that the needy will not go hungry from eating their healthy and nutrient -rich breads and burgers. The company is doing this by extending their CSR initiative.
ZappFresh Resumes Operations in Delhi-NCR
ZappFresh, which sells fresh meat, poultry and seafood through its e-commerce platform, has resumed operations in Delhi-NCR. The operations had been temporarily shut down last week as they were severely hit because of the nationwide lockdown. The company delivers 2,000 orders per day, totalling 3-4 tonne, in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and Jaipur. As of now the company has resumed operations only in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Ghaziabad. It has not begun operations in other cities because they have not been able to find respite from local authorities in these markets.
Dineout Initiates Online Petition to Provide Relief to Restaurants
The food and beverage industry and local restaurant businesses have been severely impacted amidst the nationwide shutdown in the wake of COVID-19. Seeing the crisis, Dineout, India’s largest dining out and restaurant tech platform, has initiated an online petition, Relief for Restaurants to support NRAI (the National Restaurant Association of India) on change.org. The petition requests the finance ministry and the Government of India to help restaurants with employee unemployment pay cover, moratorium on upcoming statutory dues, delay in utility bill payments, holiday/temporary stoppage on EMI payments and interest, freezing rental dues and restoration of input tax credit on GST (Goods and Services Tax) for all restaurants. The Petition has been made because most local restaurants work on wafer-thin margins and these will suffer most during the lockdown.
The petition has been signed by over 17,000 people and endorsed by some of the country’s biggest restaurateurs and food and beverage entrepreneurs like Olive Bar and Kitchen founder A D Singh; Biryani Blues founder Raymond Andrews; Massive Restaurants founder, Zorawar Kalra; Gurupreet Singh Bali, owner, Gillys; Megha Kohli, Times Chef of the Year 2020; Vicky Ratnani, gourmand, connoisseur and celebrity chef; Sleepy Owl Coffee co-founder Arman Sood and FIO Restaurant co-founders Vineet and Vanshika Wadhwa, among others. The Indian food service industry is one of the largest industries in the country, after retail and insurance. It helps feed seven million-plus households and also supports multiple allied industries such as real estate, food processing and consulting.
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