Hyderabad: Cafeterias go ‘smart’ in MNCs
Hyderabad: Cafeterias and food courts in multinational companies and corporates have changed their shape and form in the last two years, all thanks to the pandemic. These spaces that act as meeting grounds for employees during lunch or break time have now embraced technology to provide a seamless and easy-to-use experience. Before Covid, the cafeterias […]
Hyderabad: Cafeterias and food courts in multinational companies and corporates have changed their shape and form in the last two years, all thanks to the pandemic. These spaces that act as meeting grounds for employees during lunch or break time have now embraced technology to provide a seamless and easy-to-use experience.
Before Covid, the cafeterias and food courts in MNCs and even in smaller companies were manually driven but now it is all about contactless payment and pick-up systems. “Before the Covid pandemic, we used to just go to the cafeteria, choose the food of our choice and pay at the bill counter. It was all done manually. But now, once we rejoined the office we have been given an all-in-one smart card wherein it acts as our access card and also as a card to order food in the cafeteria. At the end of the month, the company is charged based on how much we have ordered,” says Karthik R, IT professional in Hyderabad.
While some companies are preferring smart cards, some are also providing a barcode scanner at the cafeterias which the employees have to scan using the phone and order food accordingly. Many startups are working as third-party integrators and have partnered with quick-service restaurants to provide a variety of food options to their employees.
“These startups in turn charge the company based on the employees’ consumption. These food tech startups provide their smart cafeteria management solutions to malls and tech parks as well and are adept in handling large common cafeterias as well. Some also provide self-order kiosks wherein the employee can make contactless order and then collect their food once it is ready,” says Satyanarayana Mathala, president of Telangana Facilities Management Council (TFMC).
One Hyderabad-based startup — Isthara provides professional and student living options along with providing smart food courts across educational institutions and workplaces. The company has over 50 food courts in Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu and caters to over 1,50,000 people. “The entire food court space has gone through an uplift after Covid. We brought in a technology model wherein an employee or student can order from multiple vendors from a single app. They can search for locations close by and order different items from different restaurants. Contactless billing and regular sanitisation are some of the basic requirements of any corporate. So, many are depending on third-party vendors like us to manage the smart cafeterias in the post-pandemic world,” says Vijay Kumar, co-founder of Isthara.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today on Telegram everyday. Click the link to subscribe.
Click to follow Telangana Today Facebook page and Twitter .
