As Customers Go Vocal For Local, Indian Brands Step Up Safety Initiatives At Store And Delivery Touch Points

As F&B brands prepare to open stores, customers want to order from the brand they trust. Chai Point conducted an informal study with its customers and has the following observations:

•   Customers prefer not to pay for delivery 

•   Customers want to order from brands, which own the complete value chain from the kitchen to their table - they seek end-to-end safety assurance. 

•   They want to know details of how their food is being prepared and packed 

•   They want to know safety and hygiene changes at store level that brands will make once they open the cafes and restaurants.  

Taking a cue from this feedback, Chai Point is gearing up to open its stores as lockdown 4.0 is nearing its end and govt gives permission to open limited stores. Chai Point is currently running 50 stores out of its 170 stores across 13 cities.  

Chai retailer will be expanding its fleet for making its own delivery within 1 km radius of their stores. The current delivery fleet is expected to grow by 300 per cent as more orders come from the customers to deliver at home.  

The firm has also tied up with Dunzo and ShadowFax for delivering Chai and their range of food, which will be prepared with utmost caution so that there is no direct contact of hands while preparing the order. Packaging would be tamper-proof. The packaging material would also be sterilized before the food is packed in it.  

Amuleek Singh Bijral, Co-founder CEO, says, “As social distancing and less F2F interactions become a norm, our customers are also placing their faith in us to deliver food in a safe and contactless way. With this mandate, we went back to the drawing board and have now integrated new safety measures for both store and delivery. For us, the safety of our staff and customers is non-negotiable.” 

At the store level, there will be contactless sanitizers installed; temp screening of both staff and customers would be a regular feature from now on. BIlls for customers would be digital to avoid any contact and plexiglass would be installed at the order counter.  

Chai Point’s corporate avatar, boxC, will also see new guidelines for managing boxC experience remotely. The fully automated android machine is monitored through a command centre remotely. The Company has added a UPI payment option in boxC in addition to Paytm. From safety POV, if a boxC machine is down and needs an engineer visit, the personnel will be sent by private transport with gloves and mask to be worn throughout. Since boxC is accessed by many people for getting their choice of beverage, an hourly sanitisation of the machine has been recommended by Chai Point to its customers. The sanitisation should be done using Acton multi-cleaner, wiping areas machine surface, glass panel, cup holder and drip tray, external milk chamber.  

Chai Point is rolling out these initiatives from next week across its stores. The company won’t be charging any delivery fee for orders delivered by its own fleet.   

The firm has launched a wide range of food products also. These include Veg and non-veg Biryani, Semiya Upma, Millets Pongal, Bissi Bhele Bhath, Pav Bhaji, Pav and bread Omelette.  

As businesses resume operations over the next 3 months, F&B brands like Chai Point are making sure that they provide a safe environment to their customers so that they feel confident to return to the stores.