Guzzlers out, firms switch to lighter canteen menus
Large operators like Compass Group, Rassense and HungerBox are managing this tension as they serve millions of meals every day across thousands of locations. Smaller, unorganized players are finding it difficult to cope.
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Operators have set up central kitchen “war rooms,” cut back on fuel-intensive offerings like live counters and thalis, and moved to simpler menus featuring steamed and uncooked food. Service hours have been reduced in some locations. Operators are turning to centralized kitchens, half-cooked meats and alternative fuels.
Chris Chidley, managing director of food and facilities management services provider Compass Group India, said despite high input costs, the company continues to serve 1.1 million meals a day across 45 cities.
“We activated a structured response early, such as implementing business continuity menus, establishing a centralized kitchen war room, and leveraging real-time dashboards to monitor and manage operations,” Chidley said.
Compass implemented a hybrid model where core cooking continues on-site and additional volumes are supported by central production units. The number of central kitchens was increased and purchasing teams procured alternative fuels and electrical equipment. Chefs, facilities teams and operations leaders coordinate in real time on recipes, production planning and supply alternatives, and the group has instituted daily leadership reviews to ensure nothing is left out.Also Read: Menus of corporate cafeterias are being renewed in a healthy way
At Rassense, a contract catering company that serves more than 300,000 meals a day and whose clients include Maruti, Tata Motors, L&T and Ashok Leyland, menus have shifted to dishes that do not require deep-frying and consume less gas. Since contracted food service companies operate with annual fixed contracts and cannot claim force majeure, they have not passed on higher costs to customers.
“We have been creative and shuffled resources wherever possible,” said Sanjay Kumar, CEO and MD of Rassense. “We used alternatives like firewood in remote areas; worked with companies on menu engineering; added more half-cooked and steamed items to menus. If there was no other option, we had to bow to market forces and buy at exorbitant prices, but no customer site was disrupted,” Kumar added.
HungerBox, a B2B enterprise food technology company that manages cafeteria operations at more than 1,000 locations in 39 cities, said the impact has been uneven. Serving 650,000 meals a day across the network, high-capacity kitchens in each city provided support to nearby locations that were more severely affected.
“Live cooking, which requires sustained high heat, such as tawa stalls, dosa and paratha stations, were among the first to be scaled back. Thalis were withdrawn at several places as they required simultaneous multi-burner preparation. In contrast, combo meals have emerged as a preferred alternative as they can be prepared using significantly less fuel,” said Uttam Kumar, co-founder of HungerBox.
“We maintain ready-to-eat and flash-frozen inventory as a complementary backup to increase durability,” he added.
home cooking
Employees have encountered menu changes in some places where items like dosas and desserts have disappeared, while others are charging higher prices from outside vendors. In some offices, staff were encouraged to bring food from home.
ET reached out to a group of companies who either refused to comment on the story or said their kitchens were electrified with minimal impact.
“We are continuously pursuing energy efficiency practices across our offices and operations. There is currently no significant impact on our office canteen services and employee catering services continue as usual,” a HUL spokesperson said.
no dessert
However, several employees reported noticeable changes. At a large technology services company, the menu was narrowed to focus more on dishes that do not require LPG, such as salads and grills.
While a Bengaluru-based startup is cutting down on sweets, a Gurugram-based startup is encouraging its employees to bring food from home. Prices of food sold by outside vendors at a real estate firm have increased. Meanwhile, as organizations actively step up investment in alternative cooking infrastructure, there are lessons to be learned, they said.
“What we are seeing is not just a short-term challenge, but a shift that will shape how the industry evolves towards greater flexibility, stronger integrations and more future-ready infrastructure,” Chidley said.
