Meals on wheels

Café’s new dial-a-meal service offers piping hot, take-away meals, perfect to take with you on a long journey

You are at Chennai Central, your train is late, you are hungry but you daren’t move away because you’re scared to miss your train. A rickety blue push-cart on the platform offers nothing more than a few mouldy peanuts, packets of cream biscuits, greasy murkku and lukewarm tea. You stare disconsolately at the available offerings, craving for a plate of piping hot idlis bathed in tangy sambar, crunchy vadas and a large cup of strong filter coffee with real milk. Your tummy rumbles, you head hurts and by the time the train comes in, you are cranky and irritable and sick.

Ratna Café’s new Dial a meal service is out to change all that. The 65-year-old restaurant, which started in Triplicane has embraced technology wholeheartedly, allowing their customers to pre-order a delicious meal and grab their food at the station before setting off on a long journey. Food central, started by Ratna café in partnership with other take away stores like Frankies, Ganga sweets, Madras coffee house and Dindigul Thalappakatti biryani, offers dial-a-meal services for people on the move.

"We came up with this service a month ago. None of the other food centres in Central Station offer this. We have done this keeping in mind the panicky travellers who just want to grab their food and rush to their coach," says Lokesh Gupta, owner of Ratna Café, adding that easily portable food like idlis, pongal, vadas and ready to eat rice items like lemon rice or pulav are the most convenient options for passengers and the café prefers to stick to serving these.

“We wouldn’t want to serve passengers with food that could spill easily or not last for a long time. Food like idlis and frankies are easy foods to carry around. The customer must place his order at least half an hour in advance,” he says, adding that the food would be served hot.

Customers who have used the service are delighted. “All I have to do now before I travel is to use the Dial-a-meal service. As it is a chain offering all kinds of food from frankies to pongal, this works very well. For instance, kids prefer frankies to idlis and pongal and you now don’t have to wait for it. There should be more of these take away zones in railway stations," says Shivashankar, a Chennai-based businessman. The service is also planning to open an online portal eventually that will make the ordering simpler.

"An initiative like the Dial-a-Meal service was bound to come up,” says Sruthi Balaji, a student from Chennai, adding that it is the need of the hour. “I’m glad that Ratna Cafe has come up with this service at the right place at the right time.”

You can dial your meal from Ratna Cafe at the Chennai Central by calling 909427777

Source : The Hindu