Now get KFC meals on trains! IRCTC ties up with KFC

Good news for food lovers! Passengers on board can now order their meals from some of the popular fast-food chains in the country. After Domino's, American fast food giant Yum Foods’ chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), has entered into an agreement with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to serve consumers on trains.

Currently, passengers can avail the service on 12 trains passing through New Delhi railway station and will be expanded to Vishakhapatnam, Hyderabad (Kacheguda) and Bangalore (Yeshwantpur) stations over the next 10 days, reported TOI.

The service will initially be limited to trains, which lack pantry cars and subsequently be expanded to trains such as, the Rajdhani and Duronto. Passengers will have to visit the IRCTC website or call a toll free number to place their orders.
"It's still early days and we will take time to scale up," Dhruv Kaul, CMO at KFC India told TOI. "The sheer number of people that travel by train is an interesting proposition for us."

The Indian Railways operates around 12,500 passenger trains every day with nearly 1.3 crore passengers. In contrast, the largest burger chain in the country, McDonald's, serves 32 lakh consumers annually.

Despite the potential, the logistics of train delivery — late trains and crowded platforms — is something that fast-food chains are still working on.

Domino's has started its train deliveries in February. The pizza maker has expanded its service to around 200 trains and has managed to sell only around 350 pizzas. "The operations have to be worked on. But we are used to entering new areas," said Kaul.

It has also been learnt that IRCTC is in talks with other chains such as, Pizza Hut and Subway for similar services.

(Image: Reuters)