NRAI, with a vast infrastructure of available kitchens and restaurants of its partners across the country, has therefore initiated and put into motion an idea to produce and distribute about 10 million meals in coordination with various authorities and NGOs during the period of this lockdown.

WHILE NRAI continues with its advocacy efforts with the Government and other partners such as landlords to save the food industry and millions of its workers from the existential crisis created due to outbreak and spread of COVID-19, it is also totally mindful of the meal crisis being faced by the poor, marginal workers, daily wage earners and migrants across the nation due to the lockdown. NRAI, with a vast infrastructure of available kitchens and restaurants of its partners across the country, has therefore initiated and put into motion an idea to produce and distribute about 10 million meals in coordination with various authorities and NGOs during the period of this lockdown. These meals cost anywhere between Rs 20 to Rs 25 per head and the financial resources for this initiative will be partially crowd-funded. NRAI appeals to everyone to generously contribute towards this cause. 

Anurag Katriar, President of NRAI; CEO & Executive Director of deGustibus Hospitality Pvt. Ltd said “As a responsible and large industry body, we realise that our available infrastructure of kitchens, employees and storage facilities can easily be leveraged to address one of the key current concerns in India – how to feed the underprivileged? With our ready infrastructure and minimal people deployment, we can easily cater to the needs of thousands of needy people. We only need blessings and support of various State authorities; we will run the complete infrastructure of production to supply. We intend to serve up to ten million meals during the course of this lockdown; of course, we will need generous contributions from people to cover the costs. This is definitely possible."

"The idea was originally mooted by our Delhi Chapter Head, Mr Amit Arora and he has been actively and ably leading this initiative in Delhi-NCR along with few other Delhi-based members of the Managing Committee of NRAI. The idea has already been replicated in other places like Kolkata, Mumbai & Bengaluru and we are looking to commence this in a few other locations soon”, he added. 

Amit Arora, Delhi Chapter Head of NRAI said, “In times of such unprecedented crisis, we had to step in to help. Every big city has migrant and daily wagers in large numbers, who need food. NRAI has the capacity to produce food for them. In conjunction with DDMA and the Chief Minister office in Haryana, we have also been able to resolve and streamline the distribution side completely. We have also been blessed by some big-hearted donors and I think Delhi-NCR alone can serve four to five million meals in one month”.