An example for centralized kitchen preparing North Indian menu
We have both centralized and decentralized kitchens which serve food according to the local tastes and preferences.
The centralized kitchens of Akshaya Patra are technology-intensive, and can cook about 100,000 meals in less than five hours with least human intervention and sustained quality.
Hubli Kitchen
An example for centralized kitchen preparing South Indian menu
In this model, large quantities of food are cooked in centralized kitchens. The kitchen in Hubli District of Karnataka is presently cooking more than 180,000 meals on a daily basis. This kitchen has a capacity to feed almost 2,00,000 meals. The total quantity of rice cooked everyday in this kitchen is a whopping 15 tons (15000 kgs) everyday and the amount of Sambar (dal) cooked everyday is 26800 litres.
Building a centralized kitchen in the remote villages was not possible and hence the decentralized model came into existence. To start with, it was planned to adopt a decentralized kitchen approach rather than a centralized system like in urban areas. The pilot run was to feed 600 impoverished, tribal children in five villages of Baran district in April 2005. A self-help group of women was formed in each village and these women were given basic training in various aspects of cooking, hygiene, nutrition, etc. Now decentralized kitchens have been set up in many locations all over India.
The cooked food is distributed to schools through heat-insulated, dust-free special purpose vehicles help retain the freshness of the meals. The food is packed in stainless steel containers and loaded into these custom-built vehicles to transport cooked food to the schools.
