Chai Point is gearing up to open its stores as lockdown 4.0 is nearing its end and government is giving permission to open limited stores. It is currently running 50 stores out of its 175 stores across 13 cities.
The move follows after the country’s largest organised chai retailer conducted an informal study with its customers to ascertain its response in visiting the outlets. The customers indicated their reluctance to pay for home delivery but needed complete details of how the food was being prepared and packed.
The company will be expanding its fleet for making its own delivery within 1 km radius of its stores. The current delivery fleet is 65 and is expected to grow as more orders come in from the customers to deliver at home.
It has also tied up with Dunzo and Shadowfax for delivering chai and its range of food which will be prepared with utmost caution so that there is no direct contact of hands while preparing the order. Packaging would be tamper-proof. The packaging material would also be sterilised before the food is packed in it.
At the store level, there will be sanitisers installed; temperature screening of both staff and customers. Bills for customers would be digital to avoid any contact and a plexi glass would be installed at the order counter.
The company’s corporate arm: boxC will also see new guidelines for remote management. The fully automated android machine is monitored through a command centre remotely. It has added a UPI payment option in boxC in addition to Paytm. From safety point of view, if a boxC machine is non-operational and needs an engineer to visit, the personnel will be sent by a private transport adhering to the government protocols of social distancing and donning gloves and masks. Since boxC is accessed by many people for getting their choice of beverage, an hourly sanitisation of the machine has been recommended by Chai Point to its customers. The sanitisation should be done using Acton multi-cleaner, wiping areas’ machine surface, glass panel, cup holder, drip tray, external milk chamber.
The company is rolling out these initiatives from next week across its stores. It will not be charging any delivery fee for orders delivered by its own fleet.
The company has launched a wide range of food products also. These include veg and non-veg biryani, semiya upma, millets pongal, bissi bhele bhath, pav bhaji, pav and bread omelette.