I’ve always been so confused by the food ordering business for train passengers.
- Why does it even exist?
- Why do people bother downloading an app for this?
- The logistics must be a nightmare
- How long will it last?
I’m going to try answering each of these questions one by one.
Why does it even exist?
Very simply train journeys are long and the food served by the Indian Railways is terrible. It’s out of sheer laziness on the part of the railways that this market even exists. I have aunts who actually pack entire meals if they have to get on a train.
The Indian railways have the distinction of being the largest employers in the world. One wonders what all these employees are doing if they can’t even churn our standardized, hygienic, edible and tasty food?
Why do people bother downloading an app for this?
I mean seriously. How often are you taking a train that you download an app to order food? To some extent, the low reach of these apps reflects this reality. The use case is rare and people tend to churn out of the system quite fast. Once the journey is over, you’d rather use that space for something else.
Even IRCTC’s official food ordering app is struggling. Which begs the question, do the Indian railways know that their food is awful? Isn’t launching their own food ordering app pretty much admitting as much? In a manner of speaking it’s a step in the right direction I suppose.
This review sums it up well.
If Net Promoter Scores are anything to go by (and they are), there’s a lot of work to be done still. Despite the lower Reach, travel khana clearly offers a better user experience.
Which brings me to my next point around logistics — it must be a nightmare.
Imagine the pain of overlaying food delivery with erratic train schedules and chaotic stations. Stuff is bound to break down. Again, the Net Promoter Scores are reflective of this. Read the reviews of any app in this space and you’ll realize that delivery is inconsistent and difficult.
Finally, how long will it last?
If you think the Indian Railways don’t know how much money is in food catering then you’re wrong. Of course, they know. They’re just aren’t bothered to do anything about it. Who wants to do a good job when people have come to accept standardized mediocrity?
But the railways are the life blood of this country and sooner or later — they’ll realize that they can do better. Much better. They will hopefully upgrade not just their infrastructure but their services too.
In the meantime, there’s enough space under the sun for everyone to shine. This is a huge market. Over 23 million people use the railways on any given day.
I’m not sure if an app is the way to solve the problem but there’s room to grow and a market worth ‘catering’ to.
Thanks for your time,
Ashish
- Team KG
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You can reach me on ashish@kalagato.com
