Fast food brands such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and KFC have committed to serving meals to medical and frontline staff at government hospitals across cities as part of their COVID-19 relief initiatives in India, the companies said.
Pizza Hut and KFC India have already started distribution in Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad wherein several hundred meals are being provided to the hospital staff daily, said a statement.
“Pizza Hut and KFC India have taken end-to-end responsibility of sourcing raw material, preparing meals and delivering meals directly to the hospitals every day. The brands have also been working in a similar way with on-ground authorities in a few cities to provide fresh and hygienic food to the frontline workers,” said a statement.
QSR brand McDonald’s India and digital payment platform Paytm have also joined hands to distribute food to healthcare workers in Mumbai.
Both have distributed approximately 600 burgers to healthcare workers at Cooper Hospital, Juhu, Mumbai, said a joint statement by McDonald''s and Paytm.
“In the last two weeks, McDonald’s has associated with multiple NGOs and organisations across cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad to reach out to close to 10,000 frontline workers, daily-wage earners and slum dwellers.
"With these ongoing efforts, the brand hopes to serve the nation in small ways by providing safe and hygienic food to those in need,” said McDonald’s (West and South) Director-Marketing and Communications Arvind RP.
McDonald’s restaurants in West and South India are operated by Westlife Development Ltd. (WDL), through its wholly-owned subsidiary Hardcastle Restaurants Pvt Ltd (HRPL).
Pizza Hut and KFC, since the beginning of the pandemic, have added several WHO-recommended safety and hygiene measures to the existing stringent policies that the brands have always maintained, the Yum Brands-owned QSR chains said.
The brands are also following an end-to-end Contactless Delivery process, wherein a pre-paid order can be placed on their app, website or mobile site.
According to the latest report from the Union Health Ministry, the total number of COVID-19 cases has increased to 8,048 and the death toll is now 324.
India is presently going through an unprecedented complete lockdown of three weeks, ending on April 14, to prevent the spread of the virus.