INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING & TOURISM CORPORATION LTD Outlines

• Brief on IRCTC
• Challenges faced
• Data Collection
• Diagnostic Approach on Problem Solving

CATERING SERVICES •
•
Identification of Solutions
Implementation of solutions
THROUGH
SUSTAINABLE COST EFFECTIVE APPROACH • Sustainability approach
• Cost benefits
• Way Ahead…
Prem Narayan
Group General Manager (P&Q)

Brief on IRCTC Brief on IRCTC… Mission

• Incorporated on 27th Sept 1999 under the Companies Act 
1956 as a Govt. Company. 
• Obtained the Certificate for commencement of Business on 
2nd December, 1999. 
"Enhance customer services and facilitation in 
• The authorized share capital of the company i Rs. 50 crores 
and paid up share capital is Rs. 20 crores.  railway catering, hospitality, travel and 
• The full‐fledged functioning of the Corporation started on  tourism with best industry practices" 
1st August 2001/
• Functional Board set up, with Managing Director, Director 
(CS), Director (TM) and Director (Finance).
• A Govt. of India enterprise : Category B Mini Ratna company

Brief on IRCTC… Financial Performance Brief on IRCTC… Activities

• The company has been growing at fast pace while doubling  Catering Services
its turnover year after year • At Railway Stations,
• In the trains
• Growth can be seen in terms of Turnover of 127.10 Crores  • Packaged Drinking Water ‐ Rail Neer
in Year 2004‐05 to Rs. 618.77 Crores during Year 2008‐09.  • Outdoor Catering
• Its net profits have increased from 5.21 Crores during Year 
2004‐05 to Rs. 46.50 Crores during 2008‐09.
• Our company has also paid dividend every year since its  Travel and Tourism
inception and Rs. 4.00 Crores have been paid as interim 
•Internet Rail Ticketing
dividend during 2008‐09.
•Tourism Products & Services
• IRCTC has contributed Rs. 71.00 Crores to Indian Railways in  •Budget Hotels
Financial Year 2008‐09. •Hotel Booking/Car Rental etc.
•Call Centre – 139 Rail Sampark

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 Challenges Faced Data Collection
• To provide catering services to more than  • Complaints Registered on Complaint 
one million passengers daily Management System (CMS) for Year 2007‐08 
• Maintaining the uniformity in food quality and 2008‐09.
• Maintenance of pantry car equipments • Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted on 
• Non availability of trained man power in  various trains including Rajdhani/Shatabdi/ 
Food production and Service Mail & Express trains for year 2007‐08 & 
2008‐09.
• Provision of catering services during late 
running of trains

Data Collection…  Complaint Management System Data Collection…  Customer Satisfaction Survey

Nature of Complaints Sources of Complaints

• M/s IMRB International and M/s IMRS Advisory Pvt.
Complaint
Book Ltd. have been engaged.
Food Quality

Toll Free Number

• Self Administered Questionnaire filled up by 200 
Food Quantity passengers of a train.
Bedroll
Complaint
SMS Number
Rail
Passengers
• Different classes are covered to have representative 
Hygiene Management sample of data.
System
Web Portal
Over Charging
• Trains are repeated to see the impact of monitoring 
Poor Services
and follow up on catering services.
Staff Behaviour From Railways

Misc. • More than 500 trains surveyed and analysis 
Telephone conducted.
Direct
CO/ZO/RO

Diagnostic Approach on Problem Solving Diagnostic Approach on Problem Solving…

Pareto Chart for Complaints
• Various tools & techniques adopted to counter the
challenges to bring improvement in the catering
services.
• “Pareto Analysis” applied on complaints
• Complaints data for year 2007‐08 & 2008‐09
analyzed to find out the major problem areas.

Pareto Chart for the Year 2007 ‐ 2009
Based on the analysis it is found out that “Food quality” was the major problem area.

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 Diagnostic Approach on Problem Solving Causal Analysis…
The causes found by applying “Fish‐Bone Diagram”.
Major problem areas identified are: • Kitchen staff was not trained. 
• Food Quality (50.88%) • Attendants were not trained for handling of packaged food.
• Raw material supplied is of inferior quality.
• Bed roll (15.09%) • Material procurement procedure was not established.
• Overcharging (13.73%) • Material inspection team was not trained to inspect the raw 
material
• Trained chef was not available.
• Preservation facilities were not sufficient in kitchen & in pantry 
cars.
• Food preparation techniques were not good to preserve cooked 
food over a longer period.
• Preservation of perishable item was done in ordinary freezers.

Identification of Solutions Planning for Solutions Implementation

• Training of Kitchen staff on hygiene, personal grooming and 
methods of food preparation. S.  Task Planned Start  Planned  Responsibility
No Date End Date
• Replacement of old inefficient staff with new trained staff 
1 Training for kitchen staff  April 2007  On going Mr. Gaurav Goel, AM/BK
from hospitality industry. onwards

• Appointment of industry trained chefs in the Base Kitchens. 2 Procurement of Deep  05‐05‐2007 05‐09‐2007 Mr. Biju Lakshman, AM/BK

freezers
• Standardization of Recipes.
3 Procurement of Walk – In  02‐06‐2009 02‐10‐2009 Mr. Gaurav Goel, AM/BK
• Infrastructure development of Base Kitchens. Cooler
• Mechanization of cleaning system.
4 Implementation of ISO  2007 2008 Mr. Ajay Sharma, DGM/Q
• Re‐defining of procurement procedure (BPR)  22000:2005

• Registration of Retail Chain Suppliers 5 Hiring of trained kitchen staff  2007 2008 H R Department

& Chef
• Implementation of Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) 
6 Customer Satisfaction Survey 2007 On going Mr. Ajay Sharma, DGM/Q
(Hamper System)
7 Food Safety & Hygiene Audit 2007 On going Mr. Ajay Sharma, DGM/Q

Implementation of Solutions Implementation of Solutions…

Hamper System Food Safety & Hygiene Audit
• Hamper is a basket containing various M/s TUV SUD South Asia, empanelled to conduct the food audits.
branded grocery items in the required
quantities enough for food productions Food Premises Audited for Performance of Concerned Facility
of no. of portions for a particular menu Provider i.e.
A, B & C for a day. Audit Scope (IRCTC related aspects)
• Food production is in the slabs named 1. Personal Hygiene
as A1500, B 3500, C 2000 etc. 2. Cleaning and Sanitation
• ‘A’ stands for Menu A & 1500 stands for 3. Storage
no. of portions. 4. Food Safety
• Hamper is delivered by Retail Chain 5. Regulatory, Statutory and Safety Regulations
Supplier a day in advance of food 6. Presentation
production in base kitchen. 7. Personnel/ Practices
Audit Scope (Railways related aspects)
1. Pest Control
2. Infrastructure Facility

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 Implementation of Solutions…
Improvement noticed in Trains
Implementation of Solutions…
Quality Control Professionals
• Deployment of Quality Control Professionals for monitoring
quality of catering services.
• Inspections in trains, base kitchens & food plazas.
• Provide training to Pantry Car Staff on cooking and service.
• To report shortcomings to the Zonal/Central Control.
• Interact with the licensee in case of repeated deficiency in
catering services.
• Interact with passengers, specially complainants.
• To project a positive image of IRCTC.
Implementation of Solutions…
Centralized Rate Contract
• Availability of reputed branded products. Rate
Contracts have been awarded to the short listed
National players various segments.
• This is to aim at making reputed/branded quality
products available to the passengers.
• Finalized based by following procedure on competitive
bidding among short listed firms based on discount on
MRP.
• Cost Saving: Annual procurement during 2008-09 :
Rs. 36.85 Crores & Net Saving : Rs. 8.38 Crores
Implementation of Solutions…
Improvement noticed in Base Kitchens
Quality Control Professionals
Implementation of Solutions…
MOA with HPCL for supply of LPG
• MOU signed between IRCTC and HPCL for supply of
19 KG LPG commercial gas cylinders.
• Competitive bidding process among PSU oil
companies.
• Smooth supply system along with better after sale
service relation by the firm.
• HPCL has offered 12% discount of retail selling price
of each cylinders across the Country.
• Cost Saving: This has lead to a saving of Rs. 36.5 Lac
annually for IRCTC.
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 Implementation of Solutions… Implementation of Solutions…

Fuel Efficiency
Monitoring Mechanism
• Various economic as well as safe measures
implemented by training the cooking staff. • Inspection of Base Kitchens
• By introduction of stainless steel utensils in the • Inspection of Pantry Car Equipments
Base Kitchens. • Comprehensive Condition Survey of
• By introduction of induction heating in the base Pantry Cars
kitchens. • Punitive Action against Service Providers
• Cost Saving: By Adopting these measures
total cost of Rs. 1.85 lacs was saved on
consumption of fuel over previous year.

Cost Benefits Sustainability of Approach/Result

• Centralized rate contract  • Improvement in food quality is measured using
• Introduction of Hamper System Customer Satisfaction Survey.
• An exhaustive survey conducted through M/S IMRB
• Trained resources & inventory automation  International.
• Fuel efficiency • Five rounds of survey conducted during the year 2007
till March 2009 and 402 trains covered.
• Memorandum of Agreement with M/s HPCL • The feedback received shows changing customer
• Standardization of recipes preferences for Food & Refreshment related aspects.
• Comparison of results of customer satisfaction survey
Overall Cost Savings   – Rs. 8.91 Crores
of various rounds analyzed.

Sustainability of Approach/Result… Way Ahead…

• Coordination with Railways for improvement in Pantry Car Equipments
• Spreading awareness among passengers to curb overcharging
• Improvement in cleanliness of compartments as well as pantry cars in
co-ordination with Railway Authorities.
• Implementation of ISO 22000:2005 across all Base Kitchens food plaza
and mobile catering units
• Training of Licensee as well as IRCTC staff on ISO 22000:2005.
• Lead Auditor Course training of IRCTC officials
• Introduction of induction heating cooking in departmental Base Kitchens
• To Continue Food Safety & Hygiene Audits
• To Continue Customer Satisfaction Surveys

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Thank You