Knowing about Akshaya Patra Kitchens

The Akshaya Patra Foundation provides mid-day meal to millions of children through its kitchens in 24 locations and 10 states in India.  The cooking process is conducted in two kinds of kitchen unit: Centralised kitchen and decentralised kitchen. These Akshaya Patra Kitchens have adopted Six Sigma Methodologies.

The centralised kitchens of Akshaya Patra are large kitchen units that generally have the capacity to cook up to 100,000 meals. These kitchens serve a number of schools located around the unit. To ensure hygiene and safety these kitchen are automated. Akshaya Patra decentralised kitchens are the ideal solution to cook and serve children in locations with difficult geographical terrain and improper road connectivity. The Women Self-Help Groups (SHGs) under the regulation and supervision of The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s kitchen process and operations module run these decentralised kitchens.

All kitchens run by The Akshaya Patra Foundation follow a planned menu. The Akshaya Patra centralised kitchens are equipped with cauldrons, trolleys, rice chutes, dal/sambar tanks, cutting boards, knives and other similar equipment. The menu caters to the specific locale palates of the regions where food is served. The kitchens in North India are equipped with rice cauldrons and dal cauldrons. As roti is an integral part of the North Indian meal, the kitchens are equipped with roti making machines. The kitchens in South India are equipped with rice and sambar cauldrons.

Several measures, rules and regulations and standard procedures are meticulously observed continuously to ensure that children get the best food every day. There are quality assurance procedures during procurement of raw materials, standards in Storage, Handling, Preservation of raw materials, rules and regulations to ensure quality and safety during cooking, standards measures in food packing and transportation, steps in delivery and post-delivery and continual improvement methods.

The objective of The Akshaya Patra Foundation is to provide nutritious mid-day meal to all the beneficiary children every day on time without fail. That is the foremost priority as Akshaya Patra strives towards achieving its mission of feeding 5 million children by 2020.