FreshMenu fined for violating cleanliness norms, one Bengaluru kitchen found unhygienic

Online food delivery platform FreshMenu, known for its focus on serving fresh and nutritious food, is in soup for maintaining an unclean kitchen. The Bengaluru-based startup has been fined Rs 20,500 by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara  Palike (BBMP) after the civic body found that its kitchen in Bellandur had violated cleanliness norms. The BBMP carried out an inspection at the kitchen for several hours on Saturday."The kitchen was unhygienic and we also found that they were not segregating waste," Mahesh Kumar, a food inspector with the BBMP, said. Residents of the area have also alleged that company was dumping waste in a nearby drain. Started in 2014, FreshMenu has 35 cloud kitchens in Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi NCR and plans to expand to 42 kitchens by early 2018. It serves nearly 12,000 orders on a regular day and orders can increase to 14,000 on peak days. In November this year, it was reported that FreshMenu's parent Foodvista India was set to receive investment from media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), which runs The Times of India and Economic Times. In an interview earlier this year, explaining how their backend process works, founder and CEO Rashmi Daga said, "We have kitchens in the neighbourhood where we cook food in real time, package it and deliver it to the consumer. Under the hub and spoke model, there is one kitchen which supports all these kitchens but cooking takes place at kitchens which are nearer the delivery location so the customer gets food that is fresh and not reheated." TNM has reached out to FreshMenu for a statement on the issue, however, the company is yet to respond. This copy will be updated with their statement, as and when FreshMenu reverts to TNM’s query.