A 16 member group from Web Mission 2013 recently visited Akshaya Patra’s kitchen in Bangalore. The group also interacted with the Akshaya Patra representatives. They highly appreciated the entire programme. Here is a brief of the visit from their perspective.

“Want to take your business to the next level?  We suggest you start by learning the tactics used by humble school-lunch kitchen, Akshaya Patra. This social enterprise has scaled from providing lunch for three schools in Bangalore to now serving 1.3 million children every day throughout India.

Akshaya Patra is a foundation that’s become a case study for those studying business at Harvard University. The idea is that if schools provide children with meals, then parents will send their children to school, instead of making them work in the fields, streets or family businesses to earn enough money to pay for their own meal.  Since launching in 2000, Akshaya Patra has helped to increase student enrolment by 28% and give more people the chance to take a whole family out of poverty by using the education to get a job, or even start one for their own business.

Click here watch the video that will provide an insight in how these kitchens are run and what’s allowed them to grow at a super-fast rate.

After spending the morning in one of Akshaya Patra’s Bangalore kitchens, we visited a TechCrunch, India event and met tons of infectiously enthusiastic entrepreneurs bursting with new business ideas.”

Source: http://www.smarta.com/blog/2013/2/web-mission-2013-looking-to-grow-your-business-a-kitchen-in-india-can-show-you-how

Originally from Wyoming, Elizabeth Dobson Jeffords has been residing in India for nearly six years. She decided to contribute to the mid-day meal program being implemented by Akshaya Patra after visiting The Foundation’s kitchen in Vasanthapura, Bangalore. The facility, which is ISO:22000 certified, uses innovative techniques and state of the art technology to serve more than 100,000 children everyday.

“As an architect, I can tell you that the kitchen is impressive,” she said, going on to add that the facility provides food that is far better than most places she has seen. Elizabeth also carefully viewed many other organizations before she came to her decision.

“What I felt here, is that the Foundation’s got a good heart. I’d recommend it to anybody in any school.” she says.

This December, Elizabeth contributed a custom built food transportation vehicle to Akshaya Patra. The vehicle’s inaugural ceremony took place at St. Anne’s Educational Institute in Bangalore. The schools that the Foundation reaches out to are located an average 50km from the centralized kitchens of Vasanthapura and H.K. Hill in Bangalore. Food vans, therefore, are an essential requirement for the kitchen facilities.

When asked about Akshaya Patra’s aims to reach out to millions more, she responded, “You never know what your limits are until you push beyond them.”