In 2021 TAJ HOTELS/ IHCL chose to create happy experiences for QMIN QSR with HungryWheels Food PODs.

This is how the story began…  We contacted Mr. Jehangir Press from IHCL who was handling QMIN, this was in early 2021 when the world was in chaos.

We love working in extremes and designing for extremes, so it was a real out-of-the-blue idea to speak with the World’s Strongest Hospitality Brand – Taj Hotels to explore if they could be our early backers (first customers).

We were keen to also understand if they too saw Food PODs as a format worthy of their brand and for their growth plans for their QSR – QMIN. QMIN was taking over from TATA Cha and this meant that they already had presence, so convincing would be an uphill task.

We were up for it, it took us approximately a year to convince TAJ and QMIN teams. Not to mention multiple meetings with stakeholders, including our team driving from Bangalore to Bombay to meet with the decisions makers in the middle of Covid. While the world was standing still and coping with chaos, we were busy fighting a battle to prove to the understandably skeptical team at IHCL / QMIN that Hungry Wheels Food PODs are in-fact the ideal customer friendly solution for unlocking the new experience economy and the evolving on-demand behaviour. A behaviour which has been built by the online ordering platforms.

We presented to Qmin why Food PODs are better, safer and brand friendly v/s any truck which is a jugaad, anti customer and unsafe retrofit kitchen in a metal box. 

Trucks are meant for trucking not retail.
Vikram Sood

Hence the output is always jugged, no matter how much lipstick and vinyl we stick to hide or distract from the jugaad. Some negatives of Indian Food Trucks we have observed are below:

1. Customer’s having to climb a four foot ladder to place and pick up orders.
2. The window display being above the customers head and unsafe.
3. No child or elderly friendliness, making them unfit for serious brands like IHCL.
4. Risks of fire and explosion with generators onboard and fuel tanks below.
5. Risk of food falling on customer. Chef are 8 feet in the sky – serving as if with the hand of God.

The QMIN team was presented that the issues were unresolvable due to the inherent challenges of repurposing logistics trucks for customer or retail experiences. But what chance did we stand with TATA Trucks on one side v/s a young start-up trying to not do jugaad and making a global quality mobile real-estate platform? But to our amazement and true to the spirit of TATA, the IHCL team agreed to give us a pilot order. They became our first customer.

We were excited, though that lasted only for a few days. As we learnt that the global Chef, the head of TAJ HOTELS F&B would be leading the project and design. When a young startup meets a veteran who designs every Taj Hotel kitchen in the world, things can go only two ways, sky rocketing or depth plummeting.

Introducing Chef Urban Denk.

What followed was probably one of the best relationships and learning’s we could have asked for India’s 1st Food POD and our Food POD Number 1. Chef was on holiday in Niece (France), so over patchy calls and WhatsApp messages we got the brief. In German style, it came with clear instructions that we were to deliver a turnkey solution. Neither he nor does his team had time to follow up with multiple vendors.

Through the project he generously shared his thought process, how he designs, why he designs, what he considers and what are the standards globally. We got four decades worth of knowledge and wisdom thanks to him, and in the Food POD was passed in 1 inspection with zero reworks.

Country of origin for the equipment fitted in the QMIN Food POD:

1. Germany
2. Japan
3. USA
4. Switzerland
5. India
6. Italy

Chef Urban Denk’s first and only brief for turnkey production:

The team at QMIN was lead by Mr. Jehangir Press, seldom has a Parsi not been sweet, with a disarming smile, sharp eyes and gentle advice we were guided to ensure we deliver a product way beyond our own expectations.

We were able to rise to the occasion due to his hand-holding and Chef Urban Denk’s contribution with his knowledge. Also, we must acknowledge the contribution of Chef Ganesh who was handling operations, and Mr. Hariharan who taught us the value of being right every time with our documentation.

Why Taj Hotels, QMIN chose HungryWheels QSR Food POD for Qmin QSR v/s jugaad food truck?

1. Retro-futuristic design with multiple best in class features
2. Customer friendliness and ergonomic usability design for chefs, children and elderly alike
3. Programme design, development and turnkey project management

The Qmin POD branding: QMIN team sent us images from their design partners, these looked beautiful. You can see below the finally executed design which was done by our branding experts and 3M India.

We always insist and ensure that thoughtful design goes into every decision and into every cubic inch to make Food PODs work hard in every aspect as a mobile hoarding that attracts demand to our customers.

HungryWheels PODS are a 600 square feett free mobile hoarding for your brand.

Why wait? Start by branding your Food POD here: https://hungrywheels.in/brand-your-pod/

1. Notice the purposeful design of the child friendly Food POD.
2. Open design, one of the many multi-purpose features which are a hallmark of Food PODs.
3. The two in one awning and dual service windows of the C1 Food POD are perfect for hotel banqueting teams to fire up the live counters sales.

If you too are looking to take your brand mobile and grow it outside the constraints of classic brick and mortar or mobile app aggregators – let’s talk.

Experience a 360 degree walkthrough of the QMIN Food POD kitchen here.