SATS central kitchen to be the largest in India

Bengaluru: SATS Ltd. (SATS) announced that work has begun on the construction of its central kitchen in India. The 20,000-sqm kitchen is located at Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/BLR Airport), and will be the largest and first of its kind in India. The kitchen will incorporate automation and smart technology to produce nutritious, tasty, safe food cost-effectively. Examples of advanced technology that will be used include an automated rice line that can produce up to 600 kg of different types of rice within an hour and Internet of Things (IoT) devices for monitoring food temperature.

The building has also been designed with sustainability and safety in mind. It is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified frozen food manufacturing facility in India with an IoT building management system to enable consumption to be proactively tracked and regulated. Taking into consideration enhanced safety measures in response to COVID-19, the building has MERV-13 to 16 air filtration capability and a dedicated fresh air supply receptive zone, Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation (UVGI) technology that uses UV-C rays to disinfect the air, and touchless operations.

Reflecting SATS' unique approach to innovation, the kitchen will also house an innovation centre that will be connected to the SATS Innovation Hub in Singapore. The Innovation Centre in India will allow partners to leverage SATS' product and packaging development strengths to innovate and introduce a variety of cuisines and products to the India market. Partners can also leverage the technical know-how of SATS on shelf-life extension food technology to reduce food wastage.

The ground-breaking of SATS' first central kitchen in India comes shortly after its announcement on 26 July 2021, signalling the rapid speed of SATS' response to local demand. Mr Sagar Dighe, Chief Executive Officer, SATS Food Solutions India Private Limited, said, "We received good response to the news of SATS setting up a technologically innovative kitchen of this scale in India, and have already started collaborating with other reputable industry players to commence piloting new product developments with strategic partners. These pilot projects will allow us to fine-tune our product offering across various customer segments and scaleup production once our kitchen is ready." SATS' first central kitchen in India will cost S$37 million (Rs 210 crores) to build and is expected to be operational in 2023.