Stall is a temporary structure that you set up to sell your products or services. They are usually set up for a short period of time at a particular market or event, before being taken down and removed.
At the railway station, they are generally setup for a period of 5 years and have provision for renewal of the license or agreement, by whatever called.
Setting up a Food Stall at Railway Station
Whether you’re selling cupcakes at your local farmers’ market or beaded necklaces at the weekend craft fair, it’s likely that you’ll need some type of registration, license, permit or insurance to run your stall.
In the same way the person who want open stall at railway station in India required getting certain license or permitting from IRCTC.
The canteen in railway stations is awarded by applying to the DRM/Commercial of the concerned division of the Zonal Railways (IRCTC). The DRM/Commercial is responsible for the provision of efficient conduct of commercial work over his Division/Area. In addition you have to look out for NOTICE INVITING TENDERS (it can be online/ offline) for opening a canteen at railway station & follow the process laid down. Depending on the category of the station, traffic and popularity, stalls of that station are notified in tenders and by calling applications of that station.
Catering stalls are allotted through open tenders. Generally license for running the stalls is given for a period of 5 years. So, whenever you see any notification regarding calling of open tenders for allotment of catering stalls, participate in it. You may be offered if you quote the highest rate
Licenses and permits are important to help protect you and the investments you’ve made in your business.
Selling Product at a Railway Stall
Product safety
If you’re selling products you’re legally required to sell goods that are safe to use and free from defects that may cause injury.
Measuring and Labeling our Products
If you’re selling fruit, vegetables, or other goods by measurement (e.g. weight, length or volume), you need to comply with trade measurement laws. Trade measurement laws cover how you measure and label your goods, and the measurement tools (e.g. scales) that you can use. Your legal requirements may differ depending on the type of product and quantity you sell.
Food Safety
The food you sell must comply with the FSSAI (Food Safety and standards Authority of India).No matter where ever you are selling the food products, whether it is a railway station or other than railway station.
Food safety standards make sure that the food supplied is safe and suitable for people to eat.
These can include meeting requirements on:
- temperature control
- cleanliness
- hand washing
- Labeling.
However, some temporary food businesses may be able to apply for exemptions to some of these standards.
Such as:
- what kind of access you’ll have to water at your stall (for example, food handlers may require warm running water to wash their hands),
- how to dispose of food scraps and food waste.
Tips to be Kept in Mind While Applying for Railway Catering Tenders
1. Supplier databases – if you are not registered here, you might not be able to tender
All IRCTC departments have a supplier database. Decide which sectors are most pertinent to your business and register to do business with that particular department.
During the registration process, you will be required to submit the documents as required by the IRCTC catering tender officials.
2. Make sure you know what’s out there
IRCTC institutions issues a large number of tenders and requests for quotation on a monthly, quarterly or half-yearly as per their requirements. To keep abreast of opportunities in your sector, subscribe to a service that will provide you with regular and up-to-date email notifications for all those tenders in the sector that will be of interest to your business.
3. Note the closing date and time for the tender and respond early
The business of IRCTC tendering is a numbers game. The more times you respond to tenders, the more likely you will obtain a tender.
The first thing to do once you have received a notification that there is a tender in a specific department (relevant to your business and secure in the knowledge you have the capacity to perform) is to confirm when and where you can pick up the tender documents.
Then identify the process of responding. Will it be by hard copy to be delivered at a tender box, or will it be by electronic submission? Most tenders require hard copy to be physically delivered to a tender box before a specified closing date and time.
4.Read the terms and conditions of the tender carefully, and pay attention to what is required for you to tender
The tender notification will indicate if there is a tender briefing and whether it’s compulsory or not.
We suggest attending the tender briefing because you will get better insight into what is expected of the successful bidder and can then make an informed decision on whether to apply for the tender in the first place, and what to highlight in the application to increase your chances of success.
5. Read the document from beginning to end, complete the tender documents, and attach supporting documents as required
IRCTC officials receive a multitude of tenders, so they tend to look for reasons to cut down the numbers of documents they take to the adjudication committee. If the tender documents are not filled in properly, or an accompanying documents, they will immediately disqualify that application.
6. Submit before closing date
Failure to submit a tender on time is grounds for disqualification. IRCTC officials will not even bother to open it, so they will never know all the considered information you included in the tender and all the time you took to collate it.
7. Price competitively and prove you can do it
When evaluating a tender, officials are looking for a tenderer who distinguishes itself from the competition and price. When all is said and done, price is the number one consideration. There are, of course, other factors besides price that need to be focused on to increase your chances of success. These are demonstrating innovativeness, and the capacity to deliver by submitting a picture gallery of your previous work or a testimonial from satisfied customers. Prove your ability to deliver on the work tendered.
8. Confirm that your tender documents have been received
Sadly, there have been numerous instances where tender boxes have been tampered with. Our recommendation is to call and ensure that the person for whom the tender was intended, has received it. Follow this up with an email just to be on the safe side.
9. Keep a copy of your submitted tender document with all its attachments
This is necessary for your own records and knowledge base for future tenders. It is also a vital backup if your documents go missing.