Coca-Cola to train 350k grocery students with emphasis on food safety

The education wing of the multinational’s Indian operation runs skill training programmes for traditional kirana​ retailers. It will use classroom training and a “Coca-Cola University on Wheels” bus to perform the training.

The initiative, which has run a kirana training programme for the last eight years, will add a training module on food quality and safety later this year. 

The module will focus on the owners and employers at dhabas and other small food service outlets and street food vendors, mostly in the unorganised sector. 

According to the National Restaurant Association of India projections, this unorganised segment is expected to be worth US$45bn by 2021, and provide direct employment to half of the 8.7m food service workforce.

CCU’s training and up-skilling programme will function under the government’s Skill India initiative, which aims to provide more skilled job applicants.

“We recognise the government’s vision that if we have to promote the development of our country, then our mission has to be skill development and skilled India​,” said Sameer Wadhawan, vice-president of HR at Coca-Cola India. 

“The Coca-Cola system in India has already taken several steps towards skill enhancement, both in the social as well as sporting arenas. We share India’s urgency on skill training and want to do more than our fair share towards this goal​.”