The Kudumbashree Mission will be expanding its Pink Cafe brand to all districts by March.

Pink cafes are currently operational in five districts: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Idukki and Kozhikode.

The cafes are run by the Kudumbashree catering groups. The crisis catering groups found themselves in following the COVID-19 pandemic led to the establishment of the first Pink Café in Thiruvananthapuram last year.

The Kudumbashree food festivals which were the main source of income for catering groups could not take place in the wake of the pandemic.

In order to provide the women of the catering group with a source of income, the mission had the idea of ​​launching the Pink Cafés. Each of the cafes is entrusted to a catering group. Catering units are also trained before launching cafes.

The first Pink Cafe, which focused on steamed food, arrived in East Fort here on a doomed Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) bus that has been refurbished. Another arrived at Thampanoor bus station. The buses were adapted to cafes by the KSRTC and then renovated by the catering unit. In addition to a refundable deposit of 1 lakh for each bus, a monthly rent of 20,000 is paid to the KSRTC.

In Kottayam, the Pink Cafe is not a bus, but rather a kiosk inside the Kottayam Medical School campus. In Idukki, instead of a real bus, the Pallivasal kiosk looks like a bus. Another cafe, on a KSRTC bus, arrives in Munnar.

Kozhikode Cafe, another kiosk, is located in Kayanna’s panchayat. The last cafe started operating in Kollam on a KSRTC bus attached to the garage of the city bus depot.

As the cafes have good sales, the mission intends to open at least one in each neighborhood. A proposal to open more cafes in neighborhoods where there is a demand for them and available space was also raised.