After Infosys, TCS, Cognizant, Wipro cut canteen menus; ask employees to bring own food

After Infosys, the LPG supply crunch triggered by the ongoing West Asia conflict has begun to hit India’s other IT giants, with some campuses of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) asking employees to bring food from home.

At the same time, Cognizant and Wipro have sharply reduced canteen menus as corporate kitchens across Pune, Bengaluru, and other cities run low on cooking gas.

On Friday,Infosys, through itsPunecanteen committee, advised employees to carry their own tiffins, noting that food court vendors were receiving reduced LPG supplies and were unable to operate at full capacity.

The company also asked employees to avoid planning campus events that required catering.

A similar situation has since caught up with other IT giants.

AtTCS’s Commerce Zone campus in Yerawada, Pune, employees were informed of the situation from Monday, March 9.

“We have been advised to bring our own tiffin as the LPG supply shortage has caused a reduction in the variety of menu options.

Only Dal-Rice was available at the canteen till Friday,” a TCS employee told TheIndian Express.

However, all of the TCS campuses in Pune haven’t been equally affected yet.

At Sahyadri Park in Hinjewadi Phase 3, the TCS’s head operations office in the city, canteen menus and live counters were running as usual till Friday, with no ‘bring your own food’ notice issued.

“If the shortage persists for another week, we may also be asked to bring our own food,” an employee there said.

The situation at TCS’s International Tech Park (ITPL) campus in Whitefield,Bengaluru, however, deteriorated faster.

From Wednesday, March 11, employees there were asked to carry their own food.

“The food options in the canteen have been reduced, and we only had lemon rice and sandwiches as an option,” an employee said.

For those in shared accommodation, the pinch goes beyond the campus.

“For those who are locals, they have options and are somehow able to manage, but things are getting tough for those staying at hostels or PGs – even they have slashed menus to dal-rice or shut altogether,” the Bengaluru-based employee added.

With TCS enforcing a five-day work-from-office policy for many, Bengaluru employees say the combination of food scarcity and mandatory attendance has become difficult to navigate.

“Even when we are struggling to get food, they are asking us to work from the office.

We have asked our managers for a work-from-home or hybrid option, and it will probably be decided by the company’s management in the coming week,” the employee said.

At Cognizant’s Pune campus, live counters serving South Indian dishes, pulao, and pav bhaji, among others, have been shut until further notice.

“Only the rice plate facility is ongoing,” an employee told the Indian Express, adding that if the situation continued for a prolonged period, management may consider work-from-home or hybrid arrangements for non-critical roles.

At Wipro’s Hinjewadi campus in Pune, the live counters offering fast food items, including Chinese dishes, and others, have been stopped.

“Only rice plates are now being served.

And cafeteria vendors are also affected owing to the LPG crunch,” an employee said.

The strain is falling hardest on employees who have no fallback.

Pavanjit Mane, President of the Forum for IT Employees Maharashtra, said, “Anywhere between two and three lakh IT employees working in Pune’s tech corridors hail from different parts of Maharashtra and other states, depending entirely on company canteens or outside eateries.”
He added that, “Several IT giants are now asking employees to work from home, but there are several bachelors who rely on outside food or company canteens and have no other option, as even the domestic LPG supply has been hit.

We urge IT companies to allow a ‘work from hometown’ option for the time being, till LPG gas supply is streamlined and canteens run back to normal.”
Shubham Kurale is a journalist based in Pune and has studied journalism at the Ranade Institute.

He primarily reports on transport and is interested in covering civic issues, sports, gig workers, environmental issues, and queer issues.

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