MAM
KFC introduces contactless takeaways
MUMBAI: KFC India is doubling down on its efforts to keep team members and customers safe by introducing contactless takeaway. This is an ordering experience in which the customer can place a prepaid order on the KFC App, website or mSite, and walk into the restaurant to pick up the order at the pre-decided time. The new service is aimed at providing a completely cashless and contactless experience to consumers.
KFC India CMO Moksh Chopra said, “With contactless takeaway, our aim is to offer safe and easy access to those who are already on the road for essential journeys or on their way home from difficult work shifts. It comes backed with our 4X safety promise – of sanitisation, social distancing, screening (of temperature) and contactless service. Through the use of the KFC app or website and digital payments, this service is easy, quick and completely contactless.”
To avail the service, customers need to place a takeaway order on the KFC App, website or mSite and select a preferred time to pick-up the order. Once at the restaurant, the customer can collect their order swiftly from a dedicated Takeaway counter at the restaurant, with queuing as per social distancing norms. The idea is to make the service experience quick, hassle-free, and completely contactless.
KFC has upped its existing operational protocols with its 4 X Safety promise. Intensified sanitization at the restaurant includes all surface areas including tables, counters, doors and door handles that are sanitized every 30-minutes. The delivery teams wash and sanitize their hands and bags after every order. All team members, including delivery riders, are regularly screened and undergo daily temperature checks, wear masks and gloves. With a limited menu on delivery, we are able to operate with a smaller kitchen team maintaining all norms of social distancing. Moving into a completely contactless delivery & take-away approach means no contact between the delivery executive and the customer, with online payments as a recommended practice. The food packaging is further secured with a tamper-proof seal to ensure that nobody has touched or accessed the food from the time it was packed until delivered. As quality is key at KFC, the food is prepared with utmost care and is it cooked at a high temperature of 170 degrees.
Contactless takeaway will be available across all restaurants in the country. Consumers can order their KFC favourites on online.kfc.co.in or through the KFC app.
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
