On 15 February 2020, Shri Banwarilal Purohit, Governor of Tamil Nadu and Shri K. Palaniswami, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu laid the foundation stone for The Akshaya Patra Foundation’s centralised kitchen in Chennai. This kitchen will be established under the ”Kaalai Unavu Thittam” (breakfast scheme), to serve the students of Chennai Corporation schools by the NGO.

The Governor said, “I am delighted to be here today for the Bhoomi Pooja of Centralised kitchen for Kaalai Unavu Thittam for school children. On this day, we celebrate a momentous occasion that will help us, as the state takes a step further in the direction of fulfilling the nutritional requirements of our students.” He further added, “After seeing the operational process of Akshaya Patra Foundation in Guwahati and Nagpur and their track-record for the last 20 years, it was the best way to launch the breakfast programme by them. The success of this programme has convinced me to find and extend this scheme to more than 12,000 Corporation school students.” He also noted that the Foundation has grown from feeding 1,500 children in Bengaluru in 2000 to being the largest NGO implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme providing school meals to 1.8 million children in 12 States and 2 Union Territories of India on a daily basis. The Governor of Tamil Nadu added that the Raj Bhavan will continue its support for education of under-privileged children of Tamil Nadu.

After the success of the breakfast programme, Greater Chennai Corporation permitted Akshaya Patra to set up a centralised kitchen in the city. The project is estimated to cost ₹5 crores. In order to show its support for the NGO, an MoU was signed on 25 January.