Mumbai Dabbawalas: Super Heroes of the city

Mumbai is known as the city of dreams and as a city that never sleeps. So a city that never sleeps how can that city be hungry. To save the day and feed the hungry mouths, the city has its own heroes called the Dabbawalas.

I once got the opportunity to attend an event based on food/tiffin services in Mumbai. My first impression was "What am I doing here hearing presentations on tiffin services in Mumbai, catering in Mumbai, etc." My friend was about to get my piece of mind for making me attend the event on a weekend, but the best part of the event was saved for the last.

It was a talk to be given by the city's Dabbawalas and Dabba service providers. It was one great talk that gave me better insights of management. The presentation given by the Dabbawalas were as good as any other management forum.

The presenter in the beginning gave a small introduction about who they are and what they do. The Mumbai Dabbawalas are a unit of 5000 self employed people who deliver tiffin services/ Lunch boxes delivery across the length mid breadth of the city. Seems like an easy job but it takes immense management skills, reliability and accuracy.

I was surprised it know that the city's Dabbawalas have acquired an ISO certification and also a six sigma certification. 'These certifications are one of the most coveted ones which otganisations strive hard to acquire. Out of the 5000 Dabbawalas, approximately 85% are illiterate and the remaining were not even able to complete college.

I was astonish to know while the presentation was on that these Dabbawalas on a daily basis do 2 lac lunch box deliveries across the city. They also have an accuracy rate of 99.99%. In other words, I out of a million tiffin services has a possibility of getting wrongly delivered.

The presentation by the Dabbawalas team taught me a very important lesson of management. Keep your business simple, appoint people with dedication towards work, make the business people centric and not process centric and finally have the willingness to learn more through your work.

An Idea can change your life....

I strongly believe that a good idea if ideated perfectly can change a person's life. Although I am a PR Professional but my visit to Chadaro's Kitchen plant have instilled a sense of curiosity towards this sector of tiffin service or Dabba service.

I was just wondering that how this business which was initially started by housewives has become a big competitive market with players like Yummy Tiffins, Magic-o-Meal, Soul Care, Spice Box etc.

Through my research on internet about the Tiffin Service sector I came across a very interesting story of Pratik Jain.

Pratik Jain, who is a hardcore vegetarian found it difficult to get a meal of his choice while working for an MNC in Mumbai.  He was ready to shell out extra money on a delicious full-course meal, but could not find a food service good enough to whet his appetite. Though he found some online services that delivered meals at his doorstep, he was not ready to ‘risk’ his health as he was not so sure about the quality of food.

Pratik scented an opportunity in online tiffin service space, which led him to quit his job and launch Yummy Tiffins, in Mumbai in April 2010. The company, which claims to be India’s first customised online food delivery service, currently serves meals to almost 200 customers every day.

Yummy Tiffins now employs around nine people, and has also tied up with the Mumbai Dabbawala Association to deliver food to corporates. The price starts at Rs 55. Jain claims that the company is already profitable and is now planning to expand to more cities. “Our business has a healthy margin. The revenues have doubled from last year’s figures. We are launching in Bangalore in 3-4 months, where we will operate on our own. We are also expanding to Pune shortly.”

Tiffin service is not exactly a virgin space as there were players like Mumbai-based CalorieCare, founded in as early as 2005, offering customers meals packed with the count of carbohydrates, fats, protein and the calories. It now serves meals to almost 1,000 customers in tray-packed, disposable containers, which are delivered to the location of the customer’s choice.

But the trend is there is a new breed of food entrepreneurs who are entering this market using internet as an order channeling system and offering healthier, customised and tastier tiffins to customers.

This new trend has revolutionised the famous Dabbawala's and Dabba Service in Mumbai. "Chadaro Taza Tazaa" is an upcoming name in the Tiffin Service in Mumbai. Apart from the regular tiffin service they also serve Jain veg tiffins. They also do catering for events and also deal in corporate catering.

Chadaro in Mumbai is rapidly increasing its customer base. One of thier advantage is that apart from delivering tiffins to corporates and catering for events, conferences and party orders they are also in Lunch Boxes delivery and also breakfast delivery in schools and colleges.

It will be interesting to see that how these Dabba fights take shape in the future, as this is highly unstructured market.

Till then happy reading!