MUMBAI DABBAWALA

Presented By:
Indrajit Paul
About Dabbawala

A Dabbawala is a person in the city of Mumbai whose work is

to carry freshly home made food lunch boxes to office workers.
This is such a century old enterprise this has become an
integral part of Mumbai city.
The Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust, Raghunath
Medge- President, Gangaram Talekar- Secretary.
Mission of Dabbawala is “Serve the office goers by delivering
their lunch boxes at their doorstep on time”.
History of Dabbawala

Mahadeo Havaji first started this enterprise way back in 1890

with youth from neighboring villages of Mumbai.
This enterprise was started with 100 men and cost to client was
Rs.2/- month.
The concept of Dabbawala was originated under British rule.
Now a days, Indian businessmen are the main customers for
the Dabbawalas.
This service might include cooking, it primarily include home
made food or restaurant food.
 Supply Chain of Dabbawala

The first dabbawala picks up the lunch box

and take it to the nearest railway station.
The second dabbawala sorts out the lunch
box according with the markings to identify
the destination of the lunch box. The markings
include the name of the railway station to
unload and the building address to be
delivered.
The third one travels with the lunch boxes
to the railway station nearest to the
destination.
The fourth one picks up the lunch boxes and
delivers at the specified office address. This
process is reversed in the evening.
 Economic Analysis

Regardless of the role each dabbawala gets paid about Rs.2000-Rs.4000

per month.
About 200,000 lunch boxes moves everyday by an estimated 4500-5000
dabbawalas.
 According to recent surveys dabbawalas makes one mistake out of 6
million lunch box deliveries which earn them six sigma rating from the
Forbes magazine. This puts them in the list of multinational companies
like GE, Motorola.
As reported by THE NEW YORK TIMES in 2007, the dabbawala
industry will grow at a rate of 5%-10% per year.
Dabbawalas Success Secret
Difficult to replicate the supply chain network as it uses
Mumbai’s jam-packed local trains.
Delivery rates are nominal.
Difficult to get home cooked food.
Dabbawalas use no technology and use minimum
infrastructure, not dependant on suppliers.
Tie up with hotel and catering services means partnership
with competitors.
Thank You