How do dabbawalas identify the containers?
The delivery system uses dabbawalas – the people who deliver the pail – which literally translates to “one who carries a box”. They’re identified by their white kurta (smock style) uniforms, topped off with the traditional Gandhi cap, and will often ride bicycles.
How did dabbawalas start?
About 125 years back, a Parsi banker wanted to have home cooked food in office and gave this responsibility to the first ever Dabbawala. Many people liked the idea and the demand for Dabba delivery soared.
What are Indian lunch boxes called?
Tiffin carriers
Tiffin carriers or dabbas are a kind of lunch box used widely in Asia and the Caribbean for tiffin meals. From India, they spread to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago, where they are now widely used.
How much does a tiffin box of the dabbawala cost per month?
Each dabbawala delivers about 35-40 dabbas daily, at the bare bones price of about 800-1000 rupees ($12-15) a month. Late pick-up comes at a premium price of 1500 rupees ($23) a month.
How do tiffin boxes work?
So the lunch-filled tiffin boxes are picked up later in the morning, colour-coded and transported to the station, where they are collected by the tiffin wallahs, whose mission is to deliver each box to its corresponding workplace still hot from the pan – and to return the empty tiffin to the home before the end of the …
What is Mumbai dabbawala system?
The dabbawalas (also spelled dabbawallas or dabbawallahs, called tiffin wallahs in older sources) constitute a lunchbox delivery and return system that delivers hot lunches from homes and restaurants to people at work in India, especially in Mumbai.
Are dabbawalas only in Mumbai?
“There’s only one Mumbai dabbawala.” It’s hard to argue. The organisation runs its low-cost service at a very high level of performance. A 2010 study by the Harvard Business School graded it “Six Sigma”, which means the dabbawalas make fewer than 3.4 mistakes per million transactions.
What have kept the dabbawalas alive?
They have a record of no strikes against management. They are always on time, even through the rainiest days on the planet. Their creativity and ingenuity have kept them alive.
What is in a tiffin box?
The traditional Indian tiffin box consists of several stacked aluminium boxes with a carry-handle, each box containing individual portions of meat and vegetable curry dishes, bread, rice and, usually, something sweet.
How many tiffin boxes does each tray hold?
There, the different tiffin boxes are sorted out for specific destination stations and loaded on to large, rectangular trays accordingly. Each tray can hold up to 40 boxes.