Dabbawalas diversify into courier services

The 127-year-old home-food delivery crew’s service, on-time delivery, low-cost model and supply chain management were topics of study at the Harvard Business School too. At a FICCI FLO event on Thursday, Agrawal shared his journey with the Dabbawalas, that has an ISO 9001:2000 certification to boot. 

Agrawal, the Founder & President of Kamalabai Educational and Charitable Trust, Mumbai, says, “My research on the Dabbawalas was set into motion in 2001, when I was arm-twisted into coming to Mumbai from a little village in Maharashtra, by my father, who came from a poor agricultural family. Even today, I am amazed to see how a 5,000-member team delivers tiffin boxes to 2 lakh office goers day in day out, braving Mumbai’s madding crowd. Presently, the average age of a Mumbai Dabbawala staff is around 55, and the oldest delivery man in our team is about 89-years-old.” 

Agrawal is an author, educationist, business consultant and entrepreneur. And he has observed the winds of change transforming the food delivery ecosystem around him almost irrevocably, in the form of aggregators like Swiggy and Zomato making an entry. 

He says, “Business isn’t what it used to be. A Dabbawala earns a meagre Rs 15,000 per month. And he deals with everything from the onslaught of fast food to office canteens, to mid-day meals and packaged meals eating away into his share. It’s compelling these men to latch on to companies like Flipkart and other e-tailer majors who employ their services to make courier deliveries, in the non-lunch hours. The team has also started juice deliveries which have to be made early in the morning, for all the high-flying corporates and celebrities in Mumbai, who need these deliveries during the morning hours.” 

Agrawal has also been prompting the Dabbawalas to employ their wives for cooking home food, as most working couples are unable to afford time for that these days. 

He remarks, “The Dabbawala network will continue its work for as long as there is demand for home food. Unfortunately, we do not want our children to pursue this line of work. But our mantra of commitment, customer service and honesty can be imbibed by any industry successfully. Our customers even put their salaries into the tiffin boxes while returning them in the evening.” 

On a lighter note, Agrawal also remembers how the Dabbawalas have played peacemakers to couples bickering at dawn, who patched up with homely food in the noon, and movie tickets for the first show in the evening. 

A film buff who loves The Lunchbox, he is a big fan of Rajini, belts out Andha Kanoon dialogues and is looking forward to watching Kaala .