MUMBAI DABBAWALLAS

PRESENTED BY
SAMPURNA NAND SHUKLA
HISTORY OF
DABBAWALLAS:
 In 1890, a Parsi broker working in Mumbai
employed a young man to fetch his lunch every
afternoon.
 Business picked up through referrals & soon the
pioneer Tiffin carrying entrepreneur had to call
for more helping hands from his village.
 Though the business started in 1890 was on a
small scale with just 25 clients, at that time no
one could have imagined that one day it would
touch the scale it has got today
 In this process of supplying Dabba, a unique
distribution has been crated with over Rs 1
billion in annual revenues & also they are
Their Principles…
Shakti aur bhakti
Work is Worship
Manav seva me bhagwan seva milti
hai
Union is strength
I trust man only coz I trust in god
Services and Target
Customers :
• Geographic : Mumbai
• Demographic : All Working Professional
Of Different Disciplines For Education
Background, Religion, Generation &
Social Class.
• Delivery Of Home-made Lunch From
House To Various Offices.
• Biggest food chain of the city.
• Carrying about 2 lakh dabbas to office
goers
• Picked up cooked meal packed in
Tiffin Marketing System :
Each Dabba is marked with inedible
ink with an alphanumeric code of
about 8-10 characters.

These symbols helps in identifying

where the carrier was picked up, the
originating & destination stations &
the address where it is to be
delivered.
 9MX3 EXAMPLE FOR
THEIR
For example if a client is residential of
Dadar & his office is located on the 3rd
floor of Mafatlal centre at Nariman point,
the code would be something as 9MX3 on
top, where 9 points to the carrier who
delivers in Nariman point, MX for Mafatlal
centre & 3 for 3rd floor.

The number 10 below it where 10 is code

of Churchgate station where box is
offloaded followed by D where D stands
 APPROACH
DISCIPLINE :
No Alcohol Drinking during business
hours

Wearing White Cap during business hours

Carry Identity Cards

LATEST MARKETING STRATEGY:

Marketing message in the “dabba”
HOW DO THEY DO IT….???
Executive Committee
(5 members)

Teams of 20-25 headed

by a group leader

Individual Dabbawalla
workload = 30 Tiffin
ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
PRESIDENT

VICE PRESIDENT

13 GENERAL
MEMBERS

TREASURER

DIRECTORS(19)

MUKADAM

MEMBERS(5000)
FINANCIAL DATA OF A
GROUP
 1st group –

 Rs 125000 Total earnings -20 People Rs 35000

Maintenance cost Tiffin luggage basket pass – Rs 180 per
person. Maintenance of cycles – Rs 300 – 2 cycles per
month.
 Maintenance of wooden boxes – Rs 100 per person .T.C ,
police robbery of Tiffin Rs 500 yearly.
 Organizational fee Rs 15 per head.

 Puja held per station Rs 50 per head.

HR Practices they follow
• Flat organization
• No hire and fire rule
• Community based Recruitment
• Sharing common beliefs, values, ethics
• Following of strict dress code
• Loyalty & trust is their monopoly
• Training provided to the new joiners
• Quarterly Meetings to discuss issues
SWOT Analysis
§ Strengths:
§ Simplicity in organization with Innovative service
§ Coordination, team spirit, & time management
§ Low operation cost
§ Customer satisfaction
§ Low Attrition Rate
Weaknesses:
§ High dependability on
local trains
§ Funds for the association
§ Limited Access to Education
Opportunities:-
§ Wide range publicity
§ Operational cost is low
§ Catering

Threats:-
§ Indirect competition is being faced from caterers
like maharaja community
§ Indirect threats from fast foods and hotels
§ Change in timings
§ Ticket restaurant
Management Principles
Derived..
 Team work
 Time management
 Innovation
 Customer relationship management
 Supply chain management
Some Achievements:-
 World record in best time management.
 Name in “GUINESS BOOK of World Records”.
 Registered with Ripley's “ believe it or not”.
 Documentaries made by BBC
,UTV, MTV, ZEE TV, AAJ TAK,
TV TODAY, SAHARA SAMAY, STAR TV, CNBC TV 18,
CNN, SONY TV, TV TOKYO, NDTV.
Other features:
They rely on low capital & use cycles,
wooden carriages & local trains to
achieve their target.
There are several groups that work
independently & network with each other
to achieve one goal.
They meet once a month where all
groups gather & solve issues.
There is no retirement age.
The dabbawalas have a credit society
which gets them through money
Why Should I Order From
Dabbawala
Because of their behavior
Quality of food
Provide lunch at very low cost
Delivery of Lunch at their fix time
They have a very good relationship
with customers.
THANK
YOU