10 Interesting Facts About The Famous Dabbawallas of Mumbai

Sometimes, the best thing about office is waiting for that Gandhi-topi wearing man on a bicycle. He is the man who is going to get your food from your home to your workplace. For those who don’t want their health to go down the window by eating outside every day, Dabbawallas are saviors who pick up the lunch boxes, deliver the food and return the empty boxes later in the afternoon.

Let’s find some interesting stuff that you never really knew about the Dabbawallas of Mumbai.

1. It all started in 1890

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Mahadeo Bhavaji Bachche was the first ever Dabbawalla.  At the beginning, it was for delivering food to a British officer and a Parsi banker  but soon it went on to become a flourishing business. He started a lunch delivery service with about hundred men working with him. Bachche unionized the Dabbawallas in 1930, however, informally.

In 1956, a charitable trust under the name of Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Trust was registered. Mumbai Tiffin Box Supplier’s Association is the name under which the commercial arm of the Trust was finally registered in 1968. Raghunath Megde serves as the current President of the Association.

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2. The First and only time they went on a strike was in 2011

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The Dabbawallas put an end to their streak of 120 years of non-stop service in August 2011. The Dabbawallas of Mumbai, who delivered lunch boxes even during the July 26 floods in 2005, went for a strike to support Anna Hazare in his campaign against corruption.

Over 5000 Dabbawallas were reported to have joined the rally to support Hazare’s campaign that started from Mumbai Churchgate to Azad Maidan. The city, which has 2,00,000 lunch boxes delivered around by Dabbawallas every day, was lucky that the day of the strike fell on the Parsi New Year’s day, which is a holiday in Maharashtra.

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3. Certified Efficiency and accuracy

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The rate of error of the Dabbawallas in Mumbai is about 1 in 16 million deliveries. It is because of their Six Sigma performance that the supply chain is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company. It is interesting to know that the Dabbawallas are today, a benchmark of efficient logistical service when most of the people working have never gone to school after 8th standard and many being illiterate.

Such accuracy and efficiency is quite commendable for an organisation who barely uses computer and have been doing so good without the help of technology until maybe in the recent times.

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4. Color Coding for identifying lunchboxes

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Just because they don’t use computers doesn’t mean they don’t have their own technology. Every lunch box has a color-coded notation attached to the handle which lets them know who the owner is and where the box as to be delivered. The color coding is used not just for identifying the owner and the route but also to identify the priority of the lunch box.

Based on the priority, the box would be delivered on foot, on cycle or by train. However, the color coding comes with various indicators and there are also a number of abbreviations that are to be learnt in order to execute the work as impeccably as the Dabbawallas do.

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5. Their organisation skills were topic of research and studies

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In 2005, the Indian Institute of Management had published a case study of the management technique implemented in the delivery routine of the Dabbawallas Mumbai. They described the working technique of the Dabbawallas of Bombay as an “outstanding example of excellence in logistics”. Five years later, the incredibly efficient delivery system of the company intrigued Harvard Business School as well who carried out their own study on the subject in 2010.

Various aspects of the work culture of the Dabbawallas were put forward in the Ph.D. research of Pawan G. Agarwal in 2001 named “A Study & Logistics & Supply Chain Management of Dabbawala in Mumbai”

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6. That time when a Dabbawalla was on the Guinness Book of World Records

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Dabbawallas are known for carrying more than one tiffin crates and deliver all around the city. However, this Dabbawalla, Prakash Baly Bachche, made it to the sets of Guinness World Records – Ab India Todega. He carried three tiffin crates on his head which may not sound much but it is quite Herculean a task.

One crate is about 6-7 feet long and carrying three of them and not upsetting the food is a job that not many Dabbawallas can pull off. Baly Bachche did an amazing job carrying three crates on his head and put his name in the Guinness Records on 21 March 2011.

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7. Giving food to the slum children

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A very interesting practice has been started by the Dabbawallas of Mumbai and it is called “Share My Dabba”. The Dabbawallas have noticed that a number of people do not eat the entire food packed in their boxes. Therefore, the Dabbawallas ask whoever not finishing the meal off and leaving some food inside the box, to stick the “Share my Dabba” sticker on the handle.This is considered an approval of the owner to let the Dabbawalla distribute the leftover food among the children in the slums of Mumbai. It’s nice to know that changes we can bring about by just putting a sticker.

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8. The time when Prince Charles wanted to meet them

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The Dabbawallas have many fans, including the Virgin Group owner, Richard Branson. However, their most honourable fan is someone from the British Royalty, Prince of Wales, Prince Charles. He was visiting India in 2003 and he was in Mumbai during November.

Charles was supposed to meet the famous Dabbawallas of Mumbai at Churchgate station and felicitate them for them for their brilliant services and remarkable achievements. The meeting did take place but the Dabbawallas of Mumbai were too busy to allot a second more than twenty minutes out of their busy schedule to meet and greet Prince Charles.

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9. The Dabbawalla’s gift on Prince Charles’ wedding

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Although they were able to spend only twenty minutes with the Prince of Wales, they did strike a chord with him in the short rendezvous. Therefore, when they heard of the Prince’s wedding with long-term lover Camilla Parker, about 500 Dabbawallas contributed Rs 10-20 each and bought a saree for the bride and a Maharastrian turban for the groom.

They had raised only about Rs 5000 and the it cost Rs 1000 for the courier only. They weren’t sure what to buy as Raghunath Hegde put it, “What can you gift someone who has everything?”. However, they decided that the Maharastrian traditional saree and turban would be the ideal gift for the occasion.

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10. Corporate sharks needed their help for marketing

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The Dabbawallas of Mumbai can be spotted all over the city and they travel to every nook and corner. Big brands such as Microsoft and HUL had made attempts to distributes flyers and advertisement materials through the network of the Dabbawallas on several occasions. The idea was implemented and carried out for a few days as a trial ran before it was scrapped.

The Dabbawallas found that the extra time required to fix flyers and ad materials to the dabbas are actually creating interruptions in their tight model of work which lets them deliver so accurately and efficiently.

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These men are really good at what they do!

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