GROUP 1

ATANU ROY
AMAN SHUKLA
RIDDHI PRATIM CHATTERJEE

Facts of the Case

 In 1890 Dabbawallah started operation in Mumbai when a Parsi Banker employed a
young man for tiffin delivery which soon picked up and expanded to a larger operation
 By 2003 more than 5000 Dabbawallahs were working under the Trust where they
delivered 175000 dabbas aggregate on a daily basis covering 75 kms of public transport.
 Annual revenues of 36 Cr rupees whereas there defect rates 1 in 15 million deliveries
 3 tier structure: 1) Dabbawallahs 2) Mukadam-Used to manage a team of 5 to 8
Dabbawallahs and were responsible for administrative works 3) Executive Committee-
Dispute Resolution
 Total 120 groups which were referred to as profit centers and each group would
accommodate in case of absenteeism
 Monthly group expense was about Rs 35000 which summed up maintainence cost of
bicycle, pushcarts and wooden boxes
 13 member of executive committee were elected for 5 years by General Body and the
committee was operating under the Co-operative society act
 In case of stolen dabbas the client was reimbursed by Dabbawallahs and typically the
dabbas were replaced every 2 years
 The Dabbawallahs were a homogeneous group of creed, culture, rituals, demography,
language with motto being “ Work is Worship” where they practised principles of lean,
agile and six sigma despite having minimum level of formal education
 Average income of each Dabbawalla were Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 per month out of which
they had to pay Rs 120 for monthly railway pass, Rs 60 for maintainence and Rs 15 as
compulsory monthly contribution to the trust
 A new recruit would have to pay a fixed amount of 1:7 in terms of payment to
approximate monthly income
Dabbawallah Meal Distribution Network
 Combination of baton-relay system and hub and spoke system to enable proper sorting
and distribution
 Delivery system did not depend on the use of computers
 Coding system based on identifiable signs and numbers and color codes
 Collection point at client’s home at exactly the right time
 Dabbas were picked up and hitched on carrier of bicycle and pushcart and transported
to suburban railway stations.
 Sorting of dabbas according to destinations and placed on cartages.
 Loaded the cartages into the cargo carriage and transported to different hubs on
reaching the destination.
 Hubs were managed by mukadams so as to eliminate delivery errors.
 Orchestration of 3 activities simulataneously-sorting, loading and unloading
 These sorted dabbas were sent to terminal stations of city railway where a third set of
Dabbawallahs were taking over the service operations
GROUP 1

ATANU ROY
AMAN SHUKLA
RIDDHI PRATIM CHATTERJEE

 The dabbas were sorted again and then sent to fourth set of handlers
 Dabbas were then sent to designated recipient at the correct place and correct time.
 The empty dabbas were collected at the reverse procdure followed in the same way.
 Intricasies of the dabbas of the whole service operations followed six sigma principles
alongwith amalgamation of aggregation and dis-aggregation steps
 Monitoring of the dabbas were carried out by using codes on top of the dabba
GROUP 1

ATANU ROY
AMAN SHUKLA
RIDDHI PRATIM CHATTERJEE

Dabbawallah’s Operating Environment

 Majority of Dabbawalah customers comprised the Indian middle class of fixed
income earners.
 3 primary lunch competitors namely fast food chains, restaurants and roadside
vendors: However they were working in a completely niche operating space of food
delivery
 Home cooked food and cost of these lunches were important prerequisites for the
people to prefer such service
 Different courier firms were seen as opponents for the Dabbawallahs: But the scale of
operations and mobilization of workforce proved to be a major hindrance for the
competitors

Distinct reasons behind the success of the Dabbawallah’s success are as follows:
 Low Cost Delivery: Delivery charges were less compared to a normal courier delivery.
Prices were determined based on two factors. 1) Pick of location was considered. 2)
Time of the stipulated pick up time of the dabbas.
 Delivery Reliability: Following factors were factored in for service reliability. 1)
Employees had an entrepreneurial mind-set. 2) No well-defined hierarchy in terms of
relationship between boss and subordinates. 3) Consistency in maintaining work
culture. 4) Complete control of ownership while delivering dabbas to the respective
clients.
 Decentralization: Better cohesion and operational harmony among the group due to
decentralized structure of the group.
 Perceived Equality: Equal remuneration was provided irrespective of the seniority and
experience of Dabbawallahs in the group to maintain equality in relationship.
 Consistency in logistics management: Longitudinal based geography enabled
reduction of food spoilage during delivery and provided consistency in maintaining
logistics management.
Issues pertaining to the future of Dabbawallahs:
 Shrinking Customer Base and Customer Loyalty: Declining in number of customers
due to various reasons which required Dabbawallahs to target new customers.
 Lifestyle Changes: Due to change in preferences of consumer habits, it was literally
becoming a luxury to cook at home and hence families tended to depend on
convenience food.
 Workforce Management: Motivational factors in the business prevented the service
operations to reach to new levels.