All of their offices are on sidewalks. As we watched at one of them on Churchgate Street, each one arrived on foot or bicycle carrying priceless bags of spicy treats and specialties for their many clients.
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The Dhabbawallahs lift a tray full of heavy tiffins full of delicious food for their clients. And time is of the essence in delivering at a specific time.
A metal Tiffin. Photo by June Landrum
In those bags were tiffins full of fresh cooked hot food that family members prepared at home for their loved one to eat at work a few hours later. Each tiffin contained 3 or 4 bowls that connect together to make one container. How the tiffins get to the family member’s place of work in downtown Mumbai/Bombay, India, is a system and method only the Dhabawallah delivery men understand. The Dhabbawallahs put certain marks on the tiffins, such as a different color or group of symbols indicating the correct train or office.
The coding system the Dhabbawallahs use to know where to deliver and pick up the tiffins. Photo by June Landrum
“Dhabba” in the Hindu language means food and “wallah” means person. So, the delivery men are called Dhabbawallahs and they have been delivering the home cooked meals since 1890 for clients who want only their home cooked specialties to eat because they think their food is best because of their religions or diets. As more and more clients requested delivered meals, a delivery system had to be developed that worked for them because they have minimal education.
A stack of tiffins to be delivered to a certain office building in Mumbai.
The delivery system was started in 1890 by Mahadeo Havai Bachche, a Parsi banker, who wanted his family’s home-cooked food. More and more friends and employees also wanted home cooked food so he hired 100 Dhabawallahs at first to deliver the food. Today, more than 5,000 Dhabbawallahs do it, delivering 60-70 tiffins each day to clients in downtown office buildings in Mumbai/Bombay, India.
The Dhabbawallahs hang so many tiffins on their bicycles that they have little room left for themselves.
The Dhabbawallahs are men who pick up the tiffins each morning at 7:15 a.m. at client’s houses located about 60-70 kilometers from the office area and deliver them by train, bicycle and foot by 12:45 p.m. to the family member’s place of work using their unique coding system. Very few mistakes are made in deliveries considering that a tiffin can pass through up to 12 different Dhabbawallahs’ hands from the home to the office and back.
Checking the delivery list to make sure all is correct before delivery.
Dressed in all white and wearing a Gandhi hat, the Dhabbawallahs meet every day Monday-Saturday at the same places in Mumbai and exchange bags containing tiffins. And they deliver the tiffins though all kinds of weather, conditions and holidays. They place the appropriate bag on the sidewalk to start a group of other tiffins that are to be delivered to that same building or street. As each Dhabbawallah arrived between 11:40 a.m.-12noon, they placed the tiffins in the appropriate office group on the sidewalk.
And now all is in order to deliver, so the Dhabbawallahs take off as fast as they can through all the traffic and watching tourists to the correct offices. Our guide with this Bestway.com tour, took us to the Churchgate Street corner so we could watch the Dhabbawallahs do their work.
When all the bags had arrived from the clients, each Dhabbawallah took off with all of new bags attached to a bicycle or in a large wooden tray and delivered each one to the appropriate person’s place of work. In the tiffins, some family members placed notes, flowers, tickets, an all sorts of communications. Now, the clients enjoy their delicious lunch until 1:45 p.m. And the Dhabawallahs enjoy their lunch when all the tiffins are delivered.
Now for a final check and lunch for the Dhabbawallahs. Photo by June Landrum
This custom service provided by the Dhabbawallahs cost $14 USD or 900 Rupees per person per month. Each Dhabbawallah earns 10,000 Rupees per month ($155 USD) and they all work for the common good as a team for the trust that oversees them.
A tray full of tiffins ready for delivery, each one with a special code on the top directing the Dhabbawallah where to deliver them.
But this service did not end after all lunches were delivered because each Dhabbawallah then returned to all of his client’s offices and picked up the empty tiffins at 2:15 pm. With the empty tiffins in his hands, each Dhabbawallah then met back at the Churchgate corner where they reversed the process and exchanged empty tiffins.
These Dhabbawallahs wait for a few more tiffins to arrive before they can take off for their destination.
By 2:45 pm the Dhabbawallahs were back on one of the three train routes where their clients live with all of their empty tiffins to deliver to the homes around 5pm. Family members then cleaned and washed the tiffins and had them ready for the next day’s spicy Indian food specialties such as lentils, rice, vegetables and chapattis, all home-style and delivered to the customer’s delight. And the Dhabbawallahs will be there at 7:15 a.m. the next morning to pick up the fresh cooked specialties.
And this has been going on for more than 125 years, by Dhabbawallahs using a delivery system that is one-of-a-kind, where they deliver home cooked lunches appreciated and enjoyed by all the customers. Photo Copy © 2016 carolyntravels.com
Photo by June Landrum
sacred cattle in the streets; 
men wearing turbans, 
Kathakali dancers 
and climbing the 225 steps to Elephanta Island near Bombay/Mumbai to see the ancient carving.
