the GoodEater Collaborative

Author: Joshua Levin (33 Articles)

Joshua Levin is a consultant to non-profits and their corporate partners in sustainable agriculture business development and sustainable food markets. Joshua holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, where he was a Catherine B. Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship, and a BA from Harvard University. He lives with his wife in Brooklyn, NY.

- posted by Joshua

Every day, a little food miracle takes place in Bombay.  5,000 mostly non-literate “dabbawallahs” pick up 200,000 freshly made lunches from individual wives and grandmas, navigate the irregular and congested Indian train system, and then deliver them to just as many husband’s offices. . . with a 99.999999% accuracy-level!  The Indian reverence for food itself drives what is arguably the most efficient food supply chain in the world.

The dabbawallahs launched in the late- 1800’s, when British colonialists didn’t want to be seen bringing their lunches to work.  A tradition of late-morning home-to-office lunch delivery began.  Today, the dabbawallah service is accessible to thousands, at a cost of only about $6 per month for daily delivery.

To get a small taste of the intensity of the dabbawallah task, you can try this free game, “Dabbawallah International”.

The demand for dabbawallahs is driven by a belief in the value of home-cooking.  Most Indians feel that food should be eaten fresh the same day, and that eating at restaurants is not healthy.  The dabbawallahs themselves therefore believe that they provide a true social service, and are motivated in part by a reverence for their task.

The dabbawallahs all work at an identical pay-level, and they split the dividends.

Forbes recently performed a study on how the dabbawallahs are able to achieve what is referred to in manufacturing as “six sigma quality” (six standard deviations of perfect service), without the use of technology, or even literacy.  Since then, many major corporations and business schools have studied dabbawallah operations to glean lessons for their own firms.

The dabbawallahs now travel to you, offering “motivational, informative, inspiring, and humorous” lectures on management and supply chains.

Microsoft, P&G, and several other companies have used them to advertise their products.  Richard Branson paid them a visit, as did Prince Charles.  Charles was so fascinated that he later invited one to his wedding, whereupon the guest seems to have received a golden lunch tin.

The dabbawallahs now also have an official dabbawallah website, which is highly entertaining.

Ironically, the biggest threat to the dabbawallahs is apparently the increasing number of women in the workplace, and a resulting decline in knowledge of home cooking.