The Hindu Business Line : The tiffinwallis of Mumbai

Nearly everyone's heard of the dabbawallas of Mumbai. Unsung, though equally invaluable, are the city's tiffinwallis supplying `home-cooked' meals to legions of office goers.

Much has been documented by the media about Mumbai's 5,000-strong dabbawallas — the men who deliver home-cooked lunch to about 2 lakh office goers on each working day. But precious little has been written about the many women who cook the "homemade lunch" consumed by thousands of working women and men in the metropolis.

While many people who rely on the dabba service receive lunch from their home, there are others who order from restaurants and caterers or "tiffin services", and this is delivered by the same dabbawallas.

The early 1990s saw tiffin services mushrooming in many parts of Mumbai and its suburbs. Women who were forced to earn a livelihood had started many of these. During that period, hundreds of men lost their jobs following the closure of several textile mills and their ancillary units, and huge losses in the real estate business and the stock market. The growth of cable television also affected the jobs of many technicians and junior artistes in the film industry.

The USP of these enterprising women was, and still is, a home-cooked meal at an affordable price. A vegetarian meal — comprising two vegetables, dal, two rotis, a bowl of rice, salad and a papad — costs Rs 30. A non-vegetarian meal costs Rs 45, and the delivery charge is Rs 200-250 per month.

"We began with five customers and urged them to recommend us to their friends. We also inserted advertisements regularly in the evening newspapers, which helped attract customers," says Neelam Navaney of the decade-old Neelam Caterers, which has 200-odd clients in Mumbai.

Operating from Marve Road in Malad, Neelam Caterers is run by the Navaney couple. A builder by profession, Balkrishna Navaney lost heavily in a project, forcing him to quit construction-related work. The couple have two children. It was Neelam, a good cook, who suggested they launch a tiffin service. She had seen other women do so, and earn enough to sustain their families. Despite his initial reluctance, Balkrishna agreed because they had no other means of earning a living.

Malati Karmachandani, who runs her Khar-based Sonal Caterers, is very matter-of-fact about her entry into the tiffin services. "Following the death of my husband, I had to look for opportunities to earn a livelihood. Cooking was the only thing I knew best and so for the past 10 years I have been supplying tiffins all over the suburbs," she says.

Since such tiffin services are part of the unorganised business sector, it is difficult to determine the number of women so engaged.

A typical day in a household that runs a tiffin service begins before dawn — chopping the vegetables, kneading huge quantities of dough, cleaning the rice, and then the cooking itself. "Even if we have hands to help, our day begins at 4 a.m. A slight delay beyond 10 a.m., and the dabbawalas may leave without the tiffin box, which means a lost customer," says Neelam.

It is 11 a.m. before the women can tend to their family chores. And after a short post-lunch rest, they are out shopping in the wholesale markets for the best bargains on vegetables, fruits, spices and so on.

The price of a meal may vary, depending on the clientele and the demand for special food or items. For instance, Malati, who serves 50-odd customers, offers Punjabi, Gujarati, South Indian, Continental and even low-calorie meals. Her low-cal meals cost Rs 40 each, while her partly non-vegetarian and complete non-vegetarian meals are each priced Rs 50 and Rs 75 respectively.

A tiffin service rarely encounters losses — investments are low because one can begin with what is available at home (such as utensils and cooking gas). Women can start small and begin earning from day one. Depending on the food served and the number of customers, an enterprising woman can earn anything between Rs 5 and 25 per meal. Some tiffin services have their own niche clientele. Bhavna Shah, for example, supplies meals to relatives of patients in Breach Candy and Jaslok Hospitals, besides her regular list of customers.

"After two months of eating out at restaurants in the Fort area, my craving for simple home-cooked food became intense," says Manjula Patil. A chartered account, Manjula shifted to Mumbai from Nagpur about a year ago. She is grateful to the colleague who introduced her to a tiffin service.

Among Neelam's oldest customers are Sion residents P.N. Muttoo, 97, and wife Suhasini, 90. Says Muttoo, "We like to be independent. We like Neelam's bland but tasty food; we have been eating it for over three years. One meal is enough for both of us. At night, we normally don't have anything more than fruit or a glass of milk."

By accommodating various demands at no extra cost — such as two extra rotis by low-earning working girls who can split a meal with a colleague — tiffin services increase their clientele and popularity. Like Manjula, there are thousands of single working women, who would rather use a tiffin service instead of cooking every day or more than once a day. And then there are single men, double-income couples with no kids, ailing individuals, senior citizens and even corporate executives.

As long as people think there is nothing to beat home-cooked food, the enterprising women of Mumbai's tiffin services will continue to flourish.

Women's Feature Service

Picture by Amarnath

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