Mumbai’s iconic dabbawalas have gone through several hurdles and obstacles over the decades, but the pandemic has brought about a new set of challenges as a bulk of the office-going population continues to work from home. As per a new report, Dabbawalas are now preparing to cook the food themselves in addition to delivering them to the people.
Second-generation dabbawala, Yamnaji Ghule said, “We’ve worked through the worst situations...rains, floods, terror attacks, but never seen anything like this before. My team of seven dabbawalas used to make around 20 deliveries in a day between Mahim-Worli-Sion but now, not more than four.”
“I came back to Mumbai in January when deliveries restarted but it has stopped again. I’ll have to wait and watch. I’ve been doing this for more than 40 years, it’s the only work I know,” he added.
Dabbawalas who are assigned the cooking duties will be tasked with creating a 7-day rotating menu of dishes in a 1,000 square-foot “cloud kitchen” at Saki Naka. Ritesh Andre, a 25-year old dabbawala, said that a few dabbawalas and their spouses are being trained by an F&B expert and that they plan to launch this service by the 25th of June.
“We’re creating a website where people can directly place their orders. One can choose between monthly or annual subscriptions and we’re also introducing online money transfer to make payments easier. Dabba services have always depended on cash transactions and they faced financial difficulties during the pandemic,” Andre added.
Also read - COVID-19 Restrictions: Mumbai Dabbawala Association Urge Maharashtra Govt To Provide Financial Aid
The COVID-19 lockdown has impacted almost all segments of the economy, and dabbawalas have taken a big hit as their income fell to almost zero with offices being shut. Some Mumbai based restaurants have offered a helping hand to dabbawalas during the course of the pandemic.
Additionally, dabbawalas have discovered a new customer base in the form of people in COVID-19 isolation centres, home quarantine, as well as healthcare professionals across the city’s hospitals.
The President of the Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust, Ulhas Shantaram Muke said, “When offices started opening up last June, we were able to restart our services but with 300-400 dabbawalas. Now in the second lockdown, there’s work for only 100-150.”
Speaking on the opportunities created by the new cloud kitchen, Andre said, “The idea is to use their unique sorting skills to diversify, generate employment, bring stability and pride in what is India’s oldest food delivery chain.”
The dabbas (lunch boxes) will be packed and delivered from Dahisar to regions like Churchgate, Ghatkopar, and CSMT in two-tier and four-tier dabbas. Customers will have the option between a regular meal and a mini-meal. A regular meal will offer two rotis, two sabzis, rice, dal, pickle, papad, and salad while the mini-meal will offer two rotis and two sabzis respectively.
Read - Dabba Services Run by Women To Start Soon in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad
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