The word “Dabbawalla” translates to dabba = lunch box, and walla = man or the 'lunch box man'. It is a 125 year old trade formed by a unique and incredible network of 5,000 men with the complex task of delivering 200,000 home made lunches each day from suburban homes to downtown offices in the city of Mumbai... all within a period of approximately 3 hours! That's about 65 million 'dabbas' a year with almost no mistakes!
Dabbawallas are largely illiterate rural workers who use nothing more than 3 - 4 symbols crudely painted on their dabbas to create an unparalleled food supply chain by using their remarkable intuition, teamwork and values in contrast to the very sophisticated computerized decision making telecommunication systems costing million of dollars in the West today.
Here's how the system works:
  • The first dabbawalla picks up the dabba from a home and takes it to the nearest railway station.

  • The second dabbawalla sorts out the dabbas at the railway station according to destination and puts them in the luggage carriage.

  • The third one travels with the dabbas to the railway stations nearest to the destinations.

  • The fourth one picks up dabbas from the railway station and drops them to each individuals office.

  • The process is reversed in the evenings with each dabba completing a distance of 60 - 70 kms and changing hands 8 times!

  • Customers pay about $5/mth for this service.
Impressed? This will amaze you even further!
A few years ago, US business magazine Forbes gave Mumbai's dabbawallas a Six Sigma performance rating, or a 99.999999 percentage of correctness -- which means one error in six million transactions. Six Sigma is a process that helps organizations focus on delivering near-perfect products and services. If you use Six Sigma you can measure how many defects there are in a process and can systematically figure out how to eliminate them and try and achieve zero-defect status.
Dabbawalla, a tribute to these incredible people of India, is a modern day eatery providing you with healthy eating and innovative cuisine based on the variety of tastes from the Indian subcontinent.

Our aim is to change the common perception of Indian food as a 'curry house' by using the freshest ingredients and cooking in a healthy manner with the diversity of flavors in India. We serve our specials in dabbas and do hope you enjoy the food as much as the 'home made lunches' that are enjoyed by the thousands of Indians in Mumbai each day.  Our restaurant offers a blend of this age-old foodservice concept combined with a modern casual dining experience to entice the most adventurous of foodies
Timings for restaurant:

Sunday to Thursday
Lunch: 11:30 a.m. – 03.00 p.m.
Dinner: 05.00 p.m. – 09.00 p.m.

Friday to Saturday
Lunch: 11.30 a.m. – 03.00 p.m.
Dinner: 05.00 p.m. – 10.00 p.m.

Monday Closed

Lunch Buffet served daily (excluding Sunday)
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Dabbawalla is located at:
427 Springfield Avenue, Summit, NJ 07901
Tel: 908.918.0330 • Fax: 908.918.0332
Please click here for Map.
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