Mumbai Dabbawala or Tiffin Wallahs: 200,000 Tiffin Boxes Delivered Per Day, originally uploaded by babasteve.
Tiffin Wallah translates as one who carries the box. Tiffin is an old English word for a light lunch, and also the name of the multi-compartment metal lunch box that carries it. The Tiffin Wallah originated over a century ago when the many Indians working for British companies disliked the food served at work. Tiffin service was created to bring home cooking to the workplace. Today the city's 5,000 tiffin-wallahs deliver 200,000 tiffin-boxes filled with home-cooked food each day. According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 16,000,000 deliveries and the system has registered a performance rating of 99.999999. Prince Charles is a fan and patron of the Tiffin Wallahs and countless businesses and corporations study the system to learn of its success and efficiency.
