Dabbawalla operation in Bhubaneswar; albeit in a very small scale
Bhubaneswar- Cuttack- Puri, Khordha July 27th. 2010, 1:26amFollowing is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.
Denizens working in various corporates and offices in the city have got used to the food from Gyanaranjan Behera’s small-time eatery situated in the premises of Ekamra Haat in the capital.
“We find the carriages at our mess when we return from class. It’s very convenient and easy on our pockets too,” said college-goer Sambit.
The eatery serves a number of local dishes and delivers meal everyday to corporate employees in the city within the stretch of Vani Vihar to Forest Park and Acharya Vihar.
“We have more than a hundred customers employed in banks and the corporate sector,” said Behera proprietor of Hotel Trupan.
… “It struck me that Bhubaneswar too is full of working people and even bachelors. So we decided to start the food delivery service here in 2004,” he added.
The service is almost always uninterrupted across twin cities, even on the days of severe weather. It is due to the uninterrupted supply chain service that has made it such a big hit.
“We provide our own carriages and collect theses from our customers in the evening,” said Behera.
With the number of private hostels and messes growing in the city, food is also delivered to students.
The eatery serves vegetarian preparations in which onion and garlic are not used.
It starts preparing the dishes from 10am and the meals get ready for supply by 12 at noon.
The delivery starts at 12.30pm and reaches the customers by 1.30pm.
The service is provided from Monday to Saturday and the preparations are altered every day, except for dal, rice and chapati. Salad is in the list of regular menu. When it comes to curry, the eatery provides two preparations everyday such as mixed-vegetable curry, fried-vegetables, cauliflower curry, paneer dishes and so on.
“We have employed three people for the delivery purpose. Each carries 30 to 40 carriages in one trip,” said Behera.
“We try to add more preparations in the menu to offer a variety of dishes. Our customers have been receiving our service for the past six years and the orders are increasing everyday,” he said.
The payment is collected on a daily basis and the charge just Rs 25 per meal.