If Mumbai is a city of dreams for people working around the clock, its dabbawalas are like the neural network which keeps all of them well-fed.

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However, in the wake of the pandemic and corporate offices switching to a work-from-model, the city's dabbawalas have suffered.

Famous for keeping good speed and memory, zipping across traffic lanes to deliver hot meals to busy office goers, Mumbai's dabbawalas, for the past one year, have been out of work.

However, an innovative partnership is set to change things for the better for these hard-working dabbawalas, the original backbones of Mumbai's food delivery system.

Impressario, a restaurant company with brands such as SOCIAL, Smoke House Deli, and SaltWater Cafe, has tied up with local dabbawalas to help the café's service direct home delivery orders.

"Both entities will form a symbiotic partnership to empower and enable each other over the next few months", Impressario said.

Starting this week, Impresario will start working with the dabbawalas to fulfill orders in the Lower Parel, Bandra West & BKC areas.

So expect to be surprised if you have trusty dabbawalas face greet you with your order over the next few days.

Restaurants across the country are making a mass appeal to customers to order directly from them, instead of placing orders through food tech platforms like Zomato & Swiggy.

The NRAI has argued platforms like these indulge in data masking and hurt revenues for restaurants at a time they are already constrained by the lack of any dine-in business.

“Mumbai’s dabbawalas are the backbone of the city, and partnering with them to weather the second wave is the best thing we can do for each other. Ordering directly from restaurants (and not through aggregators) empowers us to have direct and deeper relationships with our customers, and saves on prohibitive commissions being paid out to them", Riyaaz Amlani, CEO & MD, Impresario Handmade Restaurants said.

Amlani added that he hopes the move encourages more restaurants to employ the dabbawalas too.

Ulhas Muke, President, Nutan Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Charity Trust - part of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association said, “When the first lockdown hit, it was the toughest time we’ve ever faced; our members were left with little to no money in their bank accounts. Although there are many restaurants and hotel chains in our city, we’ve only catered to office-goers at their workplace in the past. Now that work from home has become the norm, it’s important to go where the customer is."

He added, "We will provide Impresario and its customers with our unmatched efficiency, trust, and service and we’re sure the people of Mumbai will support us in this endeavor".

(Edited by : Pranati Deva)

First Published:May 21, 2021 9:08 AM IST