With no background in the catering industry, co-founders of Yummy Tiffins bring customized tiffin service to Mumbai

The story of India’s first online customized tiffin service - Yummy Tiffins goes back to 2009 when food delivery apps were yet to create their impact among the people. 

Ever shifted to a new city for work or studies and encountered the problem of home-cooked food that to of your preference? Chirag Purohit and Vivek Kawar, the co-founders of Yummy Tiffins were one of those who noticed this issue back in 2009 and decided to bridge the gap between home-cooked food and budget for newcomers and students in a city like Mumbai. 

During their college days, Chirag and Vivek observed that many of their friends used to opt for tiffin services from local neighborhood aunties. However, it would often become monotonous with the same sabzi, roti, daal chawal pattern. While they had another option of ordering from local restaurants, the food tended to be unhealthy due to pre-cooked gravies and preservatives and was a bit heavy on the pocket. “We tried to find a middle ground between a restaurant and a traditional tiffin service. We launched Yummy Tiffins as India’s first online customized tiffin service to provide people with the option to select dishes according to their taste and budget, ensuring that the meals are both homely and fresh,” says Chirag Purohit.

It was not easy for the duo in the beginning as they were not from a catering background and found it difficult to find cooks who could prepare homely meals while keeping the taste fresh and appealing to the youth. However, with the right ingredients, they formed a team that was ready to offer a one-of-a-kind 'Make Your Own Meal' option. This gave customers the flexibility to create any combination according to their preferences and budget from the daily-changing à la carte menu, all at affordable prices.

The service started by providing limited food selections in Andheri, but now they have expanded to almost every part of Mumbai, spanning from Malad to Churchgate in the western line, Vikhroli to CST in the central line, and a few areas in the Harbour line as well. As most of their customer base comprises corporate working individuals, they began receiving requests for bulk food orders for their offices. "In response to this demand, we ventured into catering services, initially handling small orders and gradually expanding to offer food by the kilogram, corporate and event catering, as well as cafeteria management services," adds the co-founder.

The duo takes pride in serving clients such as Ola Cabs, L&T, Bentley Motors, Dharma Films, RSVP Movies, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, TVF (The Viral Fever), Dr. Batra’s, and Montana International School, to name a few. 'Currently, we are focused on Mumbai only, but we are actively working on a model to expand our offerings to other metro cities because of regular franchise and partnership inquiries,' says Chirag about their future plans at Yummy Tiffins.