Worth 2 Million Pounds, Mothers' Dabba Biz in London Has Saved Over 2 Lakh Plastic Containers

Growing up in Mumbai, food was a big part of Anshu Ahuja’s life. One of her passions was to recreate a meal that she would have at a restaurant.

Over the past few years, the London-based former TV producer noticed that people started ordering in a lot of food, which led to a lot of plastic waste. She found the packaging wasteful, greasy, and unrecyclable.

A quest to find a better way to order led to her starting Dabba Drop with her neighbour and fellow mom, Renee Williams, in 2018.

Their venture is an eco-friendly delivery business inspired by Mumbai’s famous Dabbawalas, serving home-cooked Indian and South Asian meals in dabbas (tiffins) to Londoners.

Starting from Anshu’s house, they slowly moved into a kitchen. Having grown through word of mouth, their venture went from having 150 subscribers in November 2018 to around 1,500 now.

Since the model works on a subscription basis, the duo knows exactly how much food to prepare and cook, thus ensuring zero wastage. The dabbas are then delivered on bicycles, e-bikes or other emission-free vehicles.

So far, they claim to have saved 2,03,370 plastic containers and prevented 2,500 kg of food waste through their venture.

Edited by Pranita Bhat.