Dabba Drop, Takeaway Re-invented. WORDS_Iain Graham
As we wait for a decision from the Government about whether or not we are leaving this current Lockdown , here in the UK, the food, events and restaurant industry is reeling again! Restaurants are closed and our dining experiences and date nights are now sadly limited to what can be delivered to our front door…. Or so we thought.
Dabba drop will change takeaway for you, forever. Created out of a love of food and the need to get a better takeaway experience, Dabba Drop is the next generation of takeaway. Its eco minded, delicious and plastic free. We get talking to the two founders: Anshu and Renee, of this clever East London takeaway with a distinct difference.
The full Dabba Drop Feast
We know Dabba drop really well and think it’s an incredible eco minded business idea. Can you explain the concept and also how you keep it so original and sustainable at the same time?
The idea for DabbaDrop came about when Anshu was working as a TV Producer. ”Life was busy and there were always lots of decisions to be made. Work, kids, childcare, schools, lunches, dinners, birthdays, holidays…. By the time it got to the end of the week, I didn’t want to make any more decisions, especially for dinner!”
“My husband and I would order a takeaway and it would usually take a good half an hour to decide what to eat. Trying to find a restaurant that has good vegan or vegetarian options was always harder. By the time the meal turned up it would be 10pm; too late to eat. The food itself was never as fresh or delicious as we imagined it would be. Plus, you would end up with all the plastic containers , and we’d feel so guilty.
This got me thinking about the ’dabbawala’ set up back home in Mumbai. Unlike a takeaway where you have to choose from an endlessly long menu, these delivery-only kitchens created weekly changing menus of home-style food, so all you did was unpack and eat. Hassle-free dinner just when you needed it most! And no guilt, you just left the stainless-steel tiffin out to be collected next time around”.
It was Summer 2018 when Anshu started cooking from her home as a trial for what would later become DabbaDrop. Renee was one of the first friends to sign up for the trial and she just loved it so it was a natural progression that she jumped on board to help grow the concept. They wanted to create a convenient, tasty takeaway option that didn’t come with a guilty conscience. Customers need to pay a one-off fee for the reusable dabba (tiffin) which is then theirs to keep. They choose a plan (either hot or cold deliveries) and a frequency (either weekly or fortnightly), pick their start date and they’re all set! Their delivery cyclists collect customers empty Dabbas when they deliver the full ones – and so the cycle (of reusability) continues!
“It’s great to hear you call it original – the concept of the Dabbaswallas is obviously very old but we’ve just given it a modern, London twist by taking it online and adding a bit of fancy tech to it.“
“We analyse all our ideas with sustainability in mind and we make sure that passes through every facet of our business: from the packaging to the zero food waste policy in our kitchen, from zero-emission bicycle deliveries and making sure we pay our employees fairly. We don’t launch a new idea unless it ticks all those boxes, so things take a bit longer to roll out, but it’s worth it in the end. We sleep better at night knowing we’re keeping our impact on the planet as low as we can.”
I feel you succeed in every department that Deliveroo does badly, for example the tiffins, the pushbike delivery, lack of packaging and waste. But where do you think you could be even better, what’s your Achilles heel?
“There are many things we are constantly trying to improve and it’s been a gigantic learning curve for us both. Unlike Deliveroo and other delivery app’s we’re all about planning ahead and not about being spontaneous. This idea took a while to grow on people as of course modern life is all about being living in the moment. But rather than change our model, we stuck at it, because we knew it was the right thing to do. When our customers plan ahead, it means we can buy the right quantities of ingredients and eliminate any food waste in our kitchen.”
“We’d love to be feeding more people but we’ve learnt that changing people’s behaviour takes time. So we’re just doing what we do… and we’re doing it well. We’re starting to form a solid, loyal customer base who believe in our way of thinking so it’s definitely been worth the wait and hopefully it won’t be long before other people join our happy family of Dabba Droppers too.”
Have you always been plant-based? Was that an eco decision or just something that came naturally? Is it hard to keep your now extensive menu totally plant-based when British curry lovers are historically meat eaters!
“Going plant-based was a no-brainer - we wanted our model to be fully sustainable and believe a plant-based diet is the future - for our health, for our planet. From our trials, we knew our customers loved paneer so we held on to that menu for a little while but it didn’t feel ethical, so after a while, we changed it. So much of Indian food is naturally vegan anyway so it was an easy shift and our customers loved it. They (our customers) have great things to say about our menus and we pride ourselves on celebrating the goodness of vegetables. If we can entice more people to switch to a plant-based diet - even if it’s just one day a week – then that’s a win for the people and the planet.”
What can you do next, where is there growth for you to expand? Would you do dressings, salads or pastes for the supermarket for example and if so how could you keep that kind of expansion as eco as possible?
“We have a couple of exciting projects in the pipeline, including development of some of our pickles and chutneys, a breakfast/brunch offering and expansion beyond our current delivery radius, but we want to make sure we do it right. Ready-meals and ‘Make-your-Own’ kits are also on the cards - it would be much more simple (and also much cheaper) for us to choose single-use packaging options for such things but that’s not what we set out to do and so the whole process takes a little longer.
What’s a goal for you, what do you aspire to, what would be your coolest possible achievement (or did you do it already)?
“Anshu and I live opposite each other - when we started one of our ambitions was to feed everyone on our road, we’re nearly there with that goal and now we’re trying to expand that idea to other streets in our neighbourhood as well. We’re so happy to be part of the change that’s getting people to quit using single-use plastic in takeaway and we were very proud to save over 17,000 plastic containers from being used in 2019 as well as stacking up a whopping 8400km worth of emission-free deliveries. We’re on track to more than triple those statistics this year!
DabbaDrop is on a mission to encourage a behavioural shift against single-use products by changing the way people do takeaway! We’ve started with the nation’s favourite – the humble curry but we’re excited to try new cuisines, especially from all over East Asia.”
What’s your process for creating a tiffin? Do you ever completely go back to the drawing board or do you constantly refine the dishes? Do you ever stop using products due to their environmental impact or air miles?
“Most of the recipes have been passed down through Anshu’s family for many years so it’s been a matter of working out what goes with what, what’s in season or growing locally and how can we modernise or make the dishes be more original. We change some of the menus as we move in and out of seasons and we completely reinvent dishes that we feel perhaps aren’t as popular as others, so it’s a constant process (it’s a good thing the two of us love experimenting in the kitchen!) And of course we’re always thinking about sustainability as well - we’ve been talking about taking avocado off the ingredients list as it’s not very sustainable. Having constraints is good though, it helps us be more creative and make a product we can be really proud of.“
Your Ginger Jam is the stuff of legend all around Hackney, where does the recipe come from?
“Our ginger jam is inspired by Anshu’s favourite Indian pickle of all time, it comes from a state in South India called Andhra Pradesh - they love chillies down there and lots of tamarind and we think it goes splendidly with our meals, adds that lovely fiery kick. It works wonderfully as a sandwich spread and stirred into a plant-based cream or yoghurt for an instant dip for poppadoms and crisps.”
Can you see the rest of the market following your lead, or do you feel like DabbaDrop is more of a higher end, niche choice?
“We do feel there is a shift happening. Obviously plant-based food is not just having a moment but seems to be here to stay which is a great thing and we can only hope sustainable packaging is moving in the right direction too. We’d love it if packaging and sustainability along with climate change and a plant-based life could become more of a mainstream conversation - we don’t want to be a high end choice, high quality but affordable for a large number of people. The only way this can happen is if more people switch to our reusable way - the more people we feed, the more affordable we can get!”
Dabba Drop is currently based in East London, they do either ready to eat or ready to heat and you can subscrbe to either Thursdays or Fridays covering London Postcodes SE4, SE15, SE22, E2, E3, E7, E11, E15, E20, N1, N5, N7, E5, E8, E9, E10, E17 and N16 with more North and South postcodes coming soon. They do events and catering and I can say first hand that their food is delicious. Check them out and change the way you do takeaway.
