You can see it in their smile and hear it in their tone...these people take a rare sense of pride in their work. Dabbawalas appear to be a happy, grateful, and fulfilled workforce that do a sufficient job. Add in the cultural prestige and this model strikes me as very tough to compete with. So why?
What aspect of this current approach is broken or inefficient like to the point of justifying the time, money and effort to compete with as a startup? (I didn't gather that part from the article). Is it marginal food cost?
Is it merely because it's a big market operating the old-school way and therefore easy money is being thrown at trying to capture share or supplant using apps? No wonder these ventures are having a tough go at things...seems to me as a solution seeking a problem.