Tiffin Service Business
टिफिन सर्विस व्यवसाय · डबा सेवा व्यवसाय
Cook simple home-style meals and deliver them daily to office workers, students and seniors on monthly subscriptions. Low investment, long hours.
Investment
₹2.4 lakh
Profit (year 2)
₹18,000/month
Space
200 sq ft
Staff
2 + you
A tiffin service cooks one fixed home-style menu each day (roti, sabzi, dal, rice) and delivers it in tiffin boxes or disposable containers to subscribers who pay monthly. It starts in a home kitchen with very little equipment and grows by word of mouth. It suits a good home cook who can produce the same quality every single day and manage deliveries on time. Monthly subscriptions give predictable income, and food cost is known in advance. The profit shown here is also the pay for the owner's own cooking, which is most of the work. The hard parts are no days off, vegetable and gas prices, customers leaving when they change jobs or cities, and collecting dues.
Skills needed: Consistent home-style cooking in quantity, hygiene, time discipline and simple record-keeping of subscriptions and payments.
Profit calculator
Change the numbers to match your town55 meal/day: Tiffin meal (roti, sabzi, dal, rice)
Total investment
₹2.38 lakh
Your own money
₹23,784
Subsidy
—
Bank loan
₹2.14 lakh
Mudra Kishore
A typical month in year 2
| Sales | ₹1,21,550 |
| Raw material & packing | −₹71,500 |
| Electricity | −₹2,055 |
| Salaries | −₹21,000 |
| Rent | ₹0 |
| Other running costs | −₹8,925 |
| Operating profit | ₹18,070 |
| Loan instalment (EMI) | −₹4,991 |
| You keep each month | ₹13,079 |
After the loan is repaid, the EMI becomes your income too. Your own salary is not counted as a cost: the profit is your income.
Need this for a bank loan?
Turn these numbers into a full project report: cost of project, means of finance, 5-year profit and loss, balance sheet, repayment schedule, DSCR and break-even.
Make my project reportInvestment breakdown
| Machinery & equipment | Price |
|---|---|
| Commercial two-burner gas range | ₹20,000₹14,000–₹42,000 |
| Refrigerator / deep freezer | ₹25,000₹15,000–₹25,000 |
| Steel tiffin boxes (about 150 sets, two per customer)Guides quote ₹10,000–25,000 for 50–100 sets | ₹30,000₹10,000–₹25,000 |
| Large cooking vessels, roti tawa and utensils | ₹30,000 |
| Mixer-grinder and atta kneader | ₹20,000 |
| Insulated delivery bags × 4 | ₹6,000 |
| Storage racks and work table | ₹15,000 |
| Used two-wheeler for deliveryadd-on | ₹45,000 |
| Roti making machineadd-onOnly above a few hundred rotis a day | ₹1,50,000 |
| Machinery & equipment (without add-ons) | ₹1,46,000 |
| FSSAI and other registrations | ₹2,000 |
| Menu cards, leaflets and trial meals | ₹8,000 |
| Commercial gas connection and kitchen fittings | ₹10,000 |
| Working capital 7 days of raw material, 10 days of credit to buyers, 1 month of expenses | ₹71,840 |
| Total project cost | ₹2,37,840 |
Typical market prices as of October 2026, from supplier listings. Prices vary by brand, capacity and city; always get 2–3 quotes.
Cost and margin per unit
| Tiffin meal (roti, sabzi, dal, rice) (per meal) | ₹ |
|---|---|
| Groceries, vegetables and oil | 44.00 |
| Cooking gas | 3.00 |
| Foil, paper, bags or disposable containers | 3.00 |
| Material cost | 50.00 |
| Selling price | 85.00 |
| Margin before running costs | 35.00 (41%) |
Average realised price per meal on monthly plans; guides put typical prices at ₹80–150 a meal. Capacity assumes the owner cooks with one helper.
Space, power and staff
200 sq ft
At home · rent ≈ ₹0/month
Assumes your own home kitchen. Add rent in the calculator if you take a separate kitchen; a small one in a town costs roughly ₹6,000–12,000 a month.
2 kW, single-phase
Bill ≈ ₹3,000/month at full capacity
2 staff + you
- 1 × Kitchen helper: ₹10,000
- 1 × Delivery person (part or full time): ₹10,000
Licences and registrations
FSSAI registration
mandatoryWhen: Before you sell · Cost: ₹100/yr for basic registration
Home kitchens selling food need it too. Check the current turnover limit for basic registration on foscos.fssai.gov.in.
Shop and Establishment registration
if applicableWhen: If you take a separate kitchen or hire staff · Cost: Small fee; varies by state
GST registration
if applicableWhen: Only if turnover crosses the registration limit for services · Cost: Free
Most small tiffin services stay below the limit. Confirm with a CA as you grow.
Udyam registration
recommendedWhen: Before applying for a loan · Cost: Free
Apply only on udyamregistration.gov.in.
Local body health / trade licence
if applicableWhen: If your municipality requires it for food businesses · Cost: Varies
How it works
- Plan a weekly menu and buy vegetables and groceries.
- Start preparation early: chopping, dal, kneading.
- Cook, check taste and portion into tiffins.
- Deliver by a fixed time on a planned route; collect empty tiffins.
- Wash and dry tiffins; update the subscription and payment register.
Loan route
Mudra loan (Kishore)
Own money ₹23,784 · Loan ₹2.14 lakh · EMI ≈ ₹4,991
No collateral, no subsidy.
How Mudra worksPMEGP (new units)
Subsidy ₹35,676 (general, urban) to ₹83,244 (special category, rural). EMI ≈ ₹4,159–₹3,327.
Own money 5–10%. Subsidy is held as a 3-year deposit, then adjusted against the loan.
How PMEGP worksAssumes 10.5% interest, 5 years including a 6-month moratorium. PMEGP was approved up to FY 2025-26. Check on the KVIC PMEGP portal that applications are open before you plan around the subsidy.
No collateral and no third-party guarantee (covered by the Credit Guarantee Fund for Micro Units).
Who buys and how to sell
Buyers
- Office workers
- Students, hostellers and paying guests
- Senior citizens and working couples
- Small offices, shops and clinics
- Patients' relatives near hospitals
Ways to sell
- Word of mouth and housing-society WhatsApp groups
- Leaflets near offices, hostels and coaching classes
- Trial meals for a week
- Listing on food apps for extra orders
Season: Steady on working days. Dips during long holidays, college vacations and festival weeks when customers go home.
Competition: Other home tiffins, messes, canteens and food apps. Customers stay for taste that does not tire them, punctuality and cleanliness.
Risks and how to handle them
Customers leave suddenly (job change, vacation, taste fatigue)
Rotate the menu, ask for feedback and keep adding customers through referrals.
Vegetable, oil and gas prices rise
Plan menus around seasonal vegetables and revise monthly rates once or twice a year with notice.
You fall ill or need leave and the service stops
Train the helper to cook the full menu and tell customers in advance about planned holidays.
A food-poisoning complaint
Cook fresh daily, never reuse leftovers, deliver hot and keep the kitchen and tiffins clean.
Tips from the trade
- Collect the monthly fee in advance.
- One good fixed menu is easier to run than many choices.
- A tight delivery area saves more money than any other decision.
Questions people ask
How many customers do I need to earn a decent income?
Use the calculator on this page with your own price and costs. As a guide, a service delivering only 20–30 meals a day leaves little after ingredients and delivery; most people who earn a living from it deliver well over 50 meals a day.
Should I use steel tiffins or disposable containers?
Steel tiffins cost more at the start and must be collected and washed, but cost almost nothing per meal. Disposable containers save labour and add a few rupees to every meal.
How much investment is needed to start a tiffin service business?
About ₹2.38 lakh for a small unit: ₹1.46 lakh for machinery and equipment, ₹20,000 for set-up costs and ₹71,840 as working capital (stock, credit to buyers and one month of expenses). Prices as of October 2026.
How much profit can a tiffin service business make per month?
At 55% of capacity, sales are about ₹1.22 lakh a month and operating profit about ₹18,070 before the loan instalment. After an EMI of about ₹4,991, the owner keeps about ₹13,079 a month until the loan is repaid. These are estimates; your prices, rent and sales decide the real figure.
Can I get a Mudra loan or PMEGP subsidy for tiffin service?
With a project cost of about ₹2.38 lakh, the bank loan of about ₹2.14 lakh falls under Mudra Kishore. Mudra has no subsidy. As a new unit you may instead apply under PMEGP, where the subsidy is 15–35% of the project cost (up to about ₹83,244 here for a special-category applicant in a rural area). PMEGP was approved up to FY 2025-26. Check on the KVIC PMEGP portal that applications are open before you plan around the subsidy.
What licences are required for tiffin service?
Mandatory: FSSAI registration. Depending on your set-up you may also need: Shop and Establishment registration, GST registration, Udyam registration, Local body health / trade licence.
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Prices as of October 2026. Prices here come from online listings and published guides and have not yet been confirmed with local suppliers. Profit figures are estimates from the assumptions above, not a promise of income.
Sources: OkCredit: how to start a tiffin service business in 2026 · DineOpen: how to start a tiffin service in India · DMI Finance: home-based tiffin service business · IndiaMART: two burner range prices · FSSAI FoSCoS (registration and licensing)
Spotted an outdated price? Tell us. Data for this page: HowIndiaEarns.