Half past eleven on a weekday in New Town. Twelve steel tiffin carriers stand in a row on a kitchen counter in a flat in Action Area 1: rice, dal, a seasonal torkari, fish on Wednesdays, a twist of lemon.
By one o’clock they are on twelve desks in Sector V. By four, the empty carriers are back, rinsed by people who have started calling the cook “mashi”.
A home tiffin service is one of the simplest food businesses to start: you already have the kitchen, the skills and probably the steel carriers. In West Bengal, about 3,600 people a month search Google for “tiffin service near me”, rising to 4,400 in July and August, by Google Ads data we pulled for the state. The ones who do best treat it like a small business from day one. Here is the plan.
1. Find your first ten customers before you cook
- Pick a radius you can deliver to and back within an hour. Lunch has to arrive hot, and on time.
- Look for people who eat away from home every day: offices, PG houses and hostels, students, elderly people living alone, and families where both partners work.
- Start with people who already know your food. Neighbours, your children’s friends’ parents, the office your nephew works in. Ask for a two-week trial, paid.
- Ask what they want, then write it down: veg or non-veg, how many days a week, lunch or dinner, budget, any food they cannot eat.
2. A weekly menu that you can actually cook
Customers stay for variety and leave over boredom. A weekly rotation solves both: a fixed base (rice or roti, dal, a bhaja or torkari) and one changing item each day. Fish on two days, egg or chicken on one, paneer or chhana for vegetarians. Change the torkari with the season: lau in summer, phulkopi and karaishuti in winter. Write the week’s menu once and send it every Sunday.
3. Price a meal properly
Most home cooks undercharge because they count only rice and fish. Work out the cost of one meal from everything that goes into it:
| Cost | What to count |
|---|---|
| Ingredients | Everything in one portion, at this month’s market price, plus a little for waste |
| Gas and electricity | One cylinder (or one month’s bill) divided by the meals it cooked |
| Packaging | Containers, foil, bags, unless customers return steel carriers |
| Delivery | Fuel or the delivery person’s pay, divided by meals delivered |
| Your time | The hours you spend shopping, cooking, packing and washing. This is a wage, not a favour |
Add those up, then add your margin. Check what other tiffin services in your area charge, but do not win on price alone; you win on taste and reliability. Ask for monthly payment in advance, with a clear rule for days a customer skips.
4. Get the paperwork right
- FSSAI registration is required for any food business, including a home kitchen. Since 1 April 2026 a basic registration covers turnover up to ₹1.5 crore a year and never needs renewing. How to apply on FoSCoS.
- Trade licence: ask your municipality or panchayat whether you need one for cooking from home. Trade licence guide.
- Udyam registration is free and optional, but it helps with bank loans later. Udyam guide.
5. Packaging and delivery
- Steel carriers are the cheapest in the long run and customers like them. Run a two-set system: one with the customer, one in your kitchen.
- Single-use plastic is banned. Since 1 July 2022, plastic plates, cups, cutlery, straws and trays are prohibited across India, and carry bags must be at least 120 microns thick since 31 December 2022. Use steel, sturdy reusable containers, paper or leaf plates, and good cloth or thick bags.
- Label each box with the customer’s name and your FSSAI number.
- Deliver on a fixed route at a fixed time. Late lunch loses customers faster than a salty dal.
6. Payments without the awkwardness
Keep a UPI QR code printed and saved as a WhatsApp quick reply. Send the month’s bill on the 1st, with days counted. Check that the money has actually arrived in your own UPI app before you count it as paid; a screenshot is not a payment.
7. Get found beyond your building
WhatsApp Business
Your weekly menu in the catalog, an away message for late-night enquiries, labels for paid and unpaid. Setup guide.
Google Business Profile
List yourself as a service-area business, so your home address stays hidden and you still appear for “tiffin service near me” in the areas you deliver to. How.
A page for your weekly menu
On My West Bengal, home cooks get a menu for each day of the week, with today’s shown first. List free, then send customers the link instead of retyping the menu. What you get.
Ask for reviews
After the first month, ask happy customers to leave a Google review. It is the single best advertisement a home kitchen has.
Questions people ask
Do I need FSSAI registration if I only feed a few office workers?
Yes. Any regular sale of food you cook is a food business. Registration is cheap and quick, and offices and hostels often ask for the number before they sign up.
Should I join a food delivery app?
Apps can bring new customers, but they take a commission on every order and want your FSSAI number and bank details first. Many tiffin services do well on direct monthly customers and WhatsApp alone, and use apps only later.
How many customers do I need to make it worth it?
Work it out from your own cost per meal and your margin. Most home cooks find the work only pays once they have a steady base of monthly customers, which is why the first ten matter so much.
Can I run it with my family?
Yes, and most home tiffin services are. Agree on who shops, who cooks, who packs and who delivers, and keep the same hygiene rules for everyone in the kitchen.