Study on Increasing Demand of the Lunch-box Delivery Business Model

This research proposal outlines a study to evaluate the increasing demand for lunch-box delivery businesses. It begins by highlighting the shift towards outside food consumption due to busy lifestyles and concerns over food hygiene. The proposal identifies the management problems faced by en...Read More

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
A study to evaluate the increasing demand of the lunch-box delivery business
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1
Table of Contents
1. Introduction and background:................................................................................................2
2. Management problem:...........................................................................................................2
3. Literature review:...................................................................................................................3
4. Research methodology:..........................................................................................................5
4.1 Research design:...............................................................................................................5
4.2 Sources of data to be used:...............................................................................................6
4.3 Conceptualisation and measuring the data:......................................................................6
4.4 Data collection method:...................................................................................................7
4.5 Data analysis technique:...................................................................................................7
5. Ethical issues and limitation:.................................................................................................8
5.1 Ethical consideration:.......................................................................................................8
5.2 Limitation of the study:....................................................................................................9
6. Proposed timeline and budget:...............................................................................................9
6.1 The timeline.....................................................................................................................9
6.2 Budget of the research:...................................................................................................10
Reference list:...........................................................................................................................12

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 2
1. Introduction and background:
It has been a common observation that owing to the busy life-style of the people, the
working professionals are depending more on the outside food for their lunch and dinner.
Considering the hygiene factors and the increase cases of adulterated food, people are no
longer found to prefer the food available in the canteen and the cafeteria (MacDonald et al.
2016). These people are found to order home-made food to make sure that the food is healthy
and safe. This has given the opportunity for many business entrepreneurs to set up a small or
medium-scale business to offer timely lunch and dinner to the customers. The arrangement of
the delivery of food to the customers requires the arrangements of two major departments, the
pantry where the food is prepared and the other is the distribution system (Bhattacharya
2014). The food can be prepared at the pantry by following a particular time schedule but
delivering the food to the customers becomes a real challenge for the management to reach
out to the consumers within the stipulated time.
The aim of this study is to find out the various reasons of the increasing demand of
the food from the lunch-box delivery service and to understand the management problems
that the entrepreneurs faced in order to carry out this business activity. The plan of the
research will be discussed in this research proposal stating a detailed research methodology to
be used for the completion of the study.
2. Management problem:
The demand for the lunch-box services has been increasing considerably in the recent
time but the major players are facing considerable challenges in meeting the increasing
demand of the booking and the instant supply of the food to the customers (Karanth 2017).
Managing the increased demand to supply of food at times becomes challenging to deliver
the food at the right time. There are several factors like the traffic jam, packing the food and

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 3
also in meeting the demand of the high quality food demanded by the customers that actually
hinders the timely delivery of the food to the customers (Rao and Thejaswini 2014). Thus,
management would have to take major decision in order to make sure that the business
process goes on effectively.
3. Literature review:
Reading Sivarak (2017), it has been found that the business of the lunch box delivery
services have been gaining importance in the major countries like India or China. The home
delivery service was a very well-known service that has been popular in almost every country
around the world but the unique idea of service home-made food to the people in order to
maintain hygiene and safety in the food products is a newer concept and it requires the
management of the entrepreneurs in order to make sure the timely delivery of the products to
the consumers (Ghodake 2016). If the reasons for the increasing demand of the tiffin-box
services are taken into consideration, it has to be said that people are really busy in their lives
and they are no longer taking the option of cooking food for themselves because cooking is a
lengthy procedure and it requires one to devote good time. Cooking will require one to make
arrangement for the vegetables and other things required to cook the food. In fact, the after
procedure of cooking and eating is also time consuming (Thakur 2015). This includes the
washing of the dishes and to make the arrangements properly. In order to avoid all these
situations, people are found to rather depend on the service of the outside food and
availability in order to make sure that they receive good food without much hustle. In fact, it
has also been observed from various interviews and studies that people are have also become
very cautious about their health and hygiene and so they are looking for the better ways to
treat themselves (Ben Letaifa and Reynoso 2015). There is no doubt that the food offered in
the cafeterias and other local restaurants are filled with adulterates and that this food is not at
all good for health if consumed for a longer time and on a daily basis. In order to overcome

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 4
this issue, people are now found to depend on the home cooked food that is supplied by the
tiffin box services at the various places.
The tiffin box service ensures the homely food at in a convenient and pocket friendly
price. In fact the facility of delivering the food to the customers has also helped in gaining the
popularity because people can be at ease and can enjoy their meals without any kind of
additional effort (Ganapathy et al. 2016). All they have to do is to make the payment on a
monthly or bi-monthly basis that the amount that they had to spent in one way or the other.
The tiffin box delivery service has gained immense popularity and it is not only the office
goers and the working individuals who are relying on their services but it has also been found
that many household people have also opted for this technique in order to avoid the trouble
and the long process of cooking and getting the food (Chakraborty and Hargude 2015).
If the growth of the business is to be taken into account, it has been found that there
has been a considerable growth of the business in the cities like Bangalore, India where each
tiffin box delivery service has been found to come up with 500 orders in a single day
(Karanth 2017). In fact, Mumbai is the main region where this service is most popular and
people are greatly depended on the service of the tiffin box delivery, also known as the
Dabbawalas. The increasing popularity of this business has been able to attract many
researchers and the business activists to focus on the business model that these small and
medium business men have been undertaking and making generous profit in their business
(Bhattacharya 2014). In fact, this concept has become a topic of debate for many entrepreneur
and several attempts have been made in order to understand how this particular business runs
because it is one of the most profitable businesses but it equally demands the proper
management of the business in order to make sure that everything has been done properly.
The cooking and the packaging of the food might be easier and that it can be easier to manage
but the delivery service is really challenging and it requires proper management of the entire

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 5
distribution in order to make sure that the right food has been delivered to the right person
(MacDonald et al. 2016).
4. Research methodology:
The discussion is based on the research methodology to be undertaken at the time of
carrying out the research. It is expected that if the research is carried on a systematic and
timely manner, there would not be any issue in completing the research.
4.1 Research design:
The descriptive research design will be used for this research and the various models
and theories will be used in order to understand the topic in details and to get a descriptive
analysis of the research. The research strategies like the exploratory or the explanatory
research have not been selected as it would not have given the right picture of the theories
and the in depth analysis would not have been carried on (Fuller et al. 2016). For this
research, a quantitative approach can be taken for which the tiffin box delivery personnel can
be interviewed and they can be asked a few questions regarding their management and the
procedure of carrying out their business (Taylor et al. 2015). Apart from this, it is expected
that the positivism research philosophy will be used in order to investigate the topic in details
and help to understand the actual process of the business. In addition to this, the deductive
research approach will be taken and the inductive approach will be neglected as it would not
be possible to develop new theories and models for this topic. The study will be dependent on
the information gathered from the secondary sources and also from the interviews to be taken
from the tiffin box delivery services.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 6
4.2 Sources of data to be used:
Both primary and the secondary sources of data will be used for writing the study. It
has been observed that there are no such related theories and concepts available on the topic
and so the theories of management can be used to understand the business approach taken by
the tiffin box delivery services. In addition to this, the news articles and any other
information in form of stories or feature writing that are published in the various secondary
sources like newspaper, blogs or any such other places will also be taken into consideration
for analysing the research study (Lewis 2015). On the other hand, the primary data will also
be used for the analysis part. In order to understand the actual management problems and the
difficulties that the tiffin box delivery persons face in their day to day activities, it is very
important to contact them and know their perspective. For this, it is expected to get a
telephonic interview with at least 5 such people. These people will be contacted and then they
will be given the details of the research. Later, they will be asked to answer the questions so
that a better understanding of the daily routine of their business activities can be gained. For
the consent, the consent form can be sent via e-mails and they can return the same by giving
their virtual signature in the consent form (Flick 2015). Moreover, they will be rightly
informed on the purpose of taking the interview and that the interview will be strictly for the
academic purpose.
4.3 Conceptualisation and measuring the data:
This particular research will be based on the qualitative approach and so there will be
no need of measuring the data by the means of any tool or software. However, the questions
will be very to the point in order to get a clear picture of the management problems faced by
the management while carrying out the research study (Ledford and Gast 2018). The
questions and the sub-questions can be stated as below:

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 7
Q1. Why there is an increase in the demand of the tiffin box lunch delivery system?
 The busy life style of the people
 The hygiene factor
 The affordability of the food
Q2. What difficulties are faced for the preparation of the food?
 The arrangement of the entire pantry
 The availability of the staff
 Packing the food
Q3. What major problems arise at the time of delivering the food?
 Unavailability of the delivery persons
 The traffic jam
 Inability to meet the delivery time
In addition to this, after the analysis of the secondary data, such relevant questions will be
framed and then the interpretation and the analysis will be carried on.
4.4 Data collection method:
As already mentioned, the secondary data shall be collected from the various sources
including the internet and any other printed materials like newspapers or magazines. For the
primary data, the qualitative approach will be used and the concerned persons will be
contacted via phone calls and telephonic interview will be taken.
4.5 Data analysis technique:
Analysis and the interpretation of the data is the main criteria based on which the
outcome of the research will be written. For the analysis of the secondary data, a thematic

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 8
approach will be undertaken (Brinkmann 2014). Based on the research topics, a number of
themes will be made and then the outcome will be written from the data collected from the
secondary sources. For the analysis of the primary data, based on the research questions and
the sub-questions, the response of the respondents will be considered and then the same will
be evaluated by the means of thematic analysis (Panneerselvam 2014). However, the themes
and the sub themes will also be written in a tabular format in order to give a concise and brief
overview of the various themes identified based on which the outcome can be measured.
5. Ethical issues and limitation:
5.1 Ethical consideration:
It is most important to undertake a research in a most ethical manner in order to
ensure that nothing inappropriate activity has been conducted while doing the research. For
this particular research, ethics will be maintained for collecting both the primary and the
secondary data. At the time of collecting the secondary data that would include a detailed
literature review on the different theories and models to conduct a critical analysis of the
view points of the various authors on the topic (Choy 2014). In order to maintain the
authenticity of the collected data and to avoid any kind of plagiarism activity, the data used
for writing the study will be referenced properly. For collecting the primary data, it is very
important to maintain the proper ethical guidelines, the confidentiality of the respondents
have to be maintained. In order to make sure that there is no unethical approach made, the
respondents will be supplied with a consent form and their consent to become a part of the
research will be recorded (Simonsohn et al. 2017). However, the confidentiality of the
participants has to be maintained and that no information related to the respondents will be
disclosed to anyone. In such case, it should also be maintained that the entire research will be
based only for the academic purpose and so there should not be any approach made towards

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 9
any kind of promotional or advertisement. The questionnaire will also not contain any symbol
or logo of a company that might decipher any kind of promotional activity (Lushey and
Munro 2015).
5.2 Limitation of the study:
The research might also face some limitation in its completion. For instance, there
might not be availability of enough resources in terms of the theories and concepts related to
the topic. This will definitely lead to the situation when there will be a limitation to the study
as the research would not be completed as per the requirement. The respondents selected for
the primary research are also very limited and if the respondents were more, the analysis of
the research would have been better (Panneerselvam 2014). In fact, undertaking respondents
from different regions and different fields would give a clearer picture of the research study.
The budget and the limited time frame for carrying out the research can also be considered as
the limitations of the study. If more time and the budget would have not been constrained
then more in-depth research would have been carried out to make the research more
successful and worthy.
6. Proposed timeline and budget:
6.1 The timeline
Below is the time line for the research. It is expected that right from collecting the
data to the analysis and the interpretation, the research will be completed within a time frame
of 12 weeks or 3 months.
Activities 1st
Week
2nd &
3rd
Week
4th-5th
Week
6th-8th
Week
9th
Week
10th-
11th
Week
12th
Week

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 10
Selection of the research
topic

Secondary data to be
collected from the
internet and other sources
 
Designing and framing
the research study

Literature review on the
study
  
Interview of the
respondents

Analysis and
interpretation of
collected data
  
Findings of the data  
Conclusion of the study 
Submission of final work 
Table: The timetable of the research
(Source: Self developed)
6.2 Budget of the research:
Materials/Need Amount ($)
Data base access 300
Library fee 250
Computer, internet and software 100
Stationery 100
Questionnaire 20

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 11
Interviewing 100
Miscellaneous 200
Total 1,070
Table: The Proposed budget of the study
(Source: Self developed)
It is expected that the entire research will be completed with a total amount of $1,070.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 12
Reference list:
Ben Letaifa, S. and Reynoso, J., 2015. Toward a service ecosystem perspective at the base of
the pyramid. Journal of Service Management, 26(5), pp.684-705.
Bhattacharya, S., 2014. Operations Management. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Brinkmann, S., 2014. Interview. In Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1008-1010).
Springer New York.
Chakraborty, A. and Hargude, A.N., 2015, August. Dabbawala: Introducing Technology to
the Dabbawalas of Mumbai. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Human-
Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Adjunct (pp. 660-667). ACM.
Choy, L.T., 2014. The strengths and weaknesses of research methodology: Comparison and
complimentary between qualitative and quantitative approaches. IOSR Journal of Humanities
and Social Science, 19(4), pp.99-104.
Flick, U., 2015. Introducing research methodology: A beginner's guide to doing a research
project. Sage.
Fuller, C.M., Simmering, M.J., Atinc, G., Atinc, Y. and Babin, B.J., 2016. Common methods
variance detection in business research. Journal of Business Research, 69(8), pp.3192-3198.
Ganapathy, V., Mahadevan, P. and Ravikeerthi, J.V., 2016. An Empirical Study of the
Feasibility of Introducing the Mumbai Dabbawala Food Delivery System in
Bangalore. SAMVAD, 12, pp.9-22.
Ghodake, S.T., 2016. Transcending Life through Romance: Mumbai Tiffinwalas and the
Lunch Box. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 3(12).

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 13
Karanth, G.K., 2017. ‘Foodscapes’ in Bengaluru—Changing Patterns of Family Eating Out
and Waste Generation. International Development Policy| Revue internationale de politique
de développement, (8.2).
Ledford, J.R. and Gast, D.L., 2018. Single case research methodology: Applications in
special education and behavioral sciences. Routledge.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.
Lushey, C.J. and Munro, E.R., 2015. Participatory peer research methodology: An effective
method for obtaining young people’s perspectives on transitions from care to
adulthood?. Qualitative Social Work, 14(4), pp.522-537.
MacDonald, G.K., Jarvie, H.P., Withers, P.J., Doody, D.G., Keeler, B.L., Haygarth, P.M.,
Johnson, L.T., McDowell, R.W., Miyittah, M.K., Powers, S.M. and Sharpley, A.N., 2016.
Guiding phosphorus stewardship for multiple ecosystem services. Ecosystem Health and
Sustainability, 2(12).
Panneerselvam, R., 2014. Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Rao, H.R. and Thejaswini, M.L., 2014. Six sigma concept for food industry.
Simonsohn, U., Nelson, L. and Simmons, J., 2017. Research Methodology, Design, and
Analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 69(1).
Sivarak, O., 2017. Global Supply Chain in Asia. In Internationalization and Managing
Networks in the Asia Pacific(pp. 99-121).
Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015. Introduction to qualitative research
methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 14
Thakur, R., 2015. Community marketing: serving the base of the economic pyramid
sustainably. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(4), pp.40-47.