The Mumbai Dabbawala system began in 1890 when a Parsi banker wanted home-cooked food delivered to his office. He hired the first "dabbawala" to deliver lunchboxes, starting a popular delivery service. Over 125 years later, the dabbawala system involves over 5,000 employees who use a complex coding system to efficiently deliver around 200,000 home-cooked lunches across 60-70 square kilometers of Mumbai every day within 3 hours.