Pricing a tiffin service in India: a framework that works
Most Indian meal-delivery operators we work with under-price by 18-22% at launch. They benchmark against a Zomato meal cost and forget that subscription is a different product.
Start from your fully-loaded plate cost. Raw materials + gas + packaging + 7% wastage + delivery + payment fees. For most Delhi kitchens this lands between ₹120 and ₹180 per meal depending on cuisine.
Apply a 2.4× multiplier for retail. Not 2×. Subscription meal businesses live and die on the 0.4×. That gap covers customer acquisition, software, founder salary, and the inevitable disasters (a bad batch, a no-show driver, a viral one-star review).
Anchor on the weekly bundle, not the per-meal price. ₹2,400 / week for 20 meals reads better than ₹120 / meal. Indian subscribers think in monthly budgets — ₹9,600 / month positions you alongside a gym membership and a streaming bundle.
Offer two tiers, never three. A "Daily" tier (5 meals / week) and a "Family" tier (15 meals / week). Three tiers cause analysis paralysis and most pick the middle one anyway.
We see kitchens that follow this hit positive unit economics by week 12.