Bengaluru, India Is Getting A School Lunch Upgrade

When busy parents don't have the time to fix lunch for their kids, the often lackluster school lunch is the only remaining option. In Bengaluru, India, MonkeyBox is taking care of lunchtime woes.

Similar to the 131-year-old concept of dabba wallas, MonkeyBox, an app and lunch delivery service, plans 22 meals every month for kids in school and daycare. According to Quartz, The meals, prepared by hotel chefs, never repeat within the 22-day cycle, are vegetarian, health-focused and include traditional north and south-style Indian curries and rotis, pasta dishes, burgers and more. Parents can choose from different subscription plans that cover breakfast, lunch and a snack for a five, 10 or 22 day period. The all-inclusive 22-day package costs only Rs3,000 (USD$46). That's about 70 cents per meal. Menus for the week are posted every Saturday on the app where parents have the option to decide which meals to be delivered. If a meal is skipped, it'll roll over on to the next cycle.

The company launched service in June 2016 with its first kitchen in a suburb south of Bengaluru. Seven months later, the subscription base grew to 1300 kids. Quartz reports that MonkeyBox plans to expand to other cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai.