Updated: August 2026
A tiffin service business can start from your home kitchen for roughly ₹55,000-75,000. FSSAI basic registration costs just ₹100, and the smartest way to begin is with 25-30 customers. Below you will find the new 2026 rules, a full cost table, how to set your price, and honest math on what you can actually earn.
How big is the tiffin service opportunity in 2026?
Selling home-style food is no longer a small side hustle. It is a market you can count in real numbers. According to an IMARC report, India's online food delivery market was worth $55.58 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow at 22.18% a year between 2026 and 2034. The market for kitchens without a storefront, that is cloud kitchens, is pegged at $1.39 billion in 2026.
The clearest signal comes from the big players. Swiggy restarted its 'Daily' service in May 2024 for cheap, home-style meals, and Zomato is already in the same segment with 'Everyday'. When billion-dollar companies are chasing roti, sabzi and dal, the road is wide open for anyone whose food genuinely tastes good.
Let us be clear right at the start. This business runs on taste and trust, not on an app or a machine. The day your food slips, that month's customer is gone.
What space and equipment do you need to start?
The rule for location is simple. Your customers are wherever home food is not. Areas full of PGs and hostels, the lanes around coaching centres, office and factory zones. Keep your delivery radius within 4-5 kilometres at first, or the food goes cold and your petrol bill goes hot.
A basic equipment list, for 30 tiffins a day:
- Two or three large pots, one big kadhai and a large pressure cooker
- A commercial stove or two-burner bhatti, plus a 19-kg commercial cylinder
- 30-40 steel tiffin boxes or good-quality disposable containers
- A sturdy table for packing, a strainer, ladles, knife and chopping board
- A fridge to store vegetables and leftover ingredients (a home one will do)
Remember this. Cooking for 4 people at home every day and cooking for 30 people at the same time are two different games. Get your hands steady on 10-15 tiffins in the first week, then push the numbers up.
Which licenses do you need for a tiffin service? What do the new FSSAI rules say?
On this front, 2026 is on your side. This whole part has become easier than it used to be.
According to FSSAI's official press release, from 1 April 2026 the turnover limit for basic registration has been raised from ₹12 lakh to ₹1.5 crore. In plain terms: as long as your annual sales stay below ₹1.5 crore, you need only basic registration, no expensive state licence. The second big relief is that registration is now valid in perpetuity; the line about renewing every year or two is gone.
What does it cost? According to IndiaFilings' fee chart, basic registration costs ₹100. You apply online on the FoSCoS portal; keep your Aadhaar, photo and address proof ready. We have written the whole process step by step in our FSSAI registration post.
Two more things. You must print your registration number on your bills, packaging or menu card. And if you are opening a dine-in centre or a large kitchen, check your city's municipal trade licence and fire NOC rules first; every corporation's rules differ a little.
Does GST apply to a tiffin service?
For most new tiffin services the answer is: not yet. The GST registration threshold for service providers is ₹20 lakh annual turnover. A 30-tiffin-a-day setup usually stays below this in the first year, so set GST worries aside at the start and focus on the food.
Once you cross the threshold, tiffin and restaurant category food service attracts 5% GST, with no input tax credit; this structure stays the same even after the GST changes of 22 September 2025. The composition scheme is also an option up to ₹1.5 crore. When you sell through Swiggy or Zomato the tax is deducted at the platform level, so read their terms at onboarding before you go ahead.
How much will it cost? See the full table
Say Seema from Indore, whose dal-bafla is the talk of her lane, wants to start with 30 tiffins a day. Her opening budget would look something like this (equipment prices are estimates and can move up or down in your city):
| Cost item | Estimated amount |
|---|---|
| FSSAI basic registration (government fee) | ₹100 |
| Large pots, kadhai, cooker, other utensils | ₹15,000-20,000 |
| 30-40 steel tiffin boxes | ₹6,000-10,000 |
| Commercial stove/bhatti | ₹8,000-12,000 |
| First 19-kg commercial cylinder (Delhi rate, August 2026) | around ₹2,730 |
| Packing material and initial delivery cost | ₹5,000 |
| First month's groceries (working capital) | ₹15,000-25,000 |
| Total estimated | around ₹55,000-₹75,000 |
Here is the good news. On 1 August 2026 the commercial cylinder got ₹202 cheaper, a second straight month of cuts; in Delhi the price fell from July's ₹2,930 to around ₹2,730. And if you start with the utensils you already own at home, this whole budget can shrink to around ₹30,000. Our advice: put your first rupee into the quality of your groceries, not into utensils.
How do you set the menu and the price per tiffin?
Do not fix your price out of thin air. Order a week's food each from 3-4 tiffin services in your area; this ₹500-700 of homework will save you months of losses. Note their prices, the number of rotis, the quality of the sabzi and their delivery timing, then set your own price.
To see the math, suppose one tiffin costs you ₹50 in ingredients, gas and packing, and you sell it for ₹80. At 30 tiffins a day, working 26 days in a month, that comes to about ₹62,000 in sales and roughly ₹39,000 in ingredient cost. This is only an illustration; your real figures will be decided by your city's rates.
Three straight rules for the menu:
- Print the week's menu in advance and hand it to the customer; trust is built more by knowing what is coming than by the food itself
- Keep separate lists for veg and non-veg customers, and add one special item on Sundays or festivals
- Every 15 days, ask 2-3 customers directly what they want changed; the menu that stays alive is the one that keeps changing
Where will you find customers? 5 ways to market
Your first 10 customers come through people you know, the next 100 come through a system. Work on both:
- WhatsApp first. Put the daily menu on your status, and send the week's menu to society and PG groups. A trial-tiffin offer runs cheapest right here.
- A Google Maps listing. The person searching 'tiffin service near me' is your hottest customer; make a free listing with photos and timings.
- Direct tie-ups with PGs, hostels and coaching centres. Talk to the warden or owner about a monthly rate; one tie-up can mean 15-20 tiffins at once.
- 2-3 reels a week on Instagram. Show the food being cooked; not the glamour, it is the steam rising off a roti that sells. The full method for selling online is in our online food business post.
- Go to Swiggy and Zomato once your kitchen is steady. Platforms extend your reach but take a commission; read how to run and promote a kitchen without a storefront in our cloud kitchen post.
Pamphlets and hoardings still work, they are just not enough on their own. Print a QR code on your pamphlet that takes people straight to your WhatsApp.
How much can you earn from a tiffin service?
Straight talk: anyone who quotes you a fixed monthly figure is guessing. Earnings rest on three things, the number of customers, the margin per tiffin, and the working days in the month. In the example above, once you subtract ingredient cost from 30 tiffins, whatever is left still has to cover the next gas cylinder, delivery petrol and breakage.
The risks are just as real. Vegetable prices rise and fall, so your margin will not be the same every month. One sick day means 30 customers' meals stop; keep a backup pair of hands lined up in advance. And the biggest risk, a drop in taste, is insured only by your own daily tasting.
The path to growth is clear: 30 to 60 tiffins, then an office canteen contract or a small event order. Our catering business guide will help you prepare for that next step.
How do you manage credit and your books?
The least-talked-about truth of the tiffin business: it runs on credit. Most customers pay at the end of the month, which means you feed people all month using groceries bought from your own pocket. Keep 30 customers' accounts in a notebook and an end-of-month argument with 4-5 of them is guaranteed: 'Bhaiya, how many days did I actually eat?'
That is why you should keep your books digital from day one. Create an account for every customer on a free digital ledger app like OkCredit, make a daily entry, and at month-end the app sends payment reminders by SMS on its own; you do not have to make the awkward reminder call. The money comes straight into your account via UPI or QR. Over 1 crore shopkeepers manage their credit this way.
Trust in UPI is no longer up for debate. According to NPCI figures, in July 2026 alone UPI saw 23.66 billion transactions worth ₹29.88 lakh crore. Your customer already knows how to scan a QR; you just have to keep your books running at the same speed.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is it legal to run a tiffin service from a home kitchen?
Yes. Cooking and selling food from home is completely legal, just get FSSAI basic registration for ₹100 on the FoSCoS portal and print the registration number on your packaging or bill. If you open a bigger setup or a dine-in centre, municipal trade licence rules also apply.
Do you need an FSSAI licence for a tiffin service?
You need registration, not a licence. After the FSSAI reforms effective 1 April 2026, basic registration alone is enough up to ₹1.5 crore annual turnover, and it is now valid in perpetuity, with no repeated renewals.
How much does it cost to start a tiffin service?
On a small scale, meaning 25-30 tiffins a day, you can get going for around ₹55,000-75,000. That covers utensils, tiffin boxes, a commercial cylinder, FSSAI registration and the first month's groceries. Start with the utensils you already have at home and the amount drops further.
Do you have to pay GST on a tiffin service?
If your annual turnover is below ₹20 lakh, GST registration is not required. Above that, tiffin and restaurant service attracts 5% GST (with no input tax credit). In the first year most tiffin services stay below this threshold.
Can you sell a tiffin service on Swiggy or Zomato?
Yes. Swiggy restarted its home-style food service called 'Daily' in May 2024, and Zomato is already in this segment with 'Everyday'. Check both the onboarding terms and the commission in each app's partner section for your city before you decide.
How much can you earn from a tiffin service?
No honest fixed figure exists, because earnings rest on your number of customers and your margin. The full math for the 30-tiffins-a-day example is above; vegetable and grocery prices rise and fall, so the margin is not the same every month.
What is the first step today?
A ₹100 registration on the FoSCoS portal, a survey of 3 tiffin services in your neighbourhood, and a promise of 10 trial tiffins. That is it, the business is on. And with your very first customer's first entry, make your books digital, so at month-end your hard-earned money does not get tangled in the pages of a notebook.
Download the OkCredit app for free and keep your tiffin service's accounts clean from day one.
Sources
- FSSAI press release: regulatory reforms, March 2026
- IndiaFilings: FSSAI registration fees
- BankBazaar: FSSAI registration guide
- ClearTax: GST on food service
- Razorpay: GST registration limits
- IMARC: India online food delivery market
- IMARC: India cloud kitchen market
- Inc42: Swiggy Daily relaunch
- Business Standard: commercial LPG price, August 2026
- StartupTalky (NPCI figures): UPI July 2026
