Technology is constantly evolving, and new innovations are taking place every day. Due to such rapid tech advancements, digital transformation is increasing across various industries. Today's consumers expect businesses to provide a seamless digital experience across all touchpoints. The restaurant business is transforming at a rapid pace by leveraging advanced digital technologies. Next-gen technology solutions are helping restaurants to stay competitive by improving their operational efficiency.
Explorex is one of the technology solution providers enabling restaurants to boost their business by adopting latest technology solutions. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently interacted to Mainak Sarkar, Co-founder & CEO, Explorex. Mr. Mainak talked about digitization, their offers, growth plans and much more. Read full conversation below.
Rajeev: Please tell us about how you got the idea of starting Explorex. What is your vision from here?
Mainak: Before starting Explorex, Mainak and Pritam co-founded Eatable, a company dedicated to enhancing the dining experience for patrons of restaurants. It had to close during the pandemic, but Mainak and Pritam gained a thorough grasp of the business as a result, which led them to realize the underlying cause of the issue they were attempting to address.
The industry is filled with decade-old software solutions, all focused on providing piecemeal solutions to a set of interconnected problems. Despite the large size of the industry, restaurants often lag behind in adopting cutting-edge, cloud-based solutions.
Explorex was founded in 2020 to address these issues with the vision of empowering business owners to nurture their dreams with care. The company aims to empower restaurants to drive operational and financial success which helps them deliver excellence in customer satisfaction to redefine the restaurant industry.
For restaurants, Explorex is providing a full-stack ecosystem whereby a restaurant receives all of the necessary CRM capabilities, invoicing and reporting tools, inventory and vendor management systems, POS functionalities, as well as integrated payment collection tools, in one package. This not only enables the restaurant partners to operate their business successfully using digital solutions but also offers a great work environment for their staff and a much-improved dining experience for their customers.
Explorex is bringing about a digital revolution by solving order management, operations management, online delivery, payment processing, reports and analytics, and guest identification and re-engagement all using one system for the 30 million+ restaurants in India. The company has also enabled restaurant owners and operators to provide a seamless experience and increase customer loyalty.
Today, with Explorex, the revenue of these partner restaurants has increased by at least 15%. Further, Explorex has aided them in decreasing table turnaround time and increasing average ticket size, reducing spoilage and leakage, collecting and analyzing valuable diner data, and most importantly, enhancing the customers' experience.
Rajeev: What is your current business model? How do you sell your solutions in the Indian market?
Mainak: Explorex envisions democratising software access for restaurants of all sizes. Our current business model is shaped in such a way that both the smallest & the biggest players in the market can have access to the tools necessary to grow and sustain their businesses. Explorex leverages an ecosystem approach which consists of all the necessary tools needed to run a restaurant.
Furthermore, with Explorex, these partner restaurants can cater to their business both on and off-premises. They get detailed analytics and reports about their restaurant on any device. This function not only eliminates all the hassles but also helps increase overall efficiency and restaurant revenue. With a churn of close to zero in the past 2 years, and especially since India is dominantly a trust deficit market Explorex acquired big names in Bangalore in the initial days as partners, this gave us an enormous advantage over the competition and drives a huge number of referrals. In addition to referrals Explorex does on-ground activations and other digital marketing efforts to sell their solutions PAN India.
Rajeev: How do you help restaurants digitize their operations and boost revenue and customer experience?
Mainak: Explorex's sole passion lies in positively disrupting the restaurant industry and making a lasting impact. The company offers a comprehensive solution for restaurants to digitize their operations, leading to increased revenue and customer satisfaction. By leveraging technology to automate and optimize key aspects of their operations, Explorex allows restaurants to focus on what they do best: providing great food and service.
Bridge, Explorex's full-stack solution to manage the entire restaurant, was built with input and advice from industry experts who were not only concerned about their top line and bottom line but also their customers and staff. The Bridge platform provides an ecosystem of tools that assist the restaurant’s management team by providing web-based digital menus, automated ordering, integrated POS/mPOS solutions, integrated payment solutions, inventory management, customer re-engagement and recognition tools, detailed analytics and reports, as well as delivery services.
Today, with Explorex, the revenue of these partner restaurants has increased by at least 15%. The company has helped them decrease table turnaround time and increase average ticket size, reduce spoilage and leakage, collect and analyze valuable diner data, and most importantly, enhance customers' experience.
Explorex offers end customers a well-crafted digital menu that they can access by scanning the QR code with their phone. It also allows diners to order at their convenience through the web app and provides a seamless ordering experience. Staff can access the software using their POS terminal or system-registered mobile, which acts as a mobile POS solution to manage orders from Bridge, and the integrated payment system makes the checkout process more seamless and straightforward.
Furthermore, the complete inventory management solution helps manage vendors, purchase orders, GRN, receipts, and payments. The management can view and control real-time, consolidated, detailed analytics and data from all locations in one place, which helps them get a holistic and comprehensive view of performance.
Explorex has realized that the power of their platform has already increased staff efficiency and streamlined operations. The company is a firm believer that they are not only helping restaurant owners run and manage their restaurants better but also assisting them in realizing untapped potential.
Rajeev: What are the major challenges for you to grow further?
Mainak: In terms of the product offering, there aren’t any such major challenges for growth as most solution providers in this space are old and lack the ecosystem vision. However, as for any other company in the start-up ecosystem, hiring the right talent could be a big challenge that needs to be addressed.
Rajeev: What are your future growth plans? How do you plan to expand your company in the year 2023?
Mainak: In 2020, Explorex began with just 5 restaurant partners, with the founders mostly working from home during the initial stage. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company has a strong base in the city and has expanded its presence in other cities such as Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. As of March 2023, Explorex has more than 350 restaurant partners across 15+ cities in India and has secured USD 6.5 million in funding over pre-seed and seed rounds.
The company plans to use these funds to expand its offerings across India and for product development. Its target is to increase payment volumes and execute a consistent acquisition strategy to promote its competitive advantage in services and strengthen its market position. Last year, the company processed more than INR 70 crore within just nine months of launching payments and is hopeful to cross at least INR 500 crore this year.
Currently, Explorex operates with more than 50 employees and has moved to a bigger, state-of-the-art office space. Since its inception, Explorex has processed over 30 lakh orders and is growing at a rate of 25% month-over-month in terms of GMV.
