CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Mainak Sarkar, Co-founder & CEO, Explorex.
Given that the company was started during the pandemic, what was the thought behind starting Explorex? What was the need/industry gap that the founders were trying to address through the same?
Before starting Explorex, Mainak & Pritam founded Eatable, a company dedicated on 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 realise the underlying cause of the issue they were attempting to address.
Technology has disrupted and revolutionized industries around us, yet, the Indian restaurant industry still functions with decade-old technology and piecemeal solutions which have emerged as a major bottleneck for the industry’s growth, and hamper its efforts to match the service expectations of today’s customers.
Restaurant space in India frequently lag behind in adopting cutting-edge, cloud-based solutions. Post pandemic, restaurants began to digitise quickly, which helped the hospitality sector recover. Due to the digitization of operations, many restaurants are implementing technology to improve customer experience and streamline operations.
Explorex envisions empowering restaurants to drive operational & financial success and help them deliver customer satisfaction excellence to redefine the restaurant industry. ‘Bridge by Explorex’ allows its partners to manage all their restaurant operations with any device. Bridge leverages a full-stack operating system designed to suit the needs of the restaurant industry. Explorex is bringing about a digital revolution by solving order management, operations management, online delivery, payment processing, reports & analytics, and guest identification and re-engagement all using one system for the 30 million+ restaurants in India.
Furthermore, managing vendors, purchase orders, GRNs, receipts, and payments is made easier with the whole inventory management solution. The management may access and manage real-time, consolidated, detailed analytics and data from all locations in one place, which aids them in obtaining an all-encompassing and thorough understanding of performance. With Bridge’s powerful AI customer re-engagement tool and smarter customer profiling, targeted campaigns can be run for optimal results.
The number of restaurants that the company has partnered with? What are the specific services that the company is providing to its partner restaurants?
An organisation founded with empathy at heart, Explorex envision itself as a beyond software company, wants to empower business owners to nurture their dream with care. As of January 2023, Explorex has partnered with over 350 restaurants and provides end-to-end restaurant management solution. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company enjoys a strong base in the city and is expanding its presence in cities like Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
Bridge – the platform by Explorex is an ecosystem of tools that streamline entire operational system of restaurants and help in assisting the management team of the restaurants. The platform includes integrated POS/mPOS solutions, web based digital menus, automated ordering, inventory management, integrated payment solutions, customer re-engagement and recognition tools, detailed analytics and resports, as well as delivery services.
How is the emergence of digitization streamlining operations in the restaurant industry? Do you foresee any specific tech trend that is going to dominate the restaurant industry in the coming years?
Explorex is assisting restaurants in managing orders, operations, online deliveries, payment processing, reports and analytics, guest identification, and re-engagement and much more, all using ‘one-system.’
2023 will also see democratization of technology for restaurants of all shapes and sizes. The time when only the top 5% of businesses could afford all the technological solutions that could benefit their operations is long gone. The new technical software consists of assisting restaurants in managing orders, operations, online deliveries, payment processing, reports and analytics, guest identification, re-engagement and much more, all through the use of ‘one-system.’ Automated Ordering is going to dominate the restaurant industry in the coming years. These technologies automate specific tasks or, at the very least, eliminate a few steps for staff. As a result, they increase efficiency and product consistency, helping you offer better service. It provides consumers with a seamless ordering experience and aids the restaurant in raising the average number of orders per table, increasing revenue.
Tell us about your recent funding and how do you look at investing these funds?
Explorex have secured $1.5 mn in pre-seed and $5 mn in seed funding rounds in 2022 and we plan on spending these funds on expanding our offerings PAN India and for product development. Our focus is to execute a consistent acquisition strategy, promoting our product’s competitive advantage and strengthen the market position.
What business plans or strategies does the organisation have for the upcoming year?
Our product suite has achieved a very good market fit and we plan on going head-on with customer acquisition Expanding to all the Tier 1 cities and aim to reach 3000 restaurants by year end. We are further going to focus on offering additional features in our solutions to make the restaurant experience much more seamless.
