In Conversation with Mainak Sarkar, Co-Founder and CEO Explorex

Please share the vision and mission behind Explorex? Please share your journey with us.

Explorex has a vision to become a market leader by providing restaurants with a complete ecosystem to meet all their needs and a mission to modernize the restaurant industry by democratizing technology and providing the industry with tools that not only help manage businesses more effectively but also raise bottom-line efficiency and top-line revenue. Eatables was our very first venture which was committed to improving the dining experience for restaurant customers through QR codes, even before Covid-19. Although it had to close due to the pandemic, we gained a better understanding of the industry as a result, which helped us identify the root of the problem we were trying to solve. During the year 2020, we started Explorex implementing the learnings from our previous startup and bringing up a very successful venture out of it addressing the key features the future restaurant markets required to gain better traction as well as maintain a digitalized and efficient stand to compete in future markets while building customer loyalty, this enabled us to grow further and work with 1000+ restaurants 15+ cities PAN India, we are spearheading our services with utmost commitment to simplify and optimize the restaurant industry.

How is technology revolutionizing the restaurant experience? And Does technology affect the guest experience?

We have witnessed how technology has disrupted many industries in the recent past, especially the hospitality industry. With the constant evolution of newer technology, it is important that

restaurants adapt to these changes, allowing their business to be easily managed while they focus on the specialties their restaurant offers. The ecosystem we have created through Explorex runs restaurants of various sizes, from large to small, and takes care of their end-to-end operations. We have the expertise to manage any restaurant, small or large, independent, or part of a chain. By removing every hurdle from the process, the company works carefully to offer solutions that not only dramatically improve the lives of its workers and customers, but also increase the restaurant’s total efficiency and income. Having a well-crafted dynamic menu made digital, guests can now access these menus at the tip of their finger, order online without any hassle, and they can also check out of the restaurant easily due to Integrated Payment Systems making transactions easier and more efficient thus building great customer service and loyalty.

The industry is becoming tech-savvy day by day; Food Tech and restaurant technology are some of the trendiest topics right now. Please share your views on the technology that is implemented. How can companies use automation to drive customer loyalty?

Absolutely! The industry is becoming more and more tech-savvy by the day, while FoodTech has been widely popular due to its ever-advancing nature of preservation, quality control, and research and development of food products, restaurant technology is slowly gaining momentum in the marketplace, with quiet a significant number of restaurants adapting to it. We have seen a substantial transition in the restaurant business in the past years due to changing consumer preferences and rising competition, to keep up with these changes we’ve embraced marketing automation in the restaurant business offering an abundance of advantages that allows firms to prosper in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Restaurants can now provide personalized experiences, automate marketing duties, and spot trends for better decision-making by implementing marketing automation solutions provided by our company. As a result, restaurant owners can make the most of their resources and concentrate on giving both new and returning customers outstanding dining experiences while developing long-lasting relationships and improving customer loyalty.

What are the Target and future plans of Explorex?

Explorex was founded by us in the year 2020, with only 5 restaurant partners, my co-founder and I primarily worked from home, during these early stages. We started this company with the goal of eliminating the burden of managing the restaurant among the owners, by automating their end-to-end business processes whether it was onboarding staff, setting up the kitchen to even digitizing the menu we did it all. Headquartered in Bangalore we had a significant presence there as well as in other cities including Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. In addition to having more than 1000 restaurant partners spread over 15+ Indian cities as of March 2023, we also raised USD 6.5 million in funding through pre-seed and seed rounds. Our company intends to use these funds for product development as well as to broaden its offers throughout India. To improve its competitive edge in services and strengthen its market position, we aim to grow payment volumes and implement a consistent acquisition strategy. In just nine months after beginning payments, Explorex handled more than INR 70 crore in the previous year. This year, we hope to process at least INR 500 crore. With more than 80+ staff now we have relocated to a larger, cutting-edge office facility, with total GMV processed surging by over 115% from February 23 to July 23.

How Explorex plans to democratize technology for the hospitality ecosystem?

Explorex provides an ecosystem with a goal to positively disrupt the restaurant business and leave a significant mark by helping restaurants modernize their operations and boost income and customer satisfaction, we provide an all-encompassing solution to your restaurant needs while committing ourselves to come up with an effective resolution for every operational issue that any of our partners is experiencing. While observing that the currently used models were ineffective and lacked the necessary technological know-how to meet customer demands, our comprehensive suite of solutions filled this gap, by minimizing inconsistent solutions and outdated software’s complexity and prices. Restaurants can now focus on what they do best: providing outstanding food and service, by using our technology to automate and optimize critical areas of their operations and to handle the end-to-end processes required to smoothly run the restaurant. The enhancement of our users’ experiences is the sole goal of all we do because, to us, experience is everything.

The tech market today is highly competitive, how is your product different from the others? Please share the USP of your brand. What is your strength that more restaurant brands should opt for Explorex?

Having various multi-functional tech companies entering the marketplace in the restaurant business, what gives us the upper hand in the market is that we focus on our existing business strategy designed to give both the smallest and largest companies in the

industry access to the resources they need to expand and maintain their operations. We use an ecosystem strategy that includes all the tools required to operate a restaurant through Explorex. Additionally, these partner restaurants may serve customers both on and off-site seamlessly thanks to a single dashboard that helps with both Dine-ins & takeaway orders. Thorough data and information about the restaurant can be accessed on any device making it easier to track the restaurant’s progress. This feature helps enhance overall efficiency and restaurant revenue in addition to removing all the difficulties. From setting up your kitchen to onboarding workers to even managing your inventory Explorex does it all, leveraging the power of technology we have shown restauranteurs how they can leave the worries of managing their businesses to us and focus on what they do best, serve their customers the best of their delicacies. We push ourselves to develop and come up with viable options for all the operational challenges our partners encounter which gives us the advantage of brands opting for Explorex in comparison to other companies.

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