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Where do I stand ?

By Karan Pandhi on 49 Comments / 1545 views

When I joined Rodinhoods, I was completely blank as what I can benefit or learn about business out here. As I have been raised in a family with a business background, but as it’s said ” learning is like food, you can’t live without it and you can’t grow without it.” 

In the last two days I have been going through Alok Kejriwal’s numerous blogs, and a few others too. I learnt that what I viewed it as was far myopic two days ago than today. I wish to start my own restaurant chain and grow it as big as I can. I was searching over linked in and I crashed into Rodinhood, or may be God just dropped me into this treasure chest which I have been craving for, on how to start, where to start, and what to start, these few answers though not completly but yet somewhere at the back of my mind were answered through the blogs. I have yet a lot to learn, earn, and be somewhere in this world.

I would request you to go through the presentation, and if there are any flaws or technicality which I might have missed out, please do let me know on : 

T : 9619-299-311 , 9699-246-444

E : vegeatario@yahoo.com ; vegeatario@gmail.com

I know that nobody has the time to call or mail on such petty issues, but your support will help me boost up my morale. I will also learn in the end I will quote Mr. Abraham Lincoln 

” If we share a dollar, we both will have a dollar. But if we share a thought we both will have two thoughts.”

 

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49 Comments

  1. Karan, Whatever you have mentioned in slide no. 2, have you done test marketing for these products? What is your USP? 

  2. To my limited knowledge of the quick service industry one thing i know for sure is that there are margins but those can vanish after one factors in property cost/rent into the workings. 

    I am not sure if you have factored that in ? The first year revenues of 30lac with 3 stores and having a profit of 9lac i.e. 30%.  Rentals will be high in any metro city and to gain footage you need to be well placed…  Am sure you not looking at any high bandwidth advt to start with. 

    Please do correct me if i am wrong !!

    Luck

  3. HI Karan,

    I’ll try to answer this from the POV of food connoisseur. Please be advised, I’m not a businessman, nor a marketing guru so these would be fundamental points which I as a consumer think are important. 

    There are a couple of fundamentals you need to build this business upon and though you’ve already mentioned them in your presentation, the magnitude of emphasis and continuity that these demand is the key :

    a. Hygiene & Cleanliness – I have seen a Subway outlet in my city collapse after 10 years of operations because they went astray on hygiene. Everything from sights to smells have to be managed. Quick service restaurants have to manage cleanliness more aggressively due to the large number of walk-ins and customers. And I’ve see tables being cleaned with mops that stink. Such things create a really bad impression and yet these are quite obvious.

    b. Cost vs Quality – Quick Service is naturally seen as low cost, and this, for many outlets has meant lowering quality. If you can tackle this, you’ve nailed one of the biggest problems.

    c. Taste – I’m mentioning taste on number 3 and there is a reason. Unlike fine dining restaurants, people rarely have ample time to ponder too much on taste. However, having said that, taste is what will drive people back. 

    d. Feedback (Very Important) – I may be mentioning this down on number 4, however, what 99% quick service restaurants lack is a personal connect with the consumer. This is mainly because customers may not be frequent, or there may be large volumes. However, if you can get your floor manager to interact regularly with the customers to get active feedback and try to know frequent consumers, this will surely have a great impact. You normally see this in fine dining restaurants, however in both cases you’re dealing with a consumer. So develop a system of feedback. Involve your consumers in improving the quality of your food. Introduce a way by which you can add items to your menu by consumer feedback and make that consumer feel special. 

    e. Staff Training – The people who interact with the customers need to be trained really well. So, American Thick Shake is NOT to be pronounced as ‘Amreekan Thick Shake’. And since you would typically want to keep your wage bill down, you might see this problem when hiring front end staff like waiters and servers. So, induct them, train them.

    f. Branding – Is this your final logo ? If so, it needs work. The colors are too cold to create excitement and the choice of fonts needs some work. I’m sorry if I’m sounding a bit harsh on this but I work in the creative industry so this is my thing. Would be happy to provide more inputs here.

    g. WOM & Social Media – Word of Mouth is the ONLY way to get more business. Its also perhaps the cheapest way if you consider the cost of putting up a print advert or doing a google adwords campaign in the beginning. So, your quality benchmarks will set the tone of your WOM. However, do strongly consider using social media to educate people on points such as using freshly cut vegetables on order and creating desserts on order. Such things need to be told and people will not discover this automatically. As I mentioned, in a quick service place, one’s not really thinking about food since time is of the essence. If that were to be, McDonalds plastic tasting burgers would’ve flopped ages ago. 

    h. Continuity – All above should stay as they are at inception even after 10 years of operations. A lot of times, standards go down when businesses thrive. Make sure that does not happen.

    Best of Luck for Hogerzone !! 

  4. Karan, Its a good initiative. One thing which only matters in food business is a good taste. Consumers notice decorations or other stuffs only for the first time .after that they follow only the Taste. If you can develop a good taste for the Mass ,you will be definitely a winner.

  5. Thanks a lot for the reply Anil.

    Our USP are the following Anil :

    1. Pure Veg –

    So all those who ponder upon thinking to go to Mc Donald’s or elsewhere need not worry, the whole family can come to our store. A situation happened in CCD, where my friend and her family went to have dark passion and I have should her that dessert, prior it was Veg to my knowledge and then they put a red dot and made it Non Veg, due to which her whole family walked out and didn’t have it.

    2. Price Range – 

    As stated above INR 15 to INR 250. It is for all classes the general and the premium. Thus not compromising on any one.

    3. Marketing Strategy – 

    Since I don’t wish to disclose this, I will not answer it, once it open up come and feel the difference.

    4. Quality –

    I wish to again keep this as our secret ingredient as the products will be far different from normal QSR’s.

    At this moment I have not tested our products, since I’m yet in start up stages. 

  6. Dear Amar,

    First of All Thank You for your reply, helped me know about the issues.

    I understand your thoughts, I have been calculating all the costs and taxes, and all the various expenses, I would say the fixed costs have been finalized and also the expected monthly fixed expenses have also been thought about. The calculations above are an approximation. Thus I would say the income can go high and low.

    Well the rents are high in metros, that is correct I’m not looking at very large scale properties, since they increase the expenses for no good reason. I’m currently looking at such markets in Mumbai and Pune, where the cost is decent and there is a crowd who is ready to spend. 

    I do almost a month of property study before I venture in any area, I go in the morning, afternoon, evening every week on weekday and weekends keep a ticker to see how the crowd is and how the crowd spends at the nearest restaurant be it a local or an MNC.

  7. Thanks a lot Sachin, 

    I would say you have given me ideas, a lot of them.

    Feedback point I wish not to discuss as it is one of my USP, so I would say when it opens I will announce out here and come to feel the difference. 

    Staff Training – I’m trying to keep those who are fluent in English. The wages aren’t a worry to me, as I’m ready to work for free for a few months as it is my dream, and people work free for their dreams. I also thank you as this point is to be kept in mind. I really thank you for it.

    The logo yes I had planned it to keep only the name only on a plain white background. Actually I liked the font it was a bit kiddish though, and today we do more for kids than us. Thus a weird design.I will surely contact you for the inputs, please do let me know your number and e-mail id.

    Well for Social media, I would say my facebook page is up, though its empty since I don’t have anything to put up on to it. 

    Quality and Taste is a gift from my dad’s genes, I never go to a place where the taste is not good or I don’t like the quality. I have been to d smallest places if the taste is good. for example in Mumbai outside Andheri Station West there is a restaurant in the line of Mc Donalds, I don’t know it name even, but the paneer tikka masala is awesome you actually smell the barbecue flavor of the cottage cheese and veggies.

    In Pune in the early days, my cousins stay out there, thus I know there is a small old maharashtrian house who serves Misal Pav though spicy yet crazily awesome. 

    I have been to places just for food across Mumbai and India. Since I’m a pure Veg and thus I want to keep this QSR as a pure veg. 

    I wish to say this also cleanliness is something I like the most. I have planned for hygiene by keeping air fresheners, hand wash, and for the staff, when they come in the morning, perfumes which will be used once they start sweating and smelling, and also face washes to keep them fresh. 

    I’m glad fr your queries and would love to contact you for the logo design. 

     

  8. Karan now I am fully satisfied with your answer.

    Best of luck………..for your journey.

    I trust soon HOGERZONE will be a frequent place for Mumbaikars. 

  9. Dear Shrutin, 

    I thank you for taking the time to reply.

    I have calculated the costing part almost 6 months back in regards to the capital expenses and the operating expenses. These have been factored in just for one store. 

    I know over confidence and optimism kills and anything in excess is harmful.

    I wish to keep it Hogerzone for intellectual property purposes, as there would be a store name Hogger zone in India, thus to vary it and fro trade mark purposes the name has been changed

  10. Dear Gyan,

    Thank you for your reply. I’m glad for supporting me out.

    Will surely let you know once I open up my outlet.

  11. Great. I can see passion which will translate into success for sure. Best Wishes. I would be happy to provide creative inputs and can point you to someone who can do really good logos. He’s a friend and based here in Chandigarh. I’ve added you as a friend here and will message you my contact as well as my friend’s contact. 

  12. Thanks a lot Anil for your support.

  13. Thank you Sachin, will surely contact you soon.

  14. Great then…. !! Best of luck on the property search as n when !!!

    Also i recollect some one telling me that the FDA is in process of setting up new rules and regulations , do keep a tab of that…

    Luck

  15. Thank You for the advice, will keep an eye on the FDA site.

  16. Congratulations on your decision to go into a business.

    Restaurants world over have a 98% failure rate in first five years and here are a few tips on how you can avoid that.

    1) Do not buy new equipment, since the failure rate is very high, you will get an one or two years old equipment at at least half the price.

    2) First focus on your cash flow then the food and ambiance.

    3) Understand and know your local laws at the back of your hand.

    4) At the end of it is not about just taste but Location. You are not in the food business you are in the real estate business, you price your product based on how much time it takes to consume.

    5) If you find someone stealing get rid of them asap. If not they will mistreat your costumers because of the shame of being caught.

    6) When dealing with vendors, favor reliability over price.

    7) Before you invest your hard earned money into this venture, work in a similar establishment for about two month and that will give the best idea of what you should and should not do.

    Regards

    Abhijit

  17. Dear Abhijit, 

    Thank You for the 7 point by someone. I totally understood them and will keep them at the back of my mind.

    on your 7th point just a few points about myself I have worked with Trident Bandra Kurla – EIH Group as a Finance Assistant for a year and One year in a souvenir shop at Hilton in London as a store manager. Thus I’m well versed with hospitality industry, and for the creation or cooking part, I have worked with my father who was into Indian sweets and savories. 

    Though I’m not boasting about myself just to let everyone know those who feel I need a backhand experience in this field, I have a sufficient amount of it, 

    I also would thank you to be clear enough to say that 98% restaurants fail.

    Thanking You,

  18. Dear Karan

    My very best to you, I am indeed glad to see that you have the courage to follow your dreams.

    Regards

    Abhijit

  19. Hi Karan

    I felt like working on some logo options for you, as a graphic designer and a Rodinhooder. Please have a look at these.

    Please ignore these designs if you have already fixed up your logo.

  20. Hi Saravana,

    I have not yet finalized it, there is just work going on to finalizing the logo. Thank you for helping out on the logo. I would surely contact you once I’m looking to finalize the logo.

    Thanking You,

    Warm Regards,

    Karan Pandhi

  21. Thank You Sir

  22. Hey Karan,

    What problem are you looking at solving? I like the concept. Also will add here that there are plenty of businesses there doing the same thing. A lot of time you don’t need to re-invent the wheel just turn it in a different way.

    Being a start-up in the food space myself there are plenty of challenges. I have met and spoken to over a 100+ people in the food space over the last few months.

    In case there is something specific that you want help on please feel free to buzz me. hitesh@mumbaiyamasti.com or +91 9867359533

  23. Willing to help you anytime…Cheers!

  24. Hi Hitesh, 

    I wish to allow people to go for an Indian brand, and let our money stay in the country rater than take it overseas to MNC. This would be a very later stage. 

    But at the initial I would look at solving a problem where people who are Pure Veg they don’t have even a single QSR where they can sit and enjoy veg food, without a smell of non veg food. Though I’m not against it, but since I’m a vegetarian, I have seen my parents they don’t even walk into a non veg restaurant unless there is no option, yet they look around the kitchen to see if they both are different or not. 

    PURE VEG QSR this is what I want to call it as. 

    I wish to keep it simple, and just not let people confuse with a name and serve them a dish which is just a normal dish.

    Like Cottage cheese stuffed in something and serve it as a long big name, rather call it stuffed Paneer. Simplify.

  25. Hi Karan,

    Are you naming the restaurant ‘Hogerzone’? Don’t you think vegetarians would associate ‘Hogerzone’ with non-veg food ‘coz of ‘Hog’?

  26. Hi Pratibha,

    I never thought someone can connect the name hogerzone to non-veg. Thank you for your advice and humble reply. 

    Since, hogger mean some one who eats a lot and zone a place where you can just eat to your maximum.

    I also wish to add there is a tag line which we are working on so as to let people know about it being a pure veg QSR, like ” Veggies paradise” or “Veg Hoggerz”and a few more we are working on. 

    In addition to the name we will be keeping a huge banner sating that we are a pure veg QSR.

  27. Hey Karan HOggerzone is a cool name, quite likely some people feel it non veg as in US they call a pig= Hog
    Some one present ur log BLue and Red and unappetizing brown I suggest Try Fresh parrot green since you R all veg

  28. Not necessary that you stuff word VEg in tag line,as it is the category of food,

    It should be independent Isuggest the agency working for u on LOgo,brand design,menu design store look ask them to bounce up or go to social media for people to suggest one of your three best slogans

  29. Hi Ashwin,

    Thank you for your reply, i didn’t know about pig being called hog in d states, 

    I will be looking at logos since I’m yet in the pre stages, we are finalized with the menu and other stuff and then comes the big thing funding, so I have a long way will surely keep in mind your advice.

  30. Nice try for the logo. It looks very nice. The font selection and background colors with the shapes look quite nice.

  31. thnx Abdul, 

    The logo isn’t yet finalized, but will surely try to be something different.

  32. Hi Karan,

    Sound good idea..so have you started? hoz it going?

  33. hi Kiran,

    Not yet, I’m just a step away from starting it, it all ends up to the funding.

    So its just a dream yet, going to realize it soon.

  34. Just doing some quick calculations : if 3 shops of the first 3 years will generate 30 lacs, why would 15 in the 3rd year generate only 80 lacs?  Why is the efficiency dropping over the years ?  

    Also, per the numbers, each shop would be run @ 56k a month, and make about 2.8K a day.  That’s about 35 customers a day.  Are the costs and # of customers too low ?  Which cities are you going to target ?  Should you be running a pilot somewhere to figure out actual costs, foot falls, advertising components, labour requirements?  

    On the concept, you should have a look at Pico.  They seem to have a similar model to yours – fresh cooked, popular items (lots of sandwiches).

  35. Hi Mahesh,

    I seriously feel tongue twisted to answer these tricky questions, yet as it’s my duty to answer so will I, actually I’m a bit skeptical about the numbers, I’m not targeting big numbers from day 1 yet I know I want to grow at a large scale, and eventually the numbers will be beyond the ppt’s. 

    I actually have just kept an eye on my expenses, what they will be, how much can I withstand to pay in the early days, since I’m not in the condition to put someone else’s money in a loss, as I will be investing, yet will be needing a lot of funding from the investors. 

    I’m not looking at lower customers, as all my current targeted outlets have large societies and also are around school and colleges. I’m currently looking at Mumbai for the first year and a half, post which I look to head to Pune and Nashik. Since I don’t know how to run a pilot or a pre-run, I’m quite not able to showcase something that I will be doing. 

    I don’t know about Pico, but will surely visit it. Thank You for all your calculations and advice, will surely change the numbers by doing a re-calculation on the sales figures. 

    Thank You Mahesh for making me first time not being able to answer the questions boldly.

  36. Hi Karan,

    I loved your pricing of products. I read few comments here and ur ans to them and most of my queries was resolved.

    But one thing concerns me, as you said, you will dice, slice, etc your vegetables, fruits, etc only once the order is placed ofcourse to maintain freshness. But this will increase the delivery time once order is placed. Most of the restaurants process their raw food material into intermediary product, so that it saves time.

    Now, you are launching a Quick Service Restaurant, but QSR and long time delivery doesn’t go together. I know you must have thought of this and definitely found a solution too.

    Regards,

    Aman Jha

    9892621090

  37. Hi Aman, 

    I know a lot of people are saying, how will you be able to do it, see once the order is punched it takes almost 10 – 15 minutes in CCD to complete the order, we are looking at the same way, the fruits and vegetables which will be kept in its raw format(such as vegetables in Subway), we will be just keeping one person who will be doing the slicing and dicing, so as to keep it quick , as all the other work will be done by the chef or me. 

    Thank you for your concern.

  38. Karan it looks good by what you say. But I’d say you do a mock test. When your restaurant is all set to be launched. Place an order and time it till delivery, check it out if everything goes well.

  39. Will surely be doing a pre run for almost 3 days, so as to get the heck of it. 

    We will be calling in our friends to test n try, and give us the feedback. 

    Thank you for your advice.

    Now I’m in the investment stage. So if any investors out here please do let me know, I’m now looking at lower start up of investment requirement for INR 5 lacs.

  40. Check out https://www.pico.co.in/

  41. I did check it out, will be looking to head for a taste of their sandwiches and see what I can amend or add to my flavors.

    Thanks a lot for the advice, will surely implement these.

  42. U can invest in vegi shredder or food processor to avoid manual cutting it will speed up ur delivery

  43. karan,
    pls go through this post especially the comments – lots of valuable learnings here…

    https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/how-i-doomed-my-1st-venture

  44. Thanks Asha,

    You are the best, I had read his story, and surely learnt a lot, will also go through the comments.

    Thank You a lot ASHA, I can’t comment anything further, I’m speechless, Thank you 🙂

  45. Thanks Ashwin for the advice, we will be buying that equipment, but will also need someone to attend to it. As once you slice it needs to be cleaned, else wise the smell of various vegetables will come on to the other.

    Thank you for your advice again.

  46. Hello Karan,

    Love your energy to go about and start your own venture. I think after 4 pages of replies, most of the comments cover most initial points. Rest you will learn by “jumping into the pool”. But just want to point out a few things which might look obvious but will save you lot of heartache later on.

    Where I stay in Andheri, I have 4 new restaurants open up beside each other and I have been watching all of them very closely ( ofcourse I love food) and to see how a business will perform.

    For anyone who wants to start a fast food biz, this lane is a real case study as it has seen between them everything from Continental to south indian to Premium burger joints.

    Only one of the restaurants (South Indians Iyengars) has remained, rest have changed few owners within 1 year of operation.

    Though your presentation is good on paper, it will be worth almost nothing when you come down to the field. You may have underestimated your risks and overestimated your successes.

    Just a few things I can suggest :

    1.Start in one location, make as many mistakes as possible but perfect your system and profitablity before expanding.

    2. Your team : Hiring can be a challenge and when things go wrong, it usually does, you will know where you stand.

    3. I think people have commented on your brand name and logo and I too feel very strongly about it. Its just not working. Giving off a wrong image even before people care to know what you are about is a hard battle to fight.

    4. Brand awareness is expensive. Get it right and you can grow leaps and bounds, get it wrong and you can sink very fast.

    If you open anywhere in suburbs, let me know so I can drop by. Wishing you support and success for your venture.

  47. Hi Ratnakar,

    Thank you for your support, I’m glad for your points.

    I have planned to change the name from HOGERZONE TO VEGEATARIO. It’s my number one point, a lot of people complained, so I changed it in my Funding Pitch.

    2. My team currently, I’m hiring only 3 employees, one chef for bakery products, and the other a street side stall guy for cutting the vegetables, and another janitor, while the delivery guys will be working on commission.

    3. I’m planning to start off in Kandivali East at the moment, we are working.on the funding now, once open will surely let everyone know.

    thank You once again for your suggestions.

  48. karan – have you changed your presentation and added a new one with the new name and logo????

    in such cases you need to UPDATE THE POST – not change it!!!

  49. Yes mam, I had changed the presentation a bit to accommodate a few queries and also the name change. 

    Sorry didn’t know for the same will surely keep it in mind. 

    Thank you so much mam.

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