Back in the old days, looking for your favorite cuisines and ordering food online seemed like the myth. But, after advancement in technology and increasing trend of internet users. Now, online food ordering has become normal activities for many foodies.
Founded by Mr. Manohar Adhikari, Foodmandu.com, launched in November 2010, is the first company in Nepal that delivers foods from more than 120 different restaurants in Kathmandu to your doorstep.
BlogorTech got an opportunity to interact with Mr. Manohar Adhikari, CEO of Foodmandu.com. So, without much further ado. Let’s hear what he has to say about the journey of Foodmandu.com so far.
Q. What were the initial challenges you faced?
A. In the initial phase, it was a big challenge to convince restaurants to accept our business model and become our partners. Many of them hardly believed this business model would even work. We were thinking of launching the service only when we partner with at least 25 restaurants but later we decided to start with just 10 restaurants. Since the online shopping culture was not established at that time, the other big challenge was to gain the trust of the customers that they will actually get the food delivered at their doorstep that they order online. People used to get surprised when they see their food delivered in promised time.
Q. How is the growth of online food ordering business? Is it in growth stage or nascent stage? (In context of Nepalese Market)
A. I would say every eCommerce business in Nepalese Market is in a nascent stage and same applies to us also. Though we’ve grown tremendously since our establishment, I would say, it’s just the beginning.
Q. What are the turning points for Foodmandu.com?
A. I don’t remember any specific events that I can define as turning points. We’ve been providing consistent service to the customers for the last 5 and half years and have been growing gradually.
Q. How many employees are working in Foodmandu.com?
A. Currently, our entire team consists of 35 members in which we have dedicated 20 people for the delivery and others on the customer service, marketing, and other departments.
Q. How many restaurants are listed in Foodmandu.com and from those how many orders do you receive on average per day?
A. There are 120+ restaurants listed in Foodmandu. The numbers will keep increasing every week. We receive about 150 orders on an average per day.
Q. Are there any competitors in the market yet?
A. In the past, there were a couple of competitors but we do not have any direct competitor at present.
Q. Are you planning to extend the food delivering services to other cities?
A. We do not have immediate plans for expansion to other cities. However, we’ll definitely go to other cities also at the right time.
Q. Explain the Startup Scene in Nepal.
A. I see a lot of start-up companies coming up with innovative ideas and there are a lot of support available for those through various accelerator programs and platforms. This is very encouraging. In the country like Nepal, lots of things are yet to be explored and there are limitless opportunities. You just need to find a right one for you and get started.
Q. Is there anything you want to share with BlogorTech viewers?
A. Be innovative. Think of something that you love to work, that customers need and you can sell. Be focused, be dedicated and have the patience to stay longer.
Now, you can also order your favorite cuisines from your smartphone too. For, that you need to download Foodmandu app; which is available on both Android and iOS Platform.
Download – Foodmandu App in Play Store and App Store
Startup TechTalk is a newly introduced column in BlogorTech, the main objective of this column is to motivate and provide in-depth information about different startups to young aspiring entrepreneurs. We will be inviting different entrepreneurs from different sector to contribute in this section and will keep you posted. CHEERS!