SMCPune team meets TastyKhana
July is the month when we officialy kickstarted our club..Our first meetup happened on 8th July..And generally after the start the next question is “What Next”..Yes next meetup is definitely on the cards ! But ,we thought when SMCPune is all about Pune then why not bring out local stories and talk about the companies who has already tested the waters and how Social media is changing their lives..Team had zeroed down few names ..and then we thought lets go ahead with TastyKhana ..So our team contacted TastyKhana Team and Vinamra Pandiya was more than willing to meet us and share his learning's…We decided to meet in the afternoon…Their corporate office is located in Salunkhe Vihar..Nothing lavish plain simple office..I could see few people who were busy attending phone calls..After all it was the lunch time ! I liked the open terrace area..It was huge..Perfect for their success parties ! Back to business..Here goes the Question and Answer session !
SMCPune : What’s the history of TastyKhana?
Vinamra: It was the month of October and year was 2007, when Shachin and Sheldon started TastyKhana.At that time it was an online listing site for restaurants.People had still not warmed up to the concept of online ordering and for an year TK struggled to make this concept appealing to the market. There was a missing link in the picture – No logistics support..Food On Wheels was the link which we were looking for and which could complete our model..As the name suggests they were logistics arm who delivered the food to the end users..We took over FOW and 2008 was the year when the journey started…We are like “justdial “ for food delivery orders ! We are food delivery experts. From taking the order to delivering it to your doorstep, we manage the entire process for most premium restaurants in town. You can directly order online from the site or simply call us.We have more than 60 delivery boys spread across town and more than 1.5lac food items.Till date we have delivered orders worth 3.3 crores..You can check it live on our website !
We started from Pune and now we are planning to spread wings in Mumbai too.Expansion is on the cards and we aim to cover major cities across India in the next three years ( smiles)
Thats "the history" if you term it.We are just three years old !!
SMCPune: You had set up the system to take orders via your site as well phone.You guys are doing well from both the channels.What made you jump into the Social Media bandwagon ?
Vinamra:See we all three (Shachin,Sheldon and Vinamra -TK team ) are techie people.We like to keep ourselves updated with the latest happenings in the cyber world.Facebook and Twitter is quite popular with the masses and when our customers are using this platform so why we should lose this opportunity wherein we can talk to them.So we thought why not experiment with these channels as well.We do not have huge marketing budgets and these activities does not involve any money..Yes it does require your time which we are ready to give.We work twelve hours every day..(chuckles) We went ahead and created Facebook page and twitter account.We do have a decent fan following wherein FB has > 1000 likes and twitter has > 600 followers..On FB we are not that active and we use that for posting news, offers from restaurants etc..You can also book a table via FB Page..Twitter is where the conversations flow and its more dynamic in nature.
SMCPune: You have > 1000 fans on FB.What value you see in those likes?
Vinamra: For us at TK "comments score over likes".I would like to add here is many companies are focusing on "likes"..You will see hoard of agencies claiming that they can give you "x" no.of likes..Its not at all about likes dude ..Its all about conversing with your customer,understanding him , working on negative feedback or suggestions which they have given.And we see more response on our twitter account.We make sure that either me or Shachin responds to the tweets well in time.
SMCPune: You mentioned that you are more active on Twitter.What are you looking from Twitter ?
Vinamra: Prime objective is to be in constant touch with our customers and receive feedback.Check the tweets and you will yourself see that customers are prompt in tweeting feedback.As we are in the food business,we also post food related news/tidbits.
SMCPune:Ok,got your point.This is one of the common objective across industry.Do you think Social Media platforms can be used in any other way?
Vinamra:Yes, definitely.Why not ? We have gone a step further and have tied up with Faasos to take care of their "Tweet2Order" campaign.They needed a partner who can handle the orders placed via twitter.As i mentioned Twitter is a live stream and if you miss one tweet wherein a customer has placed an order, you need to do lot of cleaning later and win that customer back.Faasos realised the value and approached us to handle it.See its all about innovation with these platforms.Every company is a newbie here and trying to create their success stories.
SMCPune: aahhha now i can order my favorite wrap and be assured that it will be delivered ! Do you plan to replicate this model with any other joint ?
Vinamra: Yes , but we will be restricting ourselves to fast food joints(like MacD) or cafes ( like CCD ) mainly wherein the order can be tweeted in 140 characters.
SMCPune: This was about conversations.What about advertisements?
Vinamra: As i mentioned earlier , we do not have huge marketing budgets.We do advertise on Facebook but thats limited and its more campaign specific.Google AdWords is what we use on a regular basis.We have set our monthly budgets for Google and try that we are atleast at number two or three position.
If you talk about print , we do it with our partners ( restaurants ).We publish our yearly menu guide.Its like Times Food Guide and there is a value in printing that.Many of our customers are 40+ who maynot/do not order online.So for them it comes in handy.Plus also IT Parks,wherein we keep it with office admin/ reception.
SMCPune: What is your take on social media courses/training’s? And do you plan to hire a Social Media expert in future considering your expansion plans?
Vinamra: See to be honest, we did not go for any formal training on Social Media.We learnt on the job.Basic reasons were-lack of time and resources.In a startup,as you know, you need to wear several hats.
We might hire a Marketing person depending upon our requirement.
SMCPune: What's next ?
Vinamra: Many things ! We are redesigning our website, you can make online payments now ( its in testing phase and will be launched soon ), payments can also be done via phone if a person doesn't have access to internet , we have also launched our web based solutions for automatic order transmission at the client restaurants ( you can see one at The Great Punjab / KP and Baner )
SMCPune: Thanks a ton Vinamra for taking out time from your schedule.
Vinamra: My pleasure !
On a happy foodie thought we called it an adieu !
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