'Using e-menus is the latest buzz'

Restaurants are no more merely reliable on calling for table booking and reservations. Sunny Goenka, Co-founder, Blynk, a restaurant and hotel app manufacturer company, talks about how these apps are helping restaurants gaining popularity without much relying on the online ordering sites.

What is the concept of ‘mobile friendly website’ by Blynk?

The Internet traffic from mobile devices has increased rapidly in the last few years. This shows that more and more people are visiting your websites from devices like smartphones and tablets. We see that most websites today do not render correctly on these devices. So, visitors immediately leave the website, which results in loss of business. ‘Mobile friendly websites’ are the latest technology in developing websites. The websites dynamically change the content depending on the screen size. So, no matter which device you are using to view your website, your website will display perfectly on that device.

What is the major benefit of using e-menus by a restaurant?

Restaurant business is a highly competitive business. Using e-menus is the latest buzz to create a sense of awe among customers. It is also easy to update the menu items as it is now digital. You don't have to print the menus every time there is a change in price or if for one day, an item is out of stock.

 For restaurants, another big advantage is that it allows customers to easily place home delivery orders. They no longer have to dial a number, shout out their order to the staff who can barely hear them in a noisy restaurant, thus avoiding ordering errors. 

Please name some restaurants whose mobile apps have been prepared by you.

Most of our customers are hoteliers. So we have mainly developed restaurant apps for in-hotel restaurants like Madhuban Resorts, Anand and Whitefield Spoon and Royal Orchid Bangalore.

What is the cost of creating and maintaining a mobile app for a restaurant and hotel?

Besides the onetime setup fee, on an average it only costs Rs 3,000-10,000 per month. The cost is low as we do not develop individual apps since it is a platform.  

What is the response of such an app in Indian F&B Industry?

We are pleasantly surprised that the Indian F&B industry is up-to-date with the use of technology in the industry. They are actively looking for such solutions just like their counterparts in western markets. 

What is your motive behind launching such an app?

Since we are a product software company based out of India, we really wanted to capture the Indian market in spite of many well wishers advising us to focus on other markets.

Due to the confidence of our customers, we have a good revenue stream in place. Our aim is to strengthen our product by putting all our revenues in product development. Right now, we are more focused on product and market development and are not concerned with direct profits.   

How do you customise your app?

There is customisation skin built in the platform itself. So for every app, we can easily change the business logo, backgrounds, images and content as per the demand of customers.