After the lockdown was implemented, we saw a lot of instachefs rise up in social media and learned one too many cooking tricks from them. But not everyone had gifted hands at their homes and most had started to miss their favorite restaurant food. While going out is not an option, food delivery surely is. One of the online food delivery platforms- TatoMitho, which launched just before the lockdown offers you no minimum order option and absolutely zero delivery charge. On top of that, you can order from a high end restaurant to a local budget-friendly roti shop.
Find out more about this company in our interview with the founder Sheju Raj of TatoMitho
Q. How was TatoMitho ideated? What was the objective behind it?
When we speak about TatoMitho, the name completely gives it away that we’re dedicated to food since Tato means hot and Mitho means delicious in Nepali. The story behind this venture is quite simple actually. Our objective behind starting this venture was to allow all kinds of restaurants in Nepal to get onto an online platform without having to pay huge registration fees. We also wanted every individual in Nepal to experience online food delivery service so to make that happen we have no minimum order and delivery charge. Someone with a minimum order of Rs. 50 can order from our platform and pay only that much to get their order delivered. Simple as that! At Tato Mitho, nobody has to worry about spending so much to feed their hunger because there’s everything available from budget friendly rotis to fancy dinners. Right now, our operation is limited to Kathmandu and Lalitpur but our vision is to expand all over Nepal.
Q. What is your revenue model?
Our motive with TatoMitho right now is not to generate money but to create a brand which people associate with online food delivery at their doorsteps. As mentioned earlier, we don’t charge anything from the customer’s end and we don’t have huge registration costs for the restaurants too. We charge upto 20% commission from our restaurant partners and nominal one time registration fee.
Q. Would you tell us more about your team?
We are two co founders of TatoMitho– Me and my wife. Then we have Nischal as the director of the company. The operations are handled by Prakash with a backend team that handles orders and customer service. We have marketing executive team on field headed by Ankit of 6 people who develop partnership with restaurants to onboard them on our platform. Lastly, there are 8 delivery ‘heroes’ giving us their service during the lockdown but we plan to increase this number in the future. Our online platform is handled by a team in the UK under TenX Solutions which is headed by Mr. Chandru and Mr. Rajesh.
Q. How did you onboard the restaurant partners ?
Initially, it was very difficult to onboard the restaurants as we weren’t a known company. But as we started our operations, a lot of restaurants started noticing us and our service. Now we have around 300+ restaurants on our platform and 100+ are active right now during the lockdown. It’s quite pleasing to say that before we had to approach restaurants to partner with us but now the restaurants are approaching us.
Q. How are you managing online food delivery during the pandemic?
For the safety of both sides – restaurants and customers, we have started operations only with those partners who are taking all safety measures. Our delivery heroes wear PPE and masks while delivering the food. They also have sanitizers with them at all times.
Q. How many orders do you get on a daily basis? Is there any popular food ordered frequently at TatoMitho?
While starting out we got around 3-4 orders a day. Now we get 35-40 orders a day. In order to boost sales, we offer discounts on certain days. Right now, it’s Tuesdays. People are crazy for Momos so I think that’s the most popular food at TatoMitho too. Besides that Pizza’s, Burger’s and Biryani’s dominate our order categories
Q. What is the ordering process like?
It’s super simple! Whenever a person gets registered on TatoMitho, they have three options to order from: mobile app (iOS and android), website and via phone call. Our backend team calls the customer and confirms the order once an order is placed and the restaurant gets a confirmation too. There’s also an option for customers to select a time of delivery but if we’re not able to serve at that time then we let them know beforehand to avoid disappointments
Q. How do you pay your partners restaurants? Is there a certain time frame that you pay them in?
Earlier, we had a policy to pay them weekly or in 15 days and our partners had agreed too. But right now, because of the economic situation, we understand that they need cash at hand so we’re paying few of them in 2 days and some on a weekly basis
Q. In regards to hygiene and cleanliness,how are you assuring that the customers are getting quality food?
Before partnering, we check the restaurant’s kitchen area and hygiene practices.We also make surprise visits to the restaurants and order meals from our partners without them knowing it’s us. So far, that’s how we’ve been ensuring the quality of the food.
Q. Do you only have restaurants on your platform or can home cooks register too?
As our objective is to make food easily accessible to people, we do not restrict ourselves to just restaurants. So yes, home cooks can register too. In fact, if you check our platform, we have many home cooks that offer as minimum as one food item in their menu and they’re also getting orders.
Q. What were the top 3 challenges that you faced while starting out?
It was a total nightmare when we first started out. It was extremely difficult to convince restaurant owners to partner with us. As most of them were above 40 years of age, they weren’t pretty acquainted with technology and it was challenging to explain to them the benefits of joining our platform. Since Nischal, our marketing head, had previous experience in this field, he was able to train the marketing team on how to convince the owners. Additionally, we make sure not to give them any false promises and just state the facts about our offerings.
The second challenge was in terms of growing our customer base. People weren’t aware of TatoMitho so them into our platform took a little time. We’re gradually overcoming with increased awareness campaigns and discount days.
The third challenge was and is with funding. Since we don’t charge a lot from restaurants for our service and we’re only starting out, most of the operations are being sustained by self-funding. I’m sure this will be tackled once we start expanding our operations outside the valley and reach the whole of Nepal.
Want to try the new online delivery service on the block? Order from the website- TatoMitho and let us know your experience.
