Delhi Startup Clocks ₹8 Cr; Helps SMEs Supply To Radisson, Blue Tokai

While significant steps have been taken in the Union Budget 2024 to scale the MSME sector in India, the country’s startups also have a major role to play here.

Especially the ones that deal with direct demand and supply of the products manufactured by these medium and small enterprises.

Talking to Startup Pedia in an interview, Abhishek Garg, a seasoned entrepreneur and founder of Horeca Stop said, “There is an evident problem in the market where SMEs are neglected. They either have very little working capital to run on or simply do not know the changing standards and supply graphs of the country. Our company is plugging this gap by being more involved with these small manufacturers and helping them earn a steady flow of income.”

Founded in 2019, Horeca Stop is a New Delhi-based omni-channel platform that is solving the procurement problem of the hospitality industry by leveraging e-commerce and SaaS.

It is working with 50+ SMEs and helping them cater to the demands of industry-leading names like Radisson, WOW! Momo, Blue Tokai, The Altruist, NY Cinemas, Pradeep Air Catering, CISF, and more.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Abhishek Garg got out of school in 2015 and immediately qualified for most engineering competitions.

He tells Startup Pedia, “I was always into Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. There was a certain international college that I wanted to go to but realized that it wasn’t all that easy. They wanted a very credible LOR, and then there were additional tests. In the pursuit of all of this, Roadiets happened.”

Roadiets was a venture that Abhishek started after visiting Kolkata and looking for the best kathi rolls in the city. He realized that while a lot of resources were available to find out a city’s specialty dishes, there was nothing to tell people exactly which outlet to go to. 

Abhishek says, “Kathi rolls are good. But which kathi roll stall in Kolkata is the best? That was the question.” 

While Roadiets didn’t really scale, Abhishek Garg gained a lot of experience in the hospitality industry.

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He founded Estandardz in 2017 to cater to hotels and restaurants. The tech-based project management company helps hospitality business owners build from scratch, and manage, and operate their properties.

Estandardz executed operations for 50+ hotels and restaurants in India and Thailand. During this time, Abhishek Garg recognized a major market gap.

He says, “Since Estandardz is a management partner, we are very deeply involved in the day-to-day functioning of the restaurants, cafes, and hotels. I realized that procurement was a major issue for most of them. For example, some cafes struggled to get a consistent supply of straws, while some other restaurants didn’t know how to figure out tie-ups with manufacturers that didn’t charge hefty prices.”

It was the Eureka moment for Abhishek. He decided to solve the entire supply chain problem by leveraging the right kind of technology.

That is how Horeca Stop was established in 2019.

Even though COVID-19 happened right after and the company struggled to stand up, it bounced back in 2022.

HORECA STOP: THE ONE-STOP SHOP FOR B2B MANUFACTURING 

The key challenge that the SaaS company set out to solve was the challenge of quality, reliability, and standardization.

Abhishek and his team wanted to integrate SMEs into the ecosystem and ensure that they have the necessary resources to fulfill the demand coming their way.

So they set out to convince two sets of people:

1. The brands: Brands who need products delivered to them want a guarantee of consistent supply, feasible prices, and 100% quality-checked material. Abhishek Garg started conversations with them and made them aware of the benefits of tying up with an SME supply partner.

“The obvious benefit is the price. What an SME will charge you is at least 2X less than a big-scale manufacturer who doesn’t even guarantee design or standard. When you partner with them, you’re helping the entire economy grow,” Abhishek adds.

2. The SMEs: Initially, the small-scale manufacturers were a little resistant to change. When Abhishek Garg and his team connected with them, it took additional efforts to convince them to adopt SOPs. But the plan wasn't just to force them into changing.

Abhishek says, “We injected working capital in their factories and brought in real orders. Now they only had to produce products and supply them through our platform. This locked them in our ecosystem and worked in their favour.”

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Over the years, Horeca Stop has become an end-to-end supply chain enabler. 

While big brands are benefitting from the price that SMEs offer, the SMEs are benefitting from the consistent orders and flow of income.

We asked Abhishek to explain how a brand would go about placing an order at Horeca. He says, “It's actually very simple. We are a no-brainer for anyone looking for anything in the hospitality sector. Brands call us, tell us the requirement, the price they're ready to pay for it, and the date by which they'd need the order. That's it. Everything moving forward is our responsibility.”

From figuring out the factory, sourcing the raw materials, ensuring quality, and adhering to delivery timelines, Horeca looks after everything. The team works at the backend and enables SMEs with the required resources and tech to cater to and fulfill these orders. 

The company has played a major role in expanding and empowering numerous SMEs.

When asked for an example, Abhishek Garg says, “There's this seller from Uttar Pradesh who was making Rs 5 lakhs to 7 lakhs of sales every month. Now working in the Horeca Stop ecosystem, he has been able to sell to 3X more clients around the country than before. He has moved to a larger facility and is doing a revenue of Rs 25 lakhs a month.”

“These are the kind of achievements we are working for. We win when they win,” he adds.

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The bootstrapped Horeca Stop is working with numerous hospitality brands like Radisson, Meridian, and Raffles. Recently, the company also signed up with Ajay Devgn’s theater - NY Cinemas.

LOOKING AHEAD

Horeca Stop is currently clocking an ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) of approximately 1 million USD (approximately Rs 8 crores).

The company is looking to secure a large funding round in the coming months.

It is currently hiring as well and doesn't see degrees as a minimum requirement. Abhishek says, “We look for coachable people, that's all. I am myself a drop out, so I don't attach too much importance to degrees.”

Abhishek Garg is driving Horeca Stop to become a leading supply chain enabler that leverages tech and e-commerce to solve procurement in the hospitality industry. For him, entrepreneurship has always been about the three P’s: passion, planning, and patience. 

He signs off by saying, “I was going crazy trying to get admitted into an international college when I was fresh out of school. Now I've just been a part of the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp at MIT Boston - so I guess life has its own ways of looking after your dreams. Just keep at it – that’s my message to everyone”. 

Additionally, Abhishek has also coached college students in top-tier institutions in India.

In the next two years, Horeca Stop has a bullish aim of achieving over Rs 100 crores in revenue. Abhishek and his team have their eyes set making Horeca the largest global hospitality sourcing platform after China.

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