The staff is a key element for a flourishing business. That is why in any business most of the time goes away in finding the right staff. Now imagine you want to start a cafe or a restaurant, but you don’t have to worry about hiring a chef and the supporting staff because someone else is doing the job for you. Taking away all your woes as an owner, Zoopond is here to provide you with skilled labour in less than 24 hours.
Zoopond was launched by Mohit Mishra in June 2014 with the aim of providing world-class quality staff for the entire hotel industry, cafes, and restaurants.
Here is the journey of Mohit Mishra and how one simple idea transformed the lives of about 1500 people.
Knocksense: How did you get the idea of Zoopond?
Mohit: Zoopond is an idea that fills in my criteria for a business that holds all my interests. When I started working, I got a chance to work in different fields. I had a footwearwear business, I have also worked in medical line and also started my own tiffin service business, amongst other things. But none of these ventures could get me the satisfaction feeling. Zoopond is my seventh business, and this is something that finally makes me feel the satisfaction I have been wanting.
When I gave up on my tiffin service, because I couldn’t see any evolution in it, my staff asked me for help. They asked me to help them. It was kind of difficult cause I was myself looking for a livelihood. So, then I contacted the street fast-food carts and supplied them work-force, in return for a commission. Later, I got in touch with Prashant, Raginee, Hemant and Shivanshu and formed Zoopond.
[rebelmouse-image 22605828 original_size=”1280×720″ expand=1]
Knocksense: Is Zoopond your first business venture?
Mohit: I have worked in many fields before this and Zoopond is the seventh opportunity for me. In all the previous jobs and businesses, after a point, I used to feel saturated. There was no answer to ‘the what next’. And so I felt like moving on to something, that has more scope and future prospects and that can hold my interests. has Also, not being able to find the right people to rely upon and work with added to the shutting down of previous works.
Knocksense: Why did you choose food industry?
Mohit: While working and changing jobs, I came to the food industry. There was no prior interest as such. When I shut my Tiffin service down, the staff I had asked me for some help and while trying to get them a livelihood, I found myself working in this field too.
Knocksense: As we know, you also hire unskilled staff and train them in the field. How do you carry out this process?
Mohit: There is no such thing as unskilled staff. If you talk about the food business, there are 5 kinds of people involved. Utility, waiter, Comi, Helper, Assitant staff and head chef. We arrange for whatever position the client wants.
Knocksense: How is Zoopond performing currently? How do you manage your services abroad?
Mohit: In the beginning, we found it hard to crack deals. And that continued for about a few months. Now, in a month we get about 3-4 confirmations, which goes up to 6 deals also sometimes. The turn over last year was 3.5 lakhs and 8.5 lakhs this year. We have an Internal team of about 6-7 people, who are the backbone of Zoopond and external team comprises of staff members. 1200-1500 staff members have been provided jobs so far, we would soon want to take that number to 3000.
Zoopond began in Lucknow, then moved to 87 other cities. We have different kinds of staff. Utility, waiter, helper, assistant staff, head chef.
Knocksense: What are the challenges you have had to face in this business?
Mohit: Right from the beginning, there have been challenges and they continue even today. Initially, there were cases when the staff we provided, ran away without notice. There was once a case where a utility help I provided to a restaurant was mistreated. The owner threw acid on him and it became a big case. All these incidents made us form stringent terms and conditions, and that has helped a lot in reducing such incidents.
Knocksense: What are your plans ahead?
Mohit: We are planning for 7 new offices in Indian cities, Nagpur, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Vijayawada, Surat, to name a few. There are a lot of targets we have set for ourselves. One is to be able to provide the staff in 3-4 days time, which will be easier with new offices. Currently, we take 7-8 days time, to do so.
Also, we are planning to open 12 more restaurants by the financial year 2019 and have charted out ways that will make us reach our target of a turn over of 1 crore.
