Customer Stories

How ResQ Helped Tarka Indian Kitchen Monitor and Manage Repairs Efficiently

Key successes

Company Background

Tarka Indian Kitchen, founded in 2009, is a fast-casual restaurant offering upscale counter service with a unique twist on traditional Indian cuisine. Modeled similarly to Panera but for Indian food, customers place their orders at the counter and have their meals delivered to their tables. Since its inception, Tarka has grown to 10 locations, emphasizing a blend of authentic flavors and modern convenience.

To gain deeper insights into the operational aspects of Tarka, we sat down with Tinku Saini, the Co-Founder and CEO, along with Craig Breaux, the Director of Operations. They shed light into how they got better visibility and took control over their repairs and maintenance operations by bringing on ResQ.

Challenge

As Tarka expanded, managing repairs and maintenance across multiple locations became increasingly complex. Initially, Tarka used ad hoc systems such as Google Forms and Sheets to track maintenance requests. While these tools sufficed for a smaller operation, they quickly became inadequate.

Tracking & Communicating Repair & Maintenance Efforts Became Painful

It was difficult to monitor the status of each maintenance request, approval processes, repairs, and payments using shared documents. In addition, ensuring clear and timely communication with store team members about repair statuses was challenging, leading to anxiety and confusion among staff. Tinku noted, "We need to make sure that they're in the loop and they know at any time what the status of that repair is, so they're not getting anxious or thinking that we're not doing something or enough to get those problems fixed."

Finding New Quality Vendors Caused Issues in Running Operations

Tarka had to cold-call vendors and rely on potentially unreliable online reviews to find service providers, which was time-consuming and inefficient. Tinku mentioned not liking to rely on online reviews as “they could be manipulated.”

In addition, coordinating repairs with multiple vendors took hours, if not days, delaying critical maintenance and affecting operations.

Financially tracking repair costs across 10 locations became difficult

Keeping track of equipment age and repair costs across 10 locations was cumbersome, making it hard to decide between repairing or replacing equipment. Craig highlighted, "It's hard to track how old all of our equipment is and how much we put into repairs on that."

Solution

ResQ provided Tarka Indian Kitchen with a comprehensive solution to their repair and maintenance challenges.

Streamlined Equipment Repair and Maintenance Tracking

ResQ's platform allowed Tarka to track the entire lifecycle of a maintenance request, from approval to completion, ensuring transparency and efficiency. Tinku emphasized:

"For us, the ability to track the entire lifecycle of an order, make sure we know if it's been approved quickly or if it's still needing approval, that we've engaged the right person... It allows the entire team to be able to view what is happening."

Enhanced Team Communication

ResQ facilitated better communication with store teams, allowing everyone to be informed about the status of repairs and reducing anxiety and misunderstandings. Tinku noted, "It allows the entire team to be able to view what is happening in the repair process, so again, they don't think that we're sitting on our hands or we're not doing everything we can."

Faster Quality Vendor Sourcing & Management

Using ResQ’s network of vetted vendors, Tarka eliminated the need to cold-call or rely solely on online reviews. This ensured that they worked with reliable service providers known for their quality work. Tinku highlighted, "One of the features that we really like is your pre-approved marketplace of vendors... It allows us to have a vetting process rather than just cold-calling or just relying on online reviews."

In addition, Tarka liked that they could work better with their existing preferred vendors. Craig mentioned, "I like that we don't have to give up the vendors that we know and trust. We keep those vendors. We also have options in case they're busy or they're just not the right company for the job."

Additionally, ResQ significantly reduced the time required to coordinate repairs. What once took multiple days of phone calls and emails could now be accomplished in a fraction of the time, often within an hour. Craig shared, "ResQ really helped us to streamline [vendor communications]. There are certain projects that require multiple vendors... Now with ResQ, we've turned that into a very simple process."

Better Financial Management & Decision Making

The cost tracking feature enabled Tarka to monitor the expenses associated with each piece of equipment, helping them make informed decisions about repairs versus replacements. Craig noted, "The cost tracking element of the app has really helped us out. Sometimes, we have to make the call. Is it worth the repair or is it worth buying a new piece of equipment?"

ResQ as a scalable partner for the future

The white glove implementation by ResQ was crucial. They tagged all equipment and trained Tarka's managers on using the app, ensuring a smooth and quick adoption process. Tinku pointed out:

"If there's a platform that's going to require a ton of hours of work on our end, it would've been a lot more challenging to get the buy-in from our operations team to push forward with that. So whether it's you guys coming in and doing the QR codes and essentially setting up all of the units, etc, that was hugely important to us."

By partnering with ResQ, Tarka Indian Kitchen not only improved their repair and maintenance processes but also found a supportive partner willing to adapt and grow with them, ensuring their operational efficiency and continued success.

"For us, the ability to track the entire lifecycle of an order, make sure we know if it's been approved quickly or if it's still needing approval, that we've engaged the right person... It allows the entire team to be able to view what is happening."