Parthiv Patel, Co-Founder & CEO of Petpooja, discusses the company’s SaaS growth journey, AI-driven restaurant management, SMB digitisation, & ambition to become India’s leading SMB software platform
India’s restaurant industry is rapidly embracing technology as cloud kitchens, hybrid dining models and AI-powered operations reshape the sector. Petpooja has emerged as one of the country’s largest restaurant technology platforms, providing cloud-based software that integrates billing, online ordering, inventory, CRM and business management into a single ecosystem.
In an interaction with BW Retail World, Parthiv Patel, Co-Founder & CEO of Petpooja, explains how the company built one of India’s largest SMB SaaS businesses, why AI agents represent the next phase of restaurant software, and how Petpooja aims to drive large-scale digitisation across India’s foodservice ecosystem.
Petpooja has emerged as one of India’s leading restaurant technology platforms. What have been the biggest growth drivers behind the company’s journey, and what comes next?
We are probably India’s largest SMB SaaS company focused on restaurants. Our first phase of growth was driven by a simple strategy—build a cloud-native product that solved real operational problems for restaurant owners.
Between 2016 and 2019, internet penetration accelerated significantly with cheaper data services, while a new generation of entrepreneurs wanted to manage their restaurants remotely instead of sitting at the billing counter. Cloud adoption became inevitable.
The second growth driver came from building an ecosystem rather than just offering a point-of-sale solution. We integrated platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, CRM tools, websites and mobile applications into a single platform. This meant restaurant owners could manage their entire business through one system.
That ecosystem also became a growth engine because our partners were recommending Petpooja to their own customers.
The next phase of growth is AI. Earlier, software simply offered tools. Going forward, software will provide intelligent personas—AI-powered operations managers, marketing managers or purchase managers that generate insights and execute tasks with minimal human intervention.
Can you share an example of how these AI personas will work in practice?
Take procurement as an example. Restaurant purchase managers often compare prices across suppliers such as Hyperpure and local wholesalers before placing orders.
Our AI can automatically compare prices across suppliers for multiple ingredients simultaneously, recommend the best purchasing option, populate the shopping cart and complete the order. What previously required significant manual effort can now be executed almost instantly.
India’s foodservice industry is evolving rapidly with cloud kitchens, QSRs and omnichannel dining. How is Petpooja adapting?
During the pandemic, cloud kitchens witnessed tremendous growth. Today, however, we’re seeing a shift towards hybrid outlets.
Restaurants now combine physical outlets with multiple online storefronts, allowing them to optimise kitchen operations while reducing dependence on food aggregators.
Our platform has evolved alongside these business models. We initially focused on QSRs but now support fine dining restaurants, cafés, cloud kitchens, sweet shops and bars.
We’ve also introduced operational technologies such as our waiter-calling system, where customers can request service or bills at the press of a button. These innovations not only improve customer experience but also help restaurants optimise staff productivity during peak hours.
Restaurant operators today are not hiring for peak demand—they are investing in technology to manage those peaks more efficiently.
Artificial intelligence is reshaping enterprise software globally. How is Petpooja leveraging AI for restaurant businesses?
We were among the first companies in India to launch AI-powered operational agents for restaurant owners.
Restaurant operators can simply ask questions such as, “Analyse my business over the past six months,” or “Evaluate my Zomato sales performance,” and receive actionable insights directly on their dashboard.
For the past three to four years, we have been customising AI models using our own datasets.
We already have an Operations Manager AI agent and are launching a Marketing Manager AI that can automatically recommend campaigns, identify target customer segments and execute marketing initiatives once approved.
Earlier, humans made every decision. Increasingly, AI will make recommendations and execute tasks, while owners simply review and approve them.
Technology adoption among small restaurants has traditionally been challenging. What are the biggest barriers, and how does Petpooja address them?
Small restaurant owners cannot afford multiple software systems or large teams. They need everything to work from a single dashboard.
Earlier, restaurant staff had to separately manage dine-in billing and online food delivery platforms because these systems weren’t integrated.
We solved this by bringing every workflow together onto one platform. Orders from dine-in customers as well as aggregators flow seamlessly into the kitchen, eliminating duplicate work and reducing staffing requirements.
India’s restaurant industry has already embraced cloud technology, and I believe AI adoption will happen equally quickly because restaurant owners are actively looking for automation.
The more operational processes become digitised, the more owners can focus on growing their business instead of handling routine administrative work.
Eventually, AI could significantly reduce the need for external consultants across areas such as procurement, marketing and accounting.
What is your long-term vision for Petpooja, and how do you see restaurant technology evolving over the next five years?
Our ambition is to become India’s largest SMB SaaS company.
We want to build products that become category leaders across every segment we operate in—from POS systems to payroll and other business management solutions.
Today, we’ve onboarded around 7,000 SMB clients across multiple products, but India’s SMB digitisation journey has only just begun. Less than 6–7 per cent of the market is digitised today, which means there is enormous headroom for growth.
Software itself will also evolve. Traditional tools will increasingly become AI-powered personas capable of managing business functions autonomously.
From a financial perspective, we are also clear about our long-term objective. We intend to list the company publicly, and we believe that milestone is now much closer than before.
Ultimately, our goal is to build market-leading products across every category we enter while driving the digitisation of India’s SMB ecosystem.
