Media Release
Mangaluru, Jul 7: The pioneer local delivery app MyRoadRunner that started operations in Mangaluru, is now expanding its operations across several Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, The company now has set up franchises in Udupi-Manipal, Karkala, Surathkal, Kundapur, Bhatkal, Puttur and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh with many more in the pipeline.
MyRoadRunner Android app and iOS app is now available for residents of these areas, who will be able to order door delivery of food, groceries, medicines, meat, fish as well as home services like salon, plumbers and electricians. Additionally, one can also place your order on their website.
Started in March 2016 by the couple Prince and Michelle Pinto, the company has witnessed massive growth of late. “Although we started with Mangaluru, we always had the intention to expand to other cities,” says Prince. “The lockdowns and restrictions have accelerated this process. Our mission has been to help local kirana stores and small businesses to migrate online easily without having to worry about setting up expensive technology themselves. Now, we are able to execute this vision beyond Mangaluru.”
“The present situation is tough for everybody and through this enterprise, we feel privileged to be able to help ease the suffering,” says Michelle. “We want to give aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to start a MyRoadRunner franchise and create jobs in their respective areas. The digital nature of our technology platform allows us to have franchises anywhere, within India or abroad.”
In recent months, many small businesses have taken a massive hit in revenue. MyRoadRunner’s success lies in the fact that they have offered a way for these businesses to get back on track by helping them go online easily. More than 1000 vendors have signed up on the app and they are selling everything from groceries, medicines to home services, appliances and even online classes!
“We started off with meat and fish delivery in 2016, and now we have all kinds of services including home maintenance services and food delivery,” says Prince. “This felt like the right time to expand our operations beyond Mangaluru because we have created a tried and tested franchise model guided by Anoop Sequeira, who is an international franchise expert, ably mentored by Roshan D’Silva and the team at Kanara Entrepreneurs. Since the beginning, we have learned a lot of lessons about operating in an Indian marketplace, getting vendors on board, ensuring the quality of services to customers, and so on. And we have put all these learnings into creating our franchise model.”
MyRoadRunner has recently partnered with Indeanta Ventures to deploy electric vehicles for their Runners to do deliveries on. This is part of the company’s mission to be more environmentally conscious in the coming years.
“MyRoadRunner has done wonders for the residents and the small businesses in Udupi and Manipal,” says Pradeep Archarya, owner of the Udupi-Manipal franchise. “Prince, Michelle and their team have built an effective business model that has proven its merit in Mangaluru over the last few years. And just months after starting off here in Udupi-Manipal, we have turned profitable as well!”
The call to be ‘Vocal For Local’ and provide support to businesses in one’s area is perfectly implemented through MyRoadRunner. It allows one to benefit from the ease of ordering online from local kirana stores instead of large corporations with warehouses in nearby big cities. This bottom-up approach has proved to work well for MyRoadRunner in Mangaluru for the past 5 years and it certainly looks like this approach will power its future growth all over the globe.