About 25 years ago, Mitesh Gala and Ajay Shiv started Altametrics. Their focus was creating an inventory management solution for Mitesh’s parents Jack in the Box franchise. The first product they made was called Advance. It was based on a crude inventory program Mitesh had written, while in college at USC, which he called Q&D inventory (it stood for “quick and dirty inventory”). While developing Advance, they kept running into the limitations of the available technology of the time. One day they had the epiphany – “What if they developed the software to run over the internet?”
The internet product launched in 2000 and was called eRestaurantServices.com. Our first “real customer” was Taco Time. We will always be indebted to Walter Shultz, Taco Time’s CFO, for giving our idea a chance.
About four years after we launched eRestaruantServices.com, Wendy’s became our first large customer. Yep, that Wendy’s. Not only did Wendy’s work with us to develop new software functionality, they taught us how to meet the needs of larger companies.
When we started, Ajay had the foresight to spend extra time to make the product highly scalable. Even though we didn’t have any big customers we would say “the software has to run for McDonald’s”. Can you guess what happened? Yes, today McDonald’s is our biggest customer.
We’ve never forgotten that we first set out to develop software for small family businesses. From the beginning Altametrics was designed as an alternative to the oversized, expensive restaurant software of the early 2000s. It gives restaurant owners who lacked the high-end tools and resources of their larger competitors access to technology that empowered them and helped them grow. Today our software is helping over 100,000 users improve the quality of their life for their families. It’s a great privilege to work with so many wonderful people doing what we love.
Mitesh and Ajay love serving these users, because understanding the restaurant businesses is in their DNA: Mitesh grew up working in his family’s Jack in the Box restaurant. He started working there at the age of 14, and was the youngest certified restaurant manager at the age of 16. Ajay grew up in India where his parents ran a small bicycle repair business. With Altametrics, they found that working for restauranteurs gave them the freedom to be more creative and adapt quickly to their needs.
While the original product started as an inventory tool, our customers repeatedly asked us to spread the Altametrics magic to other areas of the restaurant business. They taught us that Altametrics’ brand promise is to “improve the quality of life for those that provide service to others”.
Over the past few years, we launched many new and functionalities. We have built an all-in-one Restaurant Operating System. As our product and team continues to grow, one thing stays the same: Mitesh and Ajay’s mission to empower the restaurant and hospitality industry.