Running a restaurant? App for that created locally
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AMHERST, N.Y. — “I would tell everyone to go out and give it a shot, because there's so many opportunities out there,” said Ansar Khan.
Khan and James O'Leary have learned at a young age that hard work really does pay off. Both in their early 20s, they're co-founders of an app called Ambur, which is expected to generate $850,000 in revenue this year.
It works to help make running a restaurant easier, and it all started at Ansar's family restaurant, Kabab and Curry, where the two worked together.
"Ansar's dad had this pet-peeve of his that I would always try memorizing the order I was taking for the table, rather than writing it down,” O’Leary said. “I didn't really like having to carry around a pad and paper, so as I had been interested in the iPhone, so I was like, why not build something for the iPhone?"
And the idea took off from there.
Ambur was officially released in April 2011. The software costs $999 and usually runs on an iPad.
O'Leary says the restaurant typically buys its employees iPod Touches or they can use their iPhones and download a copy of the app. Then, they can take orders, run credit card checks, and make reservations – all on the same system.
"When we first started off, the plan was very simple, just to create something that Kabab and Curry could use, but then as we started exploring our opportunities, we realized there was a much bigger market out there,” Khan said.
Khan says they now have upwards of 260 clients in 16 countries. Their company, called Refulgent Software, works out of the UB Technology Incubator and has close ties to the university.
Khan is a 2011 graduate. O'Leary dropped out to work on Ambur, but is going back in the fall. And of the nine or so people working for the company, most are UB grads.
"UB's really done a great job of putting people into the community that are capable of doing some great things, some really bright kids, and I'm really happy to be working with them."
And the guys say as they continue to develop Ambur and attract more customers, they plan on staying right here in Western New York.