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Ordering dental supplies for a practice is a time-consuming job and an inefficient waste of staff time. Restocq provides an answer. By Frank Leggett
While many married dentists meet at work, it was a little different for Dr Stephan Kantharajah and Dr Namita Gupta. They met and bonded over their passion for creative expression and the arts.
“Stephan and I shared a love of performing,” says Dr Gupta. “We were both involved with the Indian art scene where I danced Kathak and he played an Indian drum called a tabla. When we met, I was working as a dentist and Stephan had completed an undergraduate degree in accounting and finance at the University of Sydney—but he was determined to become a dentist.”
Dr Kantharajah graduated in 2009 and in May 2010, he and Dr Gupta opened Coastal Dental in Gosford, NSW. Six months later they married and two years down the track they opened their second practice, Newcastle Dental Care. They grew their businesses on the NSW Central Coast and in 2019, opened their third practice, Dental Sanctuary, in the Sydney suburb of Neutral Bay.
Learning to delegate
It was difficult running three practices spread from Sydney to Gosford to Newcastle. “We soon realised our goal was systemisation within the business,” says Dr Gupta. “We looked internally at our processes and how to empower staff to take responsibility to execute tasks.”
Delegation of responsibility can be one of the hardest things for a business owner to do. The emotional, financial and physical investment they have in the practice can make it hard to let go.
“We made some mistakes,” says Dr Kantharajah. “But when a mistake was made, we dove into that process and looked at what resources we had available. Of course, to successfully delegate responsibility requires the employment of outstanding dentists, nurses and support staff. We‘ve now reached a point where staff hiring is contained within each practice. Sometimes, I have to introduce myself to staff because they don’t know who I am. Namita and I consider that a victory.”
Balance across the three practices—collectively Apex Dental Group—has been achieved and the successful businesses are now running smoothly.
“I work clinically three days a week,” says Dr Kantharajah. “Namita works clinically two days a month while also teaching for the implant diploma course at the University of Sydney. She also teaches at private institutions such as Perth’s Implant Institute.”
Restocking with Restocq
While Drs Kantharajah and Gupta were putting their processes in place, there was one area in which they couldn’t find a satisfactory solution. Ordering dental supplies was time-consuming and clunky. Generally, a key individual was responsible with no way to delegate to other staff.
“We knew there had to be a better way,” says Dr Gupta. “We developed a platform called Restocq, a centralised ordering system with all your suppliers on the one interface.”
Restocq allows all team members to access the system with each person’s permissions set at the appropriate level.
We‘ve exceeded 400 per cent growth over the past year. While burnout is a common problem with start-up founders, we’re very protective of our time and prioritise the things that are important to us.
Dr Namita Gupta, co-creator, Restocq
“If someone’s away, the whole practice doesn’t fall apart,” says Dr Kantharajah. “Budgets are pre-set. That’s a huge psychological benefit because it influences how the team utilises materials and the amount of wastage. We’ve found that when a practice starts using Restocq, they hit their KPI goals within a month or two.”
The two most expensive variable expenses within a practice are staff wages and the consumable spend. Restocq elegantly addresses both these issues. It saves staff time and moves individuals from heavy backend processes to the front end of the business where patient growth is driven.
“Typically, it’s the practice manager, head nurse or the owner dentist responsible for procurement,” says Dr Kantharajah. “They are the most expensive individuals within a practice. It’s a complete waste for them to be bogged down ordering dental consumables.”
The Restocq permission management tool also neatly solves any delegation issues. A junior team member can be part of the process but they don’t have the permission to send the order. The person in charge can check the order quickly and submit.
“Restocq saves time and money,” says Dr Gupta. “If I had to pick one of those, saving time is more important because time is the one thing you cannot buy.”
Looking forward
Between running three practices, teaching, and raising two children aged nine and 10, time management is essential for this couple. To throw a new subscription-based platform business into the mix is a whole new level of complexity—but these married dentists make it work.
“We’re fortunate because we can test everything in our group before we launch it,” says Dr Kantharajah. “Version 1.0 of Restocq just wasn’t user-friendly. Namita pointed out that it needed to flow smoothly like Airtasker. The look on her face was priceless when I told her I went to school with Jonathan Lui, who founded Airtasker and soho.com.au.”
They reached out to Lui who assisted them in developing Restocq and giving it a user-friendly marketplace feel. Lui was so impressed with the concept, he became one of their investors. Since launching in March 2022 at the Sydney ADX, Restocq has been a real success.
“We‘ve exceeded 400 per cent growth over the past year,” says Dr Gupta. “While burnout is a common problem with start-up founders, we’re very protective of our time and prioritise the things that are important to us.”
Drs Kantharajah and Gupta are continually looking to the future. Their plan is nothing less than expanding the number of practices in their group and taking Restocq to the international market. “It’s been an incredible journey so far,” says Dr Kantharajah. “We‘ve had the unique opportunity to express our creative, artistic and business sides with Restocq.”
Dr Gupta agrees, “We’re very excited for the next stage of the journey.”
