Every founder story is a snapshot in time, but the best ones keep growing long after they're published. In our first instalment of our 'Where Are They Now?' series, we return to Hari Sekar, whose 2019 idea to give local restaurants a fairer deal has since grown into something far bigger than either of us could have predicted back then.

The problem that started it all

Long before Fusion Kitchen existed, Hari Sekar was simply someone who loved the UK's food scene and hated watching it struggle. Walking through towns and cities across Britain, he kept seeing the same story play out behind the counter of independent restaurants and takeaways. Third-party delivery apps were charging commission rates that often topped thirty percent per order, quietly swallowing up profits before they ever reached the till.

For small businesses already working on tight margins, that wasn't just an inconvenience. It was existential.

"Something had to change," Hari Sekar recalled. "Local food businesses are the heart and soul of our communities, yet they were being squeezed out of the digital marketplace by excessive fees."

A fairer way forward

Drawing on years spent immersed in UK hospitality, Hari Sekar began shaping an idea that would tip the balance back in favour of the people actually cooking the food. In 2019, that idea became Fusion Kitchen UK, launched with one clear promise: zero percent commission, always.

It made Fusion Kitchen UK the first platform of its kind in the country to take that stance. Restaurants got a user-friendly website and app for customers to browse and order from, secure payment processing they could trust, and a platform that handled the technical heavy lifting so owners could focus on the kitchen rather than the software.

Restaurant by restaurant, the model proved itself. Owners reported real improvements to their margins, money they could put back into ingredients, staff, and growth. What began as one founder's frustration with an unfair system had become a genuine alternative for businesses across the UK.

Where Fusion is today

Fast forward, and the business Hari Sekar built has changed shape considerably. Fusion Kitchen has evolved and rebranded into Fusion My Business, a name that reflects just how much broader the offering has become.

What started as an online ordering platform is now a full technology ecosystem for hospitality businesses. EPOS, online ordering, payments, kiosks, kitchen display systems, mobile apps, delivery tools, and business management software now all sit under one roof. The ambition has grown to match: Fusion no longer sees itself simply as a software provider, but as a long-term technology and growth partner for independent operators, growing businesses, and multi-site groups alike.

The past year in particular has been the company's biggest period of expansion yet. The product portfolio has grown substantially, the integrated payments offering has expanded, and a wider hardware ecosystem has taken shape around the core platform. Delivery and driver management capabilities have deepened, and reporting tools have been strengthened to give operators a clearer view of their business.

Geographically, the story has gone international. Alongside continued growth in the UK, Fusion has established a presence in Ireland, strengthened its Chennai operation to support the wider business, and begun laying the groundwork for expansion into Europe, with the US identified as their next major market for expansion.

A bigger team and a different role

As the business has scaled, so has the team, growing across development, product, operations, sales, onboarding, support, payments, marketing, design, and management. Hari Sekar is candid about how much his own role has shifted along the way. In the early days, he was involved in almost every operational detail. Today, his focus sits more in strategy, leadership, product direction, and international growth, while he builds the team and structure needed for the business to scale without depending on any one person.

How the idea evolved

The broadening of Fusion's offering wasn't part of some grand original masterplan. It grew out of listening. As the team worked more closely with hospitality businesses, a pattern kept emerging: owners were juggling separate, disconnected systems for ordering, payments, delivery, kitchen operations, and reporting, and it was creating more friction than it solved.

That realisation reshaped Fusion's thinking entirely. Instead of solving one problem well, the goal became building an ecosystem where every part of a hospitality business could work together. It's a lesson Hari Sekar returns to often: having plenty of features counts for little if the technology doesn't hold up during a packed Saturday night service. Reliability and simplicity had to come first.

The harder parts of the journey

Growth itself has been one of the biggest challenges, and Hari Sekar doesn't shy away from saying so. Building new technology while supporting live businesses, hiring the right people, and expanding into new markets all at once demands constant recalibration. Moving from a founder-led business into a larger organisation required a real shift in mindset, since the processes that work for a small team rarely hold up once there are multiple teams, products, and markets to manage.

There's also been a more personal thread running through this chapter. Hari Sekar's ILR application has taken considerably longer than expected, creating uncertainty that has made international travel harder at exactly the moment the business is looking to expand abroad. It's the kind of challenge that doesn't show up in a pitch deck, but it's been a real part of the journey. Hari has tried not to let that uncertainty slow the business down, and he's hopeful he'll soon be able to share a positive resolution.

Lessons learned

Asked what he'd tell the Hari Sekar of 2019, he doesn't hesitate. Build the right people and processes as seriously as you build the product. A good product on its own doesn't make a successful company. You need the right team, strong customer service, financial discipline, and above all, the ability to listen and adapt quickly.

He's also come to see growth differently. It isn't just about winning new customers. Retention and continuing to create value for the people already using the platform matter just as much. And he's learned not to fear changing direction. Some things he once assumed would be central to the business turned out not to be, while areas like payments and integrated hardware became far more important than he ever expected at the start.

Staying connected to Innovator International

The Innovator Founder journey has run alongside all of this. The UK gave Hari Sekar the environment to test his original idea, work directly with the businesses he wanted to help, and grow it into something much larger. It hasn't always been a straight line, but it's pushed him to prove that Fusion is genuinely innovative, viable, and built to last.

Being part of the wider Innovator community, through events, webinars, and Innovator Pulse, has given him a window into other founders' journeys too. Entrepreneurship can feel like a solitary road at times, and seeing how others navigate their own version of it has been valuable.

Looking ahead

The next twelve to twenty-four months are shaping up to be pivotal. The priorities are clear: scale further across the UK, grow the Ireland and European presence, strengthen the payments and hospitality technology ecosystem, push forward on mobile and AI capabilities, and lay the groundwork for the US market. Alongside courting larger multi-site operators, Fusion is committed to continuing to support the independent businesses that helped build the company in the first place.

Longer term, Hari Sekar's ambition is for Fusion My Business to become a recognised international technology brand, one that helps businesses operate, manage, and grow through a single connected platform.

The proudest moment

When asked what he's most proud of, Hari Sekar doesn't point to a single contract or milestone. It's the bigger picture, watching the business grow from a single idea about fairer food delivery into Fusion My Business, with a growing team, a broader product suite, and real businesses relying on it every day.

He's just as proud of something less visible on a spreadsheet: watching people build their careers within the company. As he puts it, when you start a business you naturally focus on the product and the customer. It's only as the team grows that you realise you're creating opportunities for other people too, and watching them take ownership and grow alongside the business makes the harder periods worth it.

One last word

Hari Sekar is honest about the gap between the polished version of a founder's journey that people see from the outside and the reality of living it. There are real successes, but there are also difficult decisions, ideas that don't work out, technical setbacks, and periods of genuine uncertainty. For him, building a company was never about getting everything right. It's about creating something, listening closely, adapting, and continuing to move forward, one order, one partnership, and one lesson at a time.