Husband-wife duo bring their passion for food to life in their Goa restaurant

Howling Wolves, a brainchild of Sandeep Verma, is all about exclusively curated dining experiences. This newly opened Cocktail Bar has made a mark for itself as Goa’s most sought after venue for gourmet food, exotic cocktails, drinks, great music, and overall a place worth spending time. Hugely popular among tourists and locals, Howling Wolves is nestled in a quaint alley of Anjuna Beach in the midst of tall coconut trees, and with a mesmerizing view of the Arabian Sea. In an interview with Bizz Buzz, Sandeep Verma, Founder, Howling Wolves, says, “At Howling Wolves, life is all about sensory pleasures, intelligent conversations and spiritual experiences. The cafe is most importantly about building communities of artists, musicians, writers, poets, journalists and filmmakers through aspirational activities”

What was the rationale behind the location for your bar?

Three reasons: 1. Howling Wolves is a beach front restaurant known for its gorgeous ambience with swaying coconut trees and an odd rocky formation that juts out into the sea. Anjuna Beach in Goa is among the most popular beaches that attract a large number of tourists from across the world. So, having the restaurant here, overlooking the Arabian Sea made great business sense.

2. It’s a little cocotero- grove of coconut trees, all nestled at an angle swaying and flirting with the sea breeze. Wanted to make the most romantic place where guests can romance each other while romancing nature and create some amazing sundowner moments here.

3. Wanted to open a cafe where music of any language and genre could be played freely. So, at Howling Wolves Jazz, Blues, Retro, Folk and any music with a soul is played keeping alive the true spirit of Goa. This is a place for conversations, community building, a place that brings a glimpse of renaissance back - be it poetry, art, music, book reading or watching old classic movies on a projector.

Howling Wolves is also a wine. Is this also a connection besides Chester Arthur Burnett?

The name howling wolves is definitely inspired by Chester Arthur Burnett, the great American Blues singer who was popularly known as ‘Howlin Wolf’, and because music is an integral part of the restaurant, the name has been borrowed as an ode to all the great singers of that time. Also, I am hugely influenced by the story ‘Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle’. I am intrigued by the unity of the wolf pack and thirdly I always liked the story - ‘Feed the Good Wolf’ where the old Cherokee while teaching his grandson about life tells him about good wolf and bad wolf and that the one you feed, will prevail. I find the unity, love and care among wolf packs very special, and hence the name - Howling Wolves.

How is Howling Wolves aiming to establish itself in Goa?

Well, firstly and foremostly, it is a passion driven project by me and my wife Valerie. While I curate the beverage experiences, Valerie looks after the food recipes. However, Howling Wolves goes much beyond curating a cocktail and food menu. It is a very personalized experience that we want to give our guests. Me and my wife try to meet every guest personally and build a rapport with them. It is always a conscious effort to offer a relaxed, serene and lazy ambience during the day and a very sensual yet casual experience for evening dining. The right music is to be played at right decibels, ambient lighting, food and cocktail pairings. At Howling Wolves, life is all about sensory pleasures, intelligent conversations and spiritual experiences. The cafe is most importantly about building communities of artists, musicians, writers, poets, journalists and filmmakers through aspirational activities.

What is the kind of clientele attracted to your restaurant?

We get a mix of locals and tourists. It’s a mixed bag of global customers, across all age groups who visit our restaurant. There are many regulars too. Singles, friends, couples, corporates, families, youth - we got them all covered with our hospitality.

What is the secret behind the concoctions and the variation in flavours of the cocktails?

Actually, there are no secrets. Most of the concoctions are derived from our everyday ingredients which we normally find in our kitchen. We as a team work very hard to balance the flavours and aromas of fruits, spices, herbs or any other ingredient to get a soul touching beverage. We want our guests to feel wanted, cared and woo them with our hospitality. We normally stick to the grandmother style of making cordials, syrups and shrubs and do very subtle deviations in classic drinks.

What is the kind of music played in your restaurant?

We normally play every kind of music which is soothing and soul touching. We have live bands on weekends playing Blues, Country rock on Fridays and Jazz on Saturdays, but then we also have a Friends Night on Wednesdays where the genre of music is Bollywood, Jazz, Sufi, Coke Studio and old Hindi classics - from Jagjit Singh, Rafi Saheb to Ankur Trivedi. End of the day, we want to be known as a happy place with soulful music.

What are the future expansion goals?

Well, people have already showered us with immense love and support. We are expanding to home delivery of our exotic food and easy to make DIY concoctions in the next couple of weeks. Later, we intend to expand our brand into catering to Villas, food festivals and social events. We would like to establish ourselves by going through a grind of at least one season before we take a giant leap.

What are the major differentiators for Howling Wolves that makes it stand out from the others in the vicinity?

The major USP of our place is our passion and personalized service. Everybody makes good food and drinks. We have our own specialties, but what sets us apart is our personalized service, our out-of-the-world cocktails, multiple offerings in cuisine, music and the relaxing ambience.

What are the challenges faced by you while starting Howling Wolves in Goa?

Well, there were many challenges and hurdles before we could open. To start with, there are many permissions and NOCs from various departments to be obtained. If we can have one window instead of multiple windows to obtain various licenses, it would simplify the process. Secondly, the supply chains of materials are disorganized and far way more costly compared to other states. Be it at the construction stage or operational phase, the material and ingredient sourcing are a big challenge. The skilled resource is scarce and very expensive. Due to imbalance of demand and supply, the service provider or staff will be always dictating terms, whether qualified or not, which becomes a hindrance to prosperity.

What are the achievements and accolades received by you and the restaurant?

On a personal and professional level, being in the alco beverage industry for more than three decades, and after winning many awards and recognition, I think I can safely say I have established myself as a successful entrepreneur. All verticals of my business have a tremendous brand recall and equity. Howling Wolves, Goa, is already very popular amongst local people as well as metro visitors. The restaurant is already trending and is establishing itself as a go to place for vacationers. The Google rating is by far the best compared to other established restaurants.

Who has designed the space? Please share the details of the design aesthetics?

Howling Wolves is my labour of love and I have conceptualized and designed this place myself. From being a barren land with sea sand, we have turned it into one of the most beautiful spaces for one and all. The coconut trees, local cane and mundas give the place a very earthy look. The flooring was inspired by the sea waves thus introducing fluidity and curves at the floor level. The high rise bamboo ceiling with the munda railing was designed keeping in mind the rustic feel of this place. The colours of brown and blues, earthy flint stones are all part of this rustic look. The bar area, dining tables and many other elements at Howling Wolves are handcrafted with love by me, my wife Valerie and the Howling Wolves Team.

What was the idea behind offering the two different dining experiences–the main dining area, and the elevated sea-facing dining area?

Aesthetically both levels are individualistic, but yet intertwined. While the elevation area is built around the coconut trees, the ground level on the other hand has a direct view of the Arabian Sea. The idea was anyone waking in should have a poetic stroll both at the ground level and the elevated level with completely unique experiences.

What do you want your guests to take away from their visit?

Moments- your, mine and ours. In fact, we want them to leave a little piece of their hearts with us and take memories and experiences with them. Your friends become our friends, our friends become yours and we all grow as a beautiful community.