We lost everything.” When Sandeep Verma says this, it is no hyperbole. This was, of course, when Sandeep was better known as Sandy, and was the toast of Delhi’s cocktail circuit. He was the go-to for everything academic about alcoholic beverages in the nascent industry.
But nothing lasts forever. The story of Sandeep and wife Valerie is the stuff feel-good flicks are made of. More than a post-Covid ‘fall and rise’ story, it has lessons in a world where change, natural and technological, is throwing existential challenges at everyone around us. And perhaps, just perhaps, this story of picking oneself up after falling down, and holding close one’s basic tenets of human connection, could resonate in this post-AI landscape.
Their paths crossed while working at Mumbai’s Leela ages ago. Together, they ventured into one ambitious project after another in the heady post-liberalisation days of the late 1990s, when opportunities seemed endless, and theirs for the taking.
Their nouvelle venture was India’s first-ever school for bartending, Institute of Bar Operations, which they opened in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj. Along with a wedding and catering consultancy on the side, the couple also opened a jazz-themed bar in the national capital region.
“We had people from Berklee College of Music coming and performing [but] there weren’t too many takers for that kind of music,” Sandeep says ruefully. “Perhaps we were ahead of the times.”
While ‘Sandy’s Bar & Kitchen’ had to down its shutters prematurely, the bartending school was doing well. That’s when the Vermas decided to spread their wings.
The idea was to capitalise on Sandy’s track record in the bartending scene by scaling up the training school, venturing into ed-tech with courses in bartending and skill development, and tailoring them for the common man with the option of Hindi, too. The aim was for his holding company, Asaan Hospitality, to have agreements in place with hotels and restaurants across the country that needed bartenders and mixologists.
It was a moonshot venture, with the couple opting for investor funding and an expansion at a nearly ten-times scale. They signed their compliances in September 2019 and the first round angel investment of 050 lakh came in―it was spent on getting three buildings on rent, setting up the infrastructure and recruiting staff.
That took them to March 2020, when the next round of investment, Series A, was supposed to come in. But then calamity struck in the form of a virus.
“For the first month, everyone stood by us,” Sandy reminisces, “And by the next month, the investors backed out. The cheque was stopped.”
Left on the launchpad―the initial Rs50 lakh was by then already spent―the timing couldn’t have been worse for the Vermas. “The entire world was in panic mode. For two years, we just didn’t know what to do.”
Money can be quite faceless. There was death and mayhem all around, but there were compliances still to be carried out, investors to be repaid, rent to be paid, and a staff of nearly 100 who had to be helped. “Whatever we had earned and saved in 25 to 30 years, all gone!” says Sandeep.
Even when the world started opening up, it didn’t bring them solace. The original funding firms said they were not interested any more. “Everybody started undercutting each other; people were not paying. For us, [used to a] corporate setup, you cannot go below certain standards of quality. So that was a major hit… [we realised] we were unable to sustain ourselves.”
The couple knew they had a decision to make. They packed their bags, left Delhi behind and travelled around―Kerala, Kolkata and elsewhere. “We wanted to move on with our lives, but had no idea what to do,” says Sandeep.
The couple thought of moving to a smaller city to cut down on expenses. “We stayed in a few places and asked ourselves, ‘Where will we be happiest?’” says Valerie.
The answer was waiting for them in Goa, where Sandy had studied hotel management. The couple had a heart to heart. “More than bartending, my hospitality is my strength. That’s hers also. So we spoke to each other [to decide what to do],” says Sandeep.
They found an unused parking lot off Goa’s Anjuna Beach and converted it, brick by brick, into what is now Howling Wolves, a bar and restaurant with an emphasis on music and more.
It wasn’t easy. The couple had to sell their back-up homes in NCR. One of these was a property they had kept aside to fund their daughter’s college education and wedding. “We were getting private loans at 24 per cent interest,” says Sandeep. “We had the paperwork done and nearly signed it. At the last moment, my heart said, ‘What are you doing? If we work hard and the plan clicks, we can make 10 more houses.’”
With cash at a premium, they got down to building their new labour of love. Sandeep and his team did most of the work themselves as they wanted to cut costs. “The tiles used are those that were left over from the construction of Mopa (North Goa’s new airport).” Sandeep studied lighting and architecture from Google to do much of the work himself, like slitting bamboo to insert wiring and turning it into a lamp. Unused furniture from the bartending school in Delhi was brought in and cut into restaurant tables.
Valerie, who was more at ease in the boardrooms of London and Mumbai where she had worked as a hospitality industry HR professional, rolled up her sleeves and went to work in the kitchen to set up the menu.
Howling Wolves opened its doors in March 2023, and through the next five months that they toiled to make it a welcoming space, Sandeep got a clear idea of what he wanted the place to be. “It’s all about community building,” he says. “We’ll do activities where we bind the community. How do we do it? Through cocktails, through food, through music. It was a conscious effort.”
For example, when local authorities enforced a ban on loud music after 10pm with elections on, the Vermas decided not to break the curfew like many other bars, instead organising group games, singing contests and the like.
More than a year after opening, Howling Wolves already has a buzz, thanks to word-of-mouth (“Not Instagram popularity,” Sandeep points out, “We are old, we don’t even understand it.”) His emphasis has been on giving people a memorable time. “Food is important, cocktails are important, but what will the guests remember? Care,” he says. “They will not remember what they’ve eaten after six months, but they will remember how we made them feel.”
Shashank Singh would agree. The Gurugram-native dropped into Howling Wolves with his girlfriend Swati one evening in 2023 and ended up staying the whole night, even though they had dinner plans elsewhere. “Sandeep and Valerie bring in a lot of personal touch and warmth. You feel nice, you feel wanted,” says Shashank.
Shashank and Swati had just started dating, and they had their first dance there. Inspired, Shashank went back later and proposed to Swati, with the sun setting over the Arabian Sea and the Vermas in attendance (Shashank had coordinated with Valerie to arrange a live band). “They now definitely feel like family!” says Shashank.
The Vermas are offering a new look for this tourist season: the place is filled with blooming flowers, and paintings galore of jazz greats like Billie Holiday done by friends and well-wishers. While it might take a while to recoup investment―a back-of-the-envelope calculation says they have already invested about Rs2.65 crore in the establishment―with the tourist season turning in a profit, the business is definitely on the right path.
Survival worries mitigated, Sandeep’s aspirations are blooming again. The bartending school in Delhi is up and running again, though with the help of former students. A Howling Wolves branch is a possibility, maybe even an outpost in the NCR. Lessons learnt, he is more cautious now, though he admits he is scouting for a partner/investor. “I want people who will add value, those with a long-term vision, not those pushing for returns immediately.”
But for now, Goa is the balm to the couple’s battle-weary souls. After spending the off-season looking after the Delhi bar school, the wedding consultancy is back on its feet. Sandy proudly says he has already done two weddings during the monsoon, and there is hope for more, once the peak wedding season kicks off after Diwali. “Never say, never again,” quips Valerie.