3 minute read
Kopi Desa, Agonda South Goa.
Goa isn’t a stranger to new, exotic, and experimental restaurants. Kopi Desa is one such restaurant that is bringing a twist to the traditional taste. It is a Cocktail Bar & Restaurant situated in Agonda in South Goa. Established in 2016, Kopi Desa means “the coffee community” in Indonesian. James Howden, the owner had been visiting Goa for many years and noticed a gap for a European Cocktail bar and restaurant and decided to seize upon the opportunity.
Customers rushing since the first day of opening wasn’t something James was expecting, which in turn kept James and his staff busy. 6 years since opening. Also, their customers have now become more like family to them; that is the kind of hospitality that is served at Kopi Desa.
Their love for cocktails can be seen in their wide menu as it has them making various infusions and concoctions with over 15 infused gins and vodkas, ranging from ‘raspberry and mint gin’ to ‘smoked whiskey’ including many of their in-house specialties like their popular homemade ‘pear and gin’.
The entirety of their food menu is produced in-house. Their pasta is made fresh every day. Their special sourdough pizzas cooked in wood-fired pizza ovens are to die for and rarely will you find a place with better sourdough pizza, says James.
In the beginning, it was rather difficult for them as sourcing pure and organic materials and ingredients meant importing the majority of it which was challenging to say the least. With time they have found many excellent suppliers locally from whom they source their ingredients.
The pandemic proved to be quite taxing on everyone but because of the pandemic, domestic tourism saw a spike, says James. Away from the overcrowding, tourists now had South Goa in their Goa travel itinerary as well. With more tourists now visiting South Goa, the tourism market in South Goa also went up.
Kopi Desa believes that “guest is king” and everything they do is based around this. “We believe it’s a privilege that our guests use their precious free time to spend it in our restaurants and their satisfaction is our reward!”, says James.
They have opened a new restaurant in Palolem while the one in Agonda has relocated across the street to a new location on which they are working at the moment and will be operational very soon. They are actively looking for another site for a small fine dining restaurant in South Goa itself so that they can really showcase some new ideas they have for their love of all things food and drink.
James advises anyone who wants to get into the restaurant business to know the business first, knowing the business through and through, indepth in the first step. Start by bartending and waiting on people, that should give one a good idea about customers, their needs, and demands. Becoming a bar manager is the next step or progressing towards becoming AGM or the General Manager. Being an AGM or a GM will give the idea and the knowledge about the back office systems, working on GPs and profit margins, budgeting, profit & loss, and the like. Holiday seasons, vacation times, and weekends will be the busiest as that is primarily when the customers have some free time in hand and like to enjoy it in restaurants.
