05/01/2019
Dear Readers,
Fish Garage completes one year on this day. Hustling compromising exhausting yet contended passionate and successful 365 days. It was a rollercoaster ride for us and our families. And here is a small snippet of everything that made Fish Garage what it is today:
The idea was there- few bachelors cooking to survive, straining themselves in a boring 9-5 job, making plans on every cup of coffee/glass of OMR about starting a business together someday, just what every other group of friends would do. But then one of them finds an almost utterly hope-less place, an old rusty garage, to make this Chai pe Charcha a reality. Adrenaline rush makes people do weird stuff, like here, it made them break their lifelong savings for the down-payment and revamping of the place that no one could imagine is fit for a restaurant.
It was not easy they knew, trying to juggle between targets at office and clearing the KOT’s, but they set out for an adventure and there was no turning back. A saying goes, One foot cannot stand in two boats, but the Daredevils of the group, under families approval, got hitched. Now they had to row three boats making sure all of them survived.
Somewhere around May is when the place was leased out and the work began, with hopes that by July the services would start. But thanks to the wedding shenanigans everyone got busy shopping and partying, decelerating the whole process and postponing the opening dates. Eventually by December the place was all vamped up and ready and hence began the food trials. The whole industry was new to them, with no prior experience or expertise in cooking or running a hotel, it was like tiny pilot fishes following giant sharks of the sea. They had just one agenda- to serve the best of seafood at affordable prices to a place so close to their hearts.
As they got one step closer to making this dream a reality, they drifted a step away from families. They had absolutely no time to text, leave alone calling. All the conversation that used to take place was good morning, lunch, dinner and goodnight. But, it was helplessness, they had a bigger fish on plate which they paid for and couldn’t lose it at any cost.
The families on other hand were extremely supportive. From his mother who is into business herself and being an inspiration, it was she who ignited the spark to go for it without any delay; the brother helping in the planning, designing and ex*****on of converting the dump into a restaurant; Sibling was the go-to whenever there was a problem on table and him taking care of all the back-end processes and lastly the in-laws for understanding this passion, all of them contributed in bringing this idea to life.
The first week was psyching. They worked for 48 hours straight, from rushing to the Port at 4.30 am for catch of the day to cleaning the kitchen end of the day at 12 am and then preparing base for the next day, it was chaotic. All this while they had no time constraint, now they had to make sure the dish was made and served in 20 mins. Six people running around in a compact kitchen; the heat, the stress, multiple burns and cuts, towards the end of the day it was so exhausting they couldn’t even sleep. They had no track of if they had eaten, where their phones were, what time it was, almost like losing their sanity, but what kept them going was the priceless reactions and excellent reviews of the customers. With every dish that went out of the kitchen, and every positive review that came back, they were more pumped to work.
Few weeks down just when they thought things were falling into place, a new set of problems came to rise. If one day the cook was absconding then the other day you get a call at 2 am saying the staff were drunk and are quarreling. One morning two of them quit, you appoint new, you train them over a week, they had to get along with the current staff and then they take off and never show up. It was frustrating. It took them close to 6 months to form a stable team out of all the recruited.
On the other hand, at home late night calls from staff with complaints and fights which couldn’t be resolved over phone, and early morning 5.30 am calls with man on the other end screaming ‘ wo meen bodu, bega bale’ is all there was for the newly wed. If alarms are torturous, you could’ve tried trading places with them, cause this was downright murderous rage. But mentally prepared for all this the boys handles the situation at home each time with wit and patience.
When you are a spectator, it looks like a cake walk to start a restaurant, run it and mint money, like the grass is always greener on the other side. But only when you step into the business is when you find out that you have to get your hands dirty and sweat blood if you have to make it work. Not always they received positive feedback. There were complaints regarding wrong deliveries, change in the taste or the quantity, the price, it was all a part and parcel of the business but they made sure all the complaints were heard and compensated every customer’s bad experience calling them and asking them for one more opportunity, and it always worked. The customers visited again and they turned every negative into positive, some of them are our regulars today.
They had to compromise on Family, forget all the promises made to friends, forget home and toil each day, but not once did they regret, or even thought of giving up. Every day was a new challenge, everyday was a lesson and every day it had a successful end. There was so much thought and effort put into delivering the best, that the boys actually traveled all the way to Karwar, Kumta, Honnavar to purchase the best in quality fish at reasonable prices. It was difficult to buy the fishes on credit initially, but the demands were high and the finances low, though now even if we don’t need it on credit, one call is all it takes to get what is needed. That is the kind of trust Fish garage has built overtime.
It’s a routine now for them to check stocks, keep an eye on the cleanliness and hygiene of the kitchen, in cooking, with staff and everything else. They are so firm regarding the uncompromising quality that the required commodities were directly begin purchased from the manufacturer, cutting off the middle man and his commission. Doing so has moderately helped them reduce the margins; hence keep the prices stable and reasonable throughout every season. There has been a steady growth and every day they strive to make their customer experience better by being open to suggestions and complaints from both the customers and the pioneers of the industry.
Eventually, everything did fall into place and now it runs in its own pace. Not just that, while still working in the IT and efficiently running the restaurant, now it is also possible for them to spend time with families. Adding charm to the story of this Successful venture are the food delivery apps like Zomato, Swiggy and Uber eats, that they just cannot thank enough. Working in the IT industry it was an added advantage for them with arrival of these apps as they helped them directly with social media marketing, feedback forms, online reviews etc. These helped take Fish Garages special recipes to corners of the city that they could not reach. The crown of our success is adorned with gems which is every single review we received over the apps or otherwise. It was also very proud moment when a few journalists walked in to cover our story for an article in daily newspaper, and the restaurant was talk of the town.
Thank you for the love and affection Mangalore, our endeavor to serve the best of seafood will never stop, like we expect you all to never stop trying the new delicacies on our menu for this year. Keep loving, keep eating, keep coming.
Regards,
TEAM FISHGARAGE.
