- Name: Tobias Carvalho
- Instagram: @roly_poly_toby, @mofo.goa, @fomo_goa
- Industry Experience: 16 years
- Favorite Drink: Old Fashioned or Tipperary
- Favorite Non-Alcoholic Drink: An espresso shot with tonic and an orange wedge
Situated amidst quaint cottages and palatial resorts in South Goa lies an intimate speakeasy called MOFO owned by Tobias Carvalho. Hailing from a typical Goan family, Tobias’ foray into the world of bartending and mixology began at the tender age of 10 when he curated his first cocktail at one of the frequent parties hosted by his grandfather — Shandy for the ladies of the house.
Ever since his first Shandy, Toby, as he is affectionately called, has participated and won many bartending competitions, worked in myriad bars across India and Dubai before establishing his own bar.
MOFO has two Instagram accounts — MOFO and FOMO. While MOFO is the bar’s official Instagram account, the FOMO account posts polaroid pictures of their patrons.
A Different Kind of Speakeasy
Toby’s MOFO is different from other speakeasies in Mumbai or Bangalore in that drinks are priced at affordable rates. The cheapest cocktail is only Rs. 220 (inclusive of all taxes), while the most expensive one is priced at Rs. 500. “If you go to a lot of speakeasies across Bombay and Delhi and some in Bangalore also, it is quite expensive to be there,” explains Toby, “So what I wanted to do is a speakeasy meets a tavern. [At] end of the day, it’s a tavern.”
Moreover, the location of MOFO is shrouded in secrecy since it’s not present on Google Maps. True to the elements of a typical speakeasy, Toby shares the location after potential customers DM him on the bar’s Instagram account.
Another feature that makes MOFO different from other speakeasies in India? All his staff are bartenders. “My team — so we have four of them in the front of house. All four are bartenders. They keep taking turns to be behind the bar or in front. I don’t have servers. Because of that, my sales have gone excellently well because they know the product, they know what the inventory [is], they know everything,” reveals Toby.
Challenges to Opening your Own Bar
Being a bartender and owning a bar are, however, two very different things. Tobias explains how he had to learn to run a bar from a budgeting/finance and marketing perspective. Despite facing many challenges, including significant staffing problems, he ensures that all the bartenders employed at MOFO receive frequent briefings and trainings. Even when brand ambassadors come to visit, he ensures his bartenders receive some form of informal training by them — if only for 10 minutes.
Besides overcoming staffing constraints since most bartenders prefer to work in five-star hotels rather than independent bars in Goa, Toby also faced financial hurdles. He was determined to keep his operational and capital cost low, which meant opening FOMO in his house, bringing furniture and bar equipment that he owned personally and designing the bar himself rather than outsourcing it to a third party.
Advice to Future Bar Owners
So what does it take to open a bar? Toby highlights 3 useful pieces of advice to future bar owners:
Have a good vision: “See it’s not [that] difficult, it’s not rocket science,” Toby expounds, “And also don’t think that you need to have deep pockets to open a bar. I think you need to have a very good vision on what kind of bar you [are] opening.”
Emphasizing that it’s easy to find investors, he feels it’s more important to put your vision down on paper to show investors the value of what they are investing in.
Get experience and be patient: Toby also emphasizes the importance of getting experience working at different bars, participating in bartending competitions and networking within the industry before opening your own bar.
Study the locality/place: An important part of planning your own bar is studying the locality you wish to open one in and understanding what people need. For example, Toby found a dearth of speakeasies in South Goa and hence created his own. Additionally, he advises that it’s crucial to understand the licenses and other legal requirements needed to setup your own bar.
Before ending this priceless conversation with us, Toby insists that bartenders can DM him if they need help in opening their own establishment. He also eagerly recommends people to visit MOFO whenever they are in Goa. “Do hit us up,” he concludes.
Written by Nemisha Sharma
