Exclusive Interview | Gaurav Bhardwaj, Founder of BENO, A gin inspired café-bar in Benaulim

In a conversation with Hospemag, Gaurav Bhardwaj, the proprietor of BENO, a distinctive A gin inspired café-bar in Benaulim, a coastal village in South Goa, reveals insights into his careful curation of India’s largest gin bar at BENO. He discusses the process of putting together and showcasing the various gin brands at the bar, the uniqueness of the breakfast café-bar concept, the diverse menu and how these factors position BENO as a formidable player in Goa’s culinary scene.

Gaurav Bhardwaj, Founder of BENO,A gin inspired café-bar in Benaulim.

What inspired you to focus on curating a Gin bar over the other alcoholic spirits in Goa and how are you going about this process?

India, especially Goa, has had a huge gin movement in the last few years – a ‘Ginnaisance’ of sorts. Some of the top award-winning gins are manufactured in our coastal state. Recognising the evolving tastes and preferences of patrons, BENO aims to cater to a diverse range of palates. The surge in popularity of gin globally and the exploration of unique botanicals and flavours make it an ideal spirit to showcase.

The rise of craft and artisanal spirits is a notable trend in the beverage industry. By curating an extensive gin collection, BENO positions itself at the forefront of this culture, offering patrons a curated selection that goes beyond mainstream choices.

We become a one-stop place for customers to taste gins that suit their palate and then ultimately buy the bottle from a liquor store. This also helps consumers make an informed decision about the gin that they are buying.

To start this process, we conducted extensive market research to understand the preferences and trends in the gin market. This includes exploring global and local gin brands, unique botanicals, emerging flavour profiles and working with top industry experts to understand the movement of gin in both trade and retail. This helped us in implementing educational programmes for staff and patrons to enhance their understanding and appreciation of gin. BENO’s team, including expert mixologists and external consultants, would engage in curation and tasting sessions. This involved selecting gins based on flavour profiles, uniqueness, and overall quality to ensure a well-balanced and curated collection.

Once this collection was formed and the stakeholders were well-educated in gin- speak, we started talking to customers about the gin collection. This year, BENO is starting with curated gin-tasting sessions.

What does BENO hope to achieve by creating India’s largest gin bar?

BENO aims to stand out in the competitive culinary and beverage landscape by establishing itself as a distinctive destination. The title of India's largest gin bar will set BENO apart, attracting attention and creating a unique identity in the market. The extensive gin collection caters to a wide range of palates, appealing to both gin enthusiasts and those who are new to the spirit.

This inclusivity enhances BENO’s customer base and positions it as a destination for diverse tastes. Hosting India’s largest gin bar not only declares the number of options but also creates an immersive and educational journey through the world of gin, enhancing customer satisfaction.

How do you plan on evenly showcasing all the gin brands that will eventually find a home at BENO?

BENO will soon be host to a ‘Gins of the Month’ programme, which entails showcasing four curated gin brands. These include one Indian gin, one international gin, one newly launched brand and one founder’s favourite for the month.

We also curated our first ‘World Gin Month’ in 2023 from June to July which coincided with ‘World Gin Day’ which is celebrated on June 10 annually and showcased the favourite gin brands of alcoholic beverage industry experts like Arijit Bose, Hansel Vaz and Karl Fernandes. They each picked four favoured gins and talked about why they appreciated them to those present at the event.

We plan on hosting this annually and intend to have curated gin-tasting sessions with these four gins, where we can educate our customers about these spirits and how to utilise them in whipping up quick and refreshing cocktails.

What inspired you to start an all-day breakfast-bar café? What has been the response so far to this concept?

When I moved to Goa a few years ago, I realised that there wasn’t much focus on the day scene. Hardly any places focused solely on breakfast and serving breakfast cocktails was a far-fetched idea at that time.

There are several five-star hotels along the South Goa stretch along which we are located and all of their breakfast offerings ended by 10:30 am. We recognised that the breakfast-to-bar concept presented a unique opportunity to enter the food and beverage industry.

It took us over a month to figure out the right kind of food and alcohol pairing for anyone who would want to come to the place for breakfast and drinks — and our breakfast concept took off like wildfire. It took us nearly eight months till we started seeing mimosas being ordered at 9 am! That was the time when we took a moment to celebrate that our concept worked. It has been over two years since BENO opened and it has been a very rewarding journey to see our patrons enjoy our food and drinks.

How has your breakfast menu been curated to stand out?

Six months of careful research have gone into the menu we have curated for BENO. We hit almost every breakfast joint from Margao to Patnem to see what was being served for breakfast and realised that a lot of it was just a template being followed.

For us, it was simple – if we wanted to pioneer a concept, we had to break the template – and that is what we did. We still do offer the basics, like eggs and omelettes, but we went ahead and started to offer a wider range for our guests. We did Turkish Eggs, Shakshuka, the Fluffiest Pancake (Kaiserschmarrn), a very unique French Toast and many more dishes. We saw a lot of folks doing sandwiches, but there was no one focussing on croissants, so we developed a category of croissant sandwiches and were the only ones who would show up for a long time if you typed ‘croissants’ on Zomato!

Fresh, unique and well-made with balanced flavours – that is the philosophy behind our menu and what we deliver to our patrons.

BENO’s architecture consists of scrap wood utilised for the structure as well as design elements. What made you source materials for the structure of the café from scrapyards?

This was a decision made by the team. We did discuss how to incorporate the spirit of Goa in the restaurant, and one big part of that was sustainability. As much as we talk about sustainability in the larger cities, I feel we have learnt a lot more about that after moving to Goa. This state teaches you how to work with sustainable materials and how to recycle.

When the decision was finalised, Pragya and Shrinkhala, the two women responsible for pitching this idea, suggested that we go to scrapyards and pick up upcycled wood. The idea stuck and that’s how we went about building BENO with upcycled wood.

Do you intend to introduce sustainability into other facets of the business, such as food and beverage? If yes, how so?

BENO is proud to announce that this is already being implemented! We make our orange bitters using the rinds of our freshly squeezed oranges for our café’s fresh orange juice. We make our Irish cream liquor by re-using the coffee grounds from our coffee machine. We re-use the non-edible part of seafood to make seafood bisque, which accompanies one of our café’s top dishes, ‘We’ve got Mussels’.

We also work very closely with Clinton Vaz from vRecycle Waste Management Services to ensure that all our waste is being appropriately utilised or recycled.

At our other property, BAJA, which is located on Trinity Beach in Benaulim, we have crafted a zero-waste cocktail, ‘Coco Toronja’, consisting of in-house coconut syrup. The waste coconut fibre that remains after making the syrup is utilised as a garnish for the cocktail.

What makes Jazz the genre of music preferred at BENO? Tell us more about Jazz nights.

Jazz is a highly versatile genre that encompasses various styles, from smooth and soulful to upbeat and energetic. This versatility allows BENO to curate Jazz nights that cater to a diverse audience, providing a dynamic and engaging musical experience. This versatility is also reflected in BENO’s menu and hence matches our vibe. From the wide range of breakfast options to the bar bites, burgers and mains, BENO caters to a diverse audience, too.

Jazz is appreciated by a discerning audience who values musical artistry and enjoys a more immersive and intellectual musical experience. By featuring jazz nights, we also cater to a specific demographic that appreciates the sophistication and depth of jazz.

We just celebrated the second anniversary of jazz nights at BENO this December. BENO as a venue for jazz has been established and we have now become part of some international acts as well. We have also been featured as an ‘India Tour’ venue for some of the top international jazz musicians.