Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Lowe.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
12 years ago, upon moving to Ocean Beach from Colorado, a long-time friend, Nick Liebman, and I were looking for Indian food one night. Frustrated to find there weren’t any options in our neighborhood, we drove to another part of town, only to be let down by the dinner we had at the closest Indian restaurant we could find.
Having both left our corporate jobs in Colorado, and in search of entrepreneurial opportunities, we casually discussed the idea of opening our own Indian restaurant in OB. Neither of us had any restaurant experience, nor are we of Indian descent, but we (foolishly) thought…how hard could it be?
Coming from the corporate world, we took to assembling a comprehensive business plan, and sending it to various people seeking $300,000 for investment. This was when we received our first harsh dose of reality.
Not only is the high-risk restaurant industry one of the least appealing to investors, it turns out that having zero restaurant experience and not having Indian heritage were also unappealing to investors. Shocker. Needless to say, we put the project on ice for a few years. Six years to be exact.
During that time though, I practiced making Indian food in my apartment virtually every night for two years, and got pretty good at it. I spent countless hours in bookstores scouring Indian cookbooks (Indian recipes on the internet were sparse in the “olden” days of 2006). I also got a job working at an Indian restaurant, and really enjoyed the energy and excitement of the restaurant world.
In 2012, I came across an article about something called a “pop-up” restaurant. This was long before the term was as commonplace as it is today. So my friend and I thought that maybe this would be a way we could test our skills, with a far lower financial risk. So we recruited two other close friends of ours, Chris Geremia and Andrea Horning, and managed to get together $10,000 to get it started. I then went to each of the four breakfast-only restaurants in Ocean Beach, and offered to pay half of the their monthly rent if they’d allow us to use their kitchen in the evenings when they were closed. Low and behold, one of them agreed to it! So we ventured off into a world of stress and excitement. Well, mostly stress…
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has NOT been a smooth road. It wasn’t even really a road. More like a dark, pathless forest, with no moonlight or flashlights to assist. We all quit our jobs, and every single day the four of us would prep food at a rented kitchen in Claremont, then ship it all to OB. We’d show up to the cafe at 3:30 to begin frantically moving the existing businesses supplies out of the way, and moving in our supplies. We’d race to have everything in place by 5pm, when we opened. Rarely were we ready on time. We’d give 110% to provide our (very) few customers with the best possible experience for 5 hours. At 10pm we’d reverse the process, moving our stuff out and making it appear like we were never there for the cafe owner the next morning. It was a ton of work, and left the four of us exhausted. Then we’d do it all again the next day. Our initial marketing was simply placing take-out menus on doors in the area. That was all we had money or time for, but fortunately it worked. We were quite lucky to have yelp as well, because it was essentially free online marketing.
In the early days, our sales would be about 75 bucks for the day. This was entirely unsustainable (and extremely stressful), but it provided the faintest glimmer of hope because people were actually buying our food! We even began to have a few repeat customers. Then we began to have a few customers of Indian descent. Being Americans, we implicitly realized the importance of this. Most importantly, they really liked the food.
As an American chef serving Indian food, I knew it was absolutely critical that I adhere to the traditional methods of making authentic Indian cuisine. Using the common basic practices learned from the countless Indian cookbooks, along with the skills I acquired working in 3 different Indian restaurants, I did my best to stay true to the tradition. I even took many extra labor-intensive steps, to ensure everything was as authentic as I could possibly make it (caramelizing onions for 3 hours, for example). Fortunately, many of our Indian customers would comment on this, saying our food tasted more authentic than many of the other Indian restaurants around town. This was a huge psychological reward for the four of us.
Aside from us being worn-out and broke, our efforts eventually paid off. Business became steadier, and we began to have many regular customers. Importantly, many of them were Indian. This brings me to the proudest moment of our story, when a gracious Indian couple decided they wanted to invest in us, so we could open our own restaurant.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Not too long after we were blessed with willing investors, the owner of a small local restaurant heard our story on NPR’s Midday Edition, and decided he wanted to give us the opportunity to take over his existing restaurant. He was also a gracious investor, and has provided non-stop support and guidance every step of the way.
So after 10 months of endless stress and strain, we were finally able to open our own restaurant. The stress and strain did NOT subside…it increased. But we’re still here today, and it will be six full years in June. We’re quite proud to be one of the highest rated Indian restaurants on yelp, and even more proud to have some of our regular customers tell us we’re their favorite restaurant in San Diego.
Pricing:
- Chicken Tikka Masala – $11.95
- Veggie Samosas – $5.95
- Lamb Biryani – $15.50
Contact Info:
- Address: 1774 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, 92107
- Website: SundaraCuisine.com
- Phone: 619-889-0639
- Email: info@sundaracuisine.com
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
