Going places with drinks on wheels

With a hearty hello, our host Brian Kassim Owango seats us under the cool shade of a tree, away from the scorching January sun.

Once we are settled, he disappears into a nearby pool house. His return is marked by the sizzling of a wok as he fries up titillating chicken dumplings.

“Before the drinks, before everything else, this was my first love. Cooking,” he says, although he does not consider himself a chef since “he is yet to earn his stripes”.

On the entertainment scene, Brian’s name is synonymous with Aqueous, his mobile bar and canapé outfit. So big has his brand grown that he and his team were contracted to serve at a State House event.

The idea of starting a mobile bar took off six years ago when he invested all his savings into the venture. With a lean permanent staff of only five, they are the go-to cocktail people. He is a hard man to get for a sit down conversation. Between the bar and setting up his new baby, Wok U’ Like, Brian is a busy man.

Wok U’ Like follows a similar concept to Aqueous but instead of cocktails, they do oriental cuisine on wheels.

“Everyone knows me for Aqueous, so I am trying to break out with this new concept,” he says.

Building surveyor

His love for cooking is something his college friends and neighbours can attest to. While studying in the UK to be a building surveyor, he worked in restaurants and bars to earn extra money.

The concept abroad, he explains, is very different from the local scene. Unlike here, restaurants and bars abroad maintain a lean staff and you will probably find four people in the kitchen, including the dishwasher. He attributes this to the high cost of labour.

Building survey was quickly shelved on his return home to Nairobi. His interest had shifted to the food and beverage industry. He worked at the Fairmont as the restaurant and bar manager before joining Mercury Lounge, then owned by Nairobi Java House.

During the stint at Mercury, Brian and a friend had a discussion on a novelty business idea and that is how the idea of a bar on wheels was born.

“The Aqueous story is all about cocktails and mixology,” he says. He picked the name Aqueous, which means watery, to illustrate the kind of service delivery he offers his client – fluid and executive.

The mixology industry in Kenya has been growing steadily in recent years with people moving away from conventional drinks to various cocktails like mojitos, cosmopolitans and others. Brian has had a hand in the growth by training a large pool of mixologists.

While he was a brand ambassador for Absolut vodka, he and the company worked on the idea of mixology competitions that have since grown from Kenya to the east African region.

His enthusiasm for his latest venture is one he cannot hide. Throughout our interview and tasting session, he offers us samplings from the menu.

“I am not a chef because a chef has gone to school to study for it and worked in different restaurants in that capacity. I just enjoy cooking though I have spent time with some amazing chefs in my career,” he says.

Break

What next for Brian? “More food. In my old age [he is 35], I cannot handle the nights out anymore, so you will see a lot more food this year and in the years to come.”

After a busy 2014 mainly spent establishing his brand, he plans to take a short break this year to get in tune with his other love, Capoeira. As part of his plan, will spend a month or two in Brazil for some hard-core Capoeira training.

This was a project he helped get started 10 year ago in Kenya. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art created by African slaves taken to Brazil years ago to work on the sugarcane farms. It combines music, dance movements and martial arts. For the slaves, it was a survival tool, a fighting style.

Brian first saw Capoeira on TV when he was 10. While in university in Manchester, he found a gym that taught it and once back home, he decided to teach the martial art. This resulted in the Capoeira Balanço Negro, the first in the country, which will be marking its tenth anniversary this year.

Connoisseur

As a cocktail connoisseur, it is surprising that his favourite drink is water. In his words, “out of all of them, water makes me feel best” although rum would be his drink of choice.

Seven years on, his home in Loresho still serves as the base for his business. The garage is home to his mobile bars, freezers as well as the stock he uses to host the parties.

Aqueous can host several events at a go with a crowd of up to 200 people. Wok U’ Like is still in its infancy and can only do a single event at a time. The team of five works on the Hawaiian-inspired wok cooking station, reminiscent of a tiki bar. The meals are made fresh as you wait, taking only a few minutes to be ready, he explains as he flambés a serving of prawns.

“Everything we use is fresh. We even make our own sauces,” he adds as he puts in some home-made barbeque sauce into one of the woks.

In 2009, he invested nearly half a million shillings into his first business. The initial investment into Aqueous took him only a year to recover, a model he hopes his new idea will follow.

Workforce

The bulk of the capital for the businesses goes into buying stock because he operates without the cost of rent. Borrowing form the European model of a lean workforce, he keeps his wage bill low by hiring as jobs arise.

“I have a pool of mixologists that I have trained over the years who help out during the larger events,” he says.

Competition

To keep up with the competition, innovation has played a major role for the entrepreneur. Starting off with just a mobile bar, Brian has grown the brand to include the bar, canapés and culinary service and now an oriental mobile restaurant.

“As part of the growth plan, Wok U’ Like will eventually have a permanent location where people can come, sit and eat,” he says.

The interview draws to an end as the Aqueous team set off to cater for an event in the nearby Westlands area.