Akio Fernandes is a young 25-year-old food blogger and content creator. He runs a food blog called ‘The Hungry Wolf’. Apart from this, he works as a marketing executive at his favourite ISL club FC Goa. Originally from Saligao, Akio was born and brought up in Abu Dhabi. He lived there for 13 years before moving to Goa during the global economic recession in 2009. He is currently based in Porvorim. He did his schooling at Red Rosary High School in Miramar, followed by higher secondary schooling at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Panjim. He then pursued his BBA at Saraswat College in Mapusa and specialised in marketing.
His Childhood Ambition
As a child, Akio had varying ambitions. At one point in time, he wanted to become a sound engineer and get involved in live events and musical shows. He used to play the guitar, and so wanted to become a guitarist for a band at some point in time. “I’ve even gone from dreaming of becoming a cricketer to a footballer and so much more. I’ve always gone with the flow and never really had a set idea in mind”, he says. However, as years passed, he realised that his true calling lies in content creation and social media. “There’s nothing more I love than creating and directing content”, he says.
His Professional Career
After completing his graduation, his love for writing and sports (particularly football) led him to take up a job as the Goa reporter for the FIFA U-17 World Cup on behalf of sportskeeda.com. “It’s something I took up and loved”, he says. Immediately after, he was offered an opportunity to report for the FC Goa ISL games happening in Goa.
These part-time jobs however, paid minimally and were something he did more for the experience rather than for the money. In the 3-4 years since then, he did a lot of freelance digital marketing. “I spend a lot of time on social media and am super tech-savvy. Hence, I decided to make the most of my strengths and earn through social media”, he says. People were so happy with his work, especially his food blog, that they used to ask him whether he could click pictures and handle their social media accounts. That’s how he started his business, on a freelance basis at his own pace and rules. The Covid period, however, along with Goa’s seasonal nature, especially for the hospitality industry ensured that his work and earnings weren’t very stable. However, last September, an opportunity arose for him to work with his favourite club FC Goa and it’s something he took up immediately. He is currently working and has been for nearly a year now at FC Goa as a marketing executive.
His Journey as a Food Influencer
Akio started his food blog in 2016. He used to love writing and loved food as well. Posting pictures of the various dishes he tried out was something he would do frequently on his Facebook profile with just a one-liner. People used to love the way he used to capture the food and talk about it. Then one fine day, at a food and culture festival in Panjim, this food truck called ‘Antojitos’ made its debut appearance and it was also then, that his food blog ‘The Hungry Wolf’ was born. Since it was a new food truck, serving up tex-mex food in Goa, Akio tried at least 6-7 different dishes and realised that he couldn’t check in and put a post on his Facebook profile the way he used to usually do as this would involve so much of text and so many pictures.
That’s when he got the idea of starting a blog and found this website that allowed users to start a website and write free blogs. “That’s how my blog was born,” he says. Akio wrote a 2000-word review with multiple images.
The trickiest part was coming up with a name for the blog and after much thinking, Akio came up with the name ‘The Hungry Wolf’. Why? “Hungry” for obvious reasons and “Wolf” because he was fascinated by the creatures and how intelligent they are and the whole lone wolf concept.
After this, Akio started doing long-form reviews on his social media pages. Whenever he would go to restaurants with his family, he’d make sure that he clicked pictures of all the food. Apart from all of this, he would also put up reviews of budget eats, and street food.
Over time, he started alternating between blog posts and social media posts and within 2 years he got an offer from The Goan to write a food column. After a while, he even got the chance to be the resident food writer at O Herald. “It has been a great journey so far and one filled with ups and downs for 6 years now,” he says. “I started by being an anonymous reviewer with no trace of my identity on my Facebook profile. I still like to keep my identity away from the page and not let my identity influence the page. I stick to food and only food, 100% of my posts and stories,” he adds.
Support from parents and friends
Akio’s friends and parents were quite supportive of the work that he was doing as a food blogger. His friends, more for obvious reasons, liked getting great food suggestions or getting to be his +1s for food reviews. His parents were also supportive, though a bit skeptical of how he was benefitting from all of this, and whether it was just a waste of time.
However, as years passed, he started getting more credit for his work. With job offers from local newspapers coming his way, getting recognized at restaurants, as well as winning an award from BnB Magazine, Delhi for best food blog in Goa in 2019, his parents have now come to terms with what he is doing and have realised the power of social media in today’s world.
Challenges faced
One of the biggest challenges Akio faced during the initial stages of his career as a food blogger was the remuneration he was getting. “Earlier, blogging wasn’t taken very seriously and it was a huge task to get restaurant owners to understand why they should pay you in return for writing about them.
However, blogging is a profession just like any other, and while people might think it holds no value, it does involve a lot of costs such as the cost of fuel and transportation, headspace, and mental dedication to writing posts and creating content. it takes a toll on one’s health”, he says. “It’s hard getting paid in India, even harder in a place like Goa as compared to metro cities”, he adds.
“Let’s do the math; say a blogger charges you a fee of Rs.2000 for a review. If the restaurant owner provides you with a meal that costs you possibly an additional Rs. 2000 to provide. If you’re spending Rs. 4000 roughly on a blogger, and assuming that the blogger has 5000 followers, if even 1% of the blogger’s followers visit the restaurant, (that’s about 50 people), if you imagine the bills of those 50 people, you’re making more than 10 times what you invested,” says Akio. ”Unfortunately, restaurants either fail to understand this or are not explained properly how this process works and how paying the blogger isn’t a loss for them but is beneficial instead,” he says. “I have been paid occasionally over the last 6 years, but it’s not enough to pursue a full-time career. I even had to shut down my website as the cost of maintaining it yearly wasn’t affordable”, he adds
His Role Models
Akio has many people whom he considers as his role models; from Chef Marco White to directly his mother, who is a fantastic cook. “From my childhood days in the UAE, where I was exposed to many different kinds of international cuisines to my time in Goa, where I reconnected with local cuisine and watched the birth of multiple restaurants over the years, it’s been an awesome journey”, says Akio. He also mentions TV shows like Masterchef Australia, Nigella Lawson’s Shows, and Chef Gordon Ramsay’s shows, which have taught him so much and influenced his views on food. “My mom and I spent many years watching cooking and food shows and that has quite possibly played the biggest role in my life”, he says.
His Future Plans
Akio hopes to keep on creating content and building up his page as a diary as so many people depend on it and look forward to new reviews and new places to eat. “I don’t have a future set in stone but I would love at some point to have a show of my own, travel, and try food all over the world”, he says.
His Message To All Goan Youngsters
Akio urges all Goan youngsters to just be themselves. “In today’s generation, where everyone is trying to be someone else, just be yourself. Be natural and speak your thoughts as you feel them and as you see them. That’s all I’ve been doing and in today’s world, believe it or not, people appreciate honesty and authenticity. It’s something that helps you stand out from the pack. The growth might be slow, but if you stay authentic and are consistent, it will all be worth it in the end,” he says.
