Aura Kitchen and Bar | Grand Opening

Good afternoon, everyone. My name's Ryan Coleman and I'm the economic development director for the city of Columbia and I would like to welcome you all today to the grand opening of Ara Kitchen and Bar here in the Vista. It's my pleasure to introduce our speaker lineup for today. So, first we've got Ms. Abby Anderson, the executive director of the Congaree Vista Guild. She'll be followed by Mayor Daniel Rickenmann. And then finally, our guest of honor for today, Mr. Remy Singh, the owner of Ara Kitchen and Bar. And with that, I will turn it OVER TO ABBY. >> [applause] >> THANK YOU, RYAN. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Vista. We are very excited about Ara Kitchen and Bar opening and joining our Vista family. Um Remy reached out to me right as they were kind of thinking of this concept and we had a wonderful meeting and I'm so glad that you guys have an opportunity today to experience this incredible location and see what it's all about. So, without further ado, I'd like to introduce our incredible Mayor Daniel Rickenmann. >> Good afternoon, everybody. This is so exciting to be here today. I'm excited for Remy and his team to be here in the heart of the Vista, especially, you know, having this grand opening right as is our economic engines roll back in and start moving into their apartments and their dorms and and the life starts to come back in the city. What I'm really excited about is this passport that I just got here where I can take a trip through [snorts] India, Korea, China, and Japan from cocktails to food and even get some rewards. I'm trying to figure out what the VIP experience is going to be when I get there, but we're very excited for you, your family, and your team. Welcome to Columbia. We're excited for you to be here and we look forward to dining here and sharing the word about what's happening here in your place. Now, it's all you, sir. >> THANK YOU SO MUCH. >> [applause] >> I'M NERVOUS, BUT I DON'T THAT'S MY first time doing it, you know. I used to look at people from the back. And I was like, I'm also working hard, you know, how can I be here? You know, because I was working 20 hours a day, you know, especially like you know, after school. So, today's the day, you know. I still remember I was driving by and I called my mom. You know, she's right there. That's my mother. So, I called my mother. I was like, mom, one day I'm going to get that green building. That used to be broken, you know, they had that green building and here we go, you know. I used to manifest every single day, you know, how I'm going to get that green building, you know, I've been thinking about it. The only reason we came to a restaurant business, me, my brother, my mom, when we moved here, I was 11, you know, and I wasn't like my English was really bad. I couldn't speak anything. I couldn't talk to anyone, you know, we came here to struggle. I started working at this smoothie place just because, you know, we can go, I can go and have my lunch. I know it's going to be free. That was the only reason I came to a restaurant and started working. So, I can have a free meal and I don't have to worry about, you know, how we going to get a free meal for, you know, for me, for my brother, for my mom. So, that's how it started, you know. Then it keep going. He used to work like 18 hours a day for me because I was in school and we couldn't able to like afford rent and everything. My mom, she still working 60 hours a week, you know, still like having us, you know, and that's my motivation. The only reason I'm doing this is for my mother and my brother and this city I was raised. City of Columbia, I call city of dreams. That's my, you know, that's my main word. If anybody ask me where I'm from, city of dreams. City of Columbia gave me so much. Like I can't even think about it. If I was in India right now, I couldn't do anything, you know, maybe because you know, India is really tough country. It is tough country, you know, but city of dreams, if you guys work hard, you know, if I can do it, anyone can do it, like, you know, >> [applause] >> that's that's a main goal, you know, like if I'm able to do it with no language barrier, you know, with a language barrier, you know, not enough opportunity, and you know, I have to work hard, anyone can do it, like, you know, you just have to work yourself up, keep working hard, keep dreaming, keep manifesting, you know, that's a main goal. If you wake up, look at the mirror, and talk to yourself for like a minute, you know, I'm going to do this, you're going to do it, like, you know, might take you 5 years, might take you 10 years, but when you do it, that's when, you know, all the rewards come in. And before we coming here, my right is like 10 minutes from here, you know, this is how far I live, but it took me 10, you know, sorry, 10 minutes from here, took me 10 years to coming here, you know, but that's how much it took. For mother, it took her 40 years, you know, because she's been she's been a single mother, you know, for my brother, it took 17 years to be here right now, you know, I want to make two announcement. I was raised by a single mother. Every Monday, if you are single mother, come in, we're going to give you 20% off, you know, because I know it's tough being a single mother, single parents is not tough, and you know, city of dreams, city of Columbia, if you work in city of Columbia, if you work in Vista, every Wednesday you come in with your family, we're going to give them a 20% off, just to be like, thank you, thank you for the opportunity, and you know, thank you for coming by, and we're going to have a sample before you guys go, please stay there and try it, enjoy it. I want to thank you so much, thank you for coming by. Thank you so much. Abby, thank you. She's been she's been helping me a lot, like, every time I need something I call Abby and she's always there for me. I want to thank everyone. Thank you so much for coming by. >> [music]