Aroha: An Incredible Week Thanks to an Incredible Team!

It's funny. Every day for the past 7 months, people I meet have been scaring me about the restaurant industry. I have literally had people tell me that once the restaurant began, my life would be over. As someone who hasn't been in the industry before, I couldn't just shake off these comments. Part of me, a large part of me, constantly believed them. I was having panic attacks day and night, trouble sleeping, and even trouble eating.

Well, we're one week into this crazy industry and there's one thing I now know.

Everybody was wrong. My life isn't over. As a matter of fact, it's just the opposite.

My life is only beginning.

While it's been a lot of hours and a lot of work, I look forward to going to the restaurant every single day. Honestly, I crave it. Every single day, I get to go to the restaurant and feel lucky enough to work with such an amazing team of people.

Someone once asked us why we started a restaurant. And before we could answer, he said it was to make money. The funny thing is, that answer has never sat well with me, because honestly, that's not the reason we started a restaurant. Sure, to be successful we have to make money. I get that. But do you want to know why I always wanted to start a business? To prove to the world that you can run a successful business just by treating your employees right.

Gwith and I have both had such awful work experiences over the past five years. These employers believed that disrespecting their employees and yelling at them was the only way to be respected as "the boss". Ever since we hired our staff, we have taken a very different approach. We've had both smiles and laughs as friends and nightly meetings as team members. And guess what: We've been open for four days and we haven't had a single customer complaint. Not one. Everyone has raved about the food and the service. Not a single item has been sent back to the kitchen. Not a single customer has complained about the waitstaff. I've never owned a restaurant before so I don't know if that's normal, but Gwith seems pleasantly surprised every single day. I'm assuming that he's never experienced that before in all of the restaurants he's helped open.

Grand Opening night on our patio!

Right now, no matter what ever happens, I just want to say THANK YOU. Thank you to our amazing team who has helped make our dreams come true and already, worked so hard to make Aroha a success. Your enthusiasm and hard work warms my heart every day. To be able to come to work every day and see friendly, happy faces, is everything I could've ever asked for. And THANK YOU to our guests who have come in these past few days and discovered our restaurant. It was our pleasure to serve each and every one of you. We are thrilled that you enjoyed your experience and that we could make your day/night a memorable one. I can't wait to see what the week ahead brings! Please join us this evening for dinner and tomorrow for our very first Sunday brunch starting at 10 am! We hope to see you there!

Relaxing After Hours with our late night team: (left to right) Lexi Medrano, Brian Smith, Gwithyen Thomas, Christian Stolp, Ben Schlesinger, and Justine Thomas

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30990 Russell Ranch Rd Unit C, Westlake Village, CA 91362
© 2014 Aroha Restaurant.