Huge Updates as Aroha Moves Forward

It's hard to believe we've only been back from our incredible European tour for two weeks! So much has been going on, I don't even know where to begin.

We arrived back on May 28th and went straight to the restaurant. While we were away, there was a lot of progression. The construction crew has finished up the gas lines, some of the plasterboard is already on the wall frames, and as of yesterday, they have completed the plumbing system.

The construction team working on the plumbing lines. 

Plasterboard on the Walls!

Amongst all of the progress, we were also happy to take our Beer & Wine notice down. We are now in the final stages of getting our license! In the upcoming weeks, we will begin refining our wine list and testing other wine suppliers in California. We are excited to bring a range of organic and biodynamic wines from New Zealand, California, Italy, and France. After our wine tour in Italy, we can not wait to add a few delicious Chianti wines from the small wineries! We also were able to tell a noticeable difference between natural sulfite and artificial sulfites in wine. The most noticeable observation we had were the lack of headaches! While most imported wines have artificial sulfites added for preservation, we are making it our mission to only provide wines with natural, organic sulfites from the grape skin.

In other beverage news, we're going to be importing sodas that are exclusively available in New Zealand called Aroha Specialty Sodas! Not only is the name obviously perfect, the flavors are unique and delicious as well. Some of the flavors include rhubarb, feijoa, elderflower, and green current.

This week, we've had some amazing opportunities arise thanks to our lovely friends at the Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce, which I can't wait to announce in the upcoming weeks! Due to all of the excitement, I did a full update on our website with all new information about the restaurant and New Zealand cuisine. The logo got an update as well: I changed the heart to red to match our future building sign! We are also getting closer to pinning down our opening week. Currently, we're eyeballing the first week of September but depending on our progression, it may be as early as mid-August.

Yesterday, thanks to Westlake Magazine, we attended our very first polo match in Santa Barbara! I wish I could say I watched the game, but Gwith and I ended up having such a good time chatting with the other guests that we probably only watched the match for a couple of minutes. I did go out on the field during halftime though and stomp on the grass. I had to. I grew up on "Pretty Woman" and I'd be lying if I said I didn't always watch that scene thinking it looked like fun! The strangest part of the day was when we met a man named Howard, and we were told his family invented the earplug. I almost fell over because my grandfather had told me for years that our cousins invented the earplugs! My grandfather was first cousins with his grandmother, apparently. It was such a surprise to end up meeting a distant family member who I had only heard about! It's such a small world. The real irony is on the drive up to Santa Barbara, Gwith turned to me in the car and said, "I wonder if there will be anyone we know there?" I told him how unlikely that was... I'll never doubt the possibility again.

Gwith and I at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club

As I was dawdling on the internet before, searching our restaurant on Google, I came across an article written three days ago by Conejo Valley Guide talking exclusively about Aroha! We are over the moon about all of the publicity the restaurant is already getting!

Thats all of my updates for today but I do promise to sit down in the upcoming days and talk all about our trip, because there is so much to talk about!!

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

Finding Our Location! (Aroha Restaurant)

These past couple of months we have learned A LOT and there is no doubt there's much more to follow.

First of all, although we've only been working on finally starting Aroha (pronounced Uh-Row-Ha, in case any Americans were wondering!) for the past two months, we had drawn up our business plan  notes over a year ago. So in some ways, we already had a majority of the ideas done and out of the way. However, there's a lot that goes into starting a restaurant. To say the least, we've been busy and we've been moving fast.

At the very beginning of February, after Gwith left his last job, Gwith and I decided together that it was time to start Aroha. After years of working endless hours for other people and barely seeing each other, we decided that if either of us were going to work long hours, it should at least be for us and with each other. We've always seen eye to eye with our management styles and as long as he cooks the food and I taste it, we'll be fine. Me cooking on the other hand would be a terrible, terrible mistake. Crockpot, anyone?

On February 4th, I was already drafting up the entire 16 page business plan and our projections for the first three years. It was done by the next day and we were ready to start scoping out properties. Amongst our search, the one thing we were certain about was we did not want to be in the heart of Los Angeles for two reasons. One, LA's restaurant scene is very trend based. What's popular is popular (such as the current gastropub scene), what isn't isn't, and by next year, it will all flip to something else. The other reason is traffic. We didn't want to commute on the 101 or the 405 for three hours every day. To us, this only meant one thing, moving further from LA and more towards the coastline.

On February 11th, we brought a broker on board but continued to search on our own as well. We were primarily looking for turn-key operations or locations with the basic restaurant equipment and plumbing included. Amongst our search, we set our sights on Agoura Hills, Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Ventura, and Santa Barbara. We saw a lot of locations. Some of them were in fantastic spots (and were already taken) like the spot next to The Melting Pot in Westlake. Some of them were in questionable locations, like the one in an industrial park that we couldn't quite figure out why anyone would travel there for dinner. Then there were the restaurants that just have you scratching your head: like the one in the beautiful town of Santa Barbara that looks run down and is somehow on the only street in Santa Barbara that doesn't look taken care of.

By February 19th, we had set our sights on one location in particular. Of course, this location wasn't exactly what we were planning on. It's an empty shell. What does that mean? It means there's literally nothing inside. No bathroom. No grease trap. No ceiling. Of course, that also means this location can be turned into anything we want. Our vision can be created. In terms of the spot, this place couldn't get any better. It's in the first center off the freeway exit on Lindero Canyon and it's surrounded by notable restaurants including burger restaurant chain The Counter and Westlake's #1 restaurant Lure, as well as plenty of surrounding businesses. Upon visiting this location with a friend of ours (a residential real-estate agent who lives in Westlake), we became ecstatic about the space! He mentioned to us that just up the street, Westlake is building the largest Target west of the Mississippi. In other words, any one going to this Target, will be driving past this restaurant location. Did I forget to mention that this restaurant space also has the corner spot and is the first place any traveler will see walking or driving down the street?

After balancing out the pluses and the minuses of this location, we realized we had to go for it. While discussing the lease for the past month, we've been meeting with everyone from contractors, food company reps, insurance agents, to permit lawyers. As of this week, we have finalized the lease and we're ready to move. Our business cards are complete, our website is almost done (although you won't be seeing anything other than the Coming Soon page until we open), and our social networking is just beginning!

Our amazing contractor Ashour (Ashour Construction) had a completed floor plan for us over a week ago and we are excited to be working with him. We will be starting construction within the week and we are excited to share the process with all of you.

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

Fans, Music Videos, Santa Barbara, and Dexter!

I must start by first of all saying, I am super super excited! I've been running some Facebook ads the past few days for my music page and I'm incredibly pleased with the turnout! I've got like *actual* fans. (Enter squeal here). Besides seeing fans actually commenting, I am really enjoying using all of these different promotional tools. I've always enjoyed marketing so this doesn't come as too much of a surprise. It's interesting to see what's popular and what isn't.

If you're not a Facebook fan yet, here's my chance to advertise. And if you are, help spread the word and keep the numbers jumping! You guys are awesome! Also, follow me on twitter. Fair warning though, there will be a lot of adorable bunny photos mixed in with my music posts and TV talk. That's just the way I roll!

https://www.facebook.com/JustineThomasMusic
https://twitter.com/themeanjustine

One of the things I'm finding most interesting is the "post promotion". I tried two different posts: my blog and my photo album. My blog got a bit of a turn out through the promotion but what's really doing well is the photo! And it's not even my favorite of the bunch, so go figure. This makes me wonder: If a photo is doing so well, how well would a video do?

Naturally, I want to make a music video at some point. Besides my love for singing and entertaining, I also have my love for film and video editing, so this seems like a no brainer. I have no idea which song though to make the video of! Given my huge (and overactive) imagination, I dream elaborate things. I'm not kidding. When I was 8 I dreamt of having a Titanic themed birthday party. I actually thought my mom could fill the basement with water and have a sunken ship inside. Understandably, this party did not happen. But my mom did hang blue ribbons all over the ceiling and place a "treasure chest" in the basement for an under the sea theme. I enjoyed it just as much!

Ok, back on to the topic of music videos before I get sidetracked with my old birthday parties! My vision for a "Stepping Stone" music video is to have it set in the 1940s with my long lost love coming back from WWII. Now, if I could just find 1940s clothes, a WWII plane, and a 1940s themed town, I'd be all set. My "Worst Date Ever" music video vision is to have it set in the 1950s. Clearly I need a time machine!

I've got to figure something out! I feel like a video is key to the promotion at this point.

Switching gears, my hubby and I went to Santa Barbara the other day. It was so nice to get away from the city! We enjoyed a nice lunch by the beach and then strolled the zoo. It's a smaller zoo but that's what I liked about it! There were no crowds: Just me, Gwith, and the penguins. The penguins were adorable, by the way! There was also a bird that reminded me of Willow. That probably sounds crazy. How can a bird remind someone of their pet rabbit? But I swear it did!!

DEXTER TALK AHEAD. AVERT YOUR EYES NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN SUNDAY'S EPISODE.

Dexter was AMAZING this week. As usual. Does anyone else not trust Dr. Vogel? I personally think she is the serial killer. My mom thinks she's trying to trap Dexter. I want to know what everyone else's theories are. We've been through 7 previous seasons of this show and I think we all know by now that someone who's been introduced this season is bound to turn up evil. It would be an interesting twist if it's Deb's boss! Oooo. Maybe it's Deb. Okay. Now even I think that's farfetched. I highly doubt Deb is coercing people to chop off heads.

END DEXTER TALK.

Should I do a music video? Which song? What is your favorite zoo animal? Do you trust Dr. Vogel? Is Deb's boss bad?

Here's my photo of the day:

Willow is feeling incredibly possessive over her carrot toy!