Two years ago, two sisters shared one dream - to build more than just another restaurant in Kenya. They wanted to break boundaries; disrupt the industry by bringinginternational standard design and ambience with multiple kitchens offering a wide range of dining options under one roof. No longer would Kenyans feel that the look and feel of dining in London; NY or Dubai was not available locally. African stories by local entrepreneur’s was what drove a concept that offered a ‘new experience everyday’ And so Urban Eatery was born - a place where friends gather, families spend quality time, companies celebrate, and great ideas are formulated over coffee and a laptop.
Urban Eatery represents the blending of cultures through food and fusion, the power of community, sanctity from the hectic world outside, and the power of women and entrepreneurship.
On Thursday November 10th Mira and Aarti hosted a Cocktails Around The World Celebration to mark their Two Year Anniversary for Urban Eatery. The drinks were flowing, the crowd was buzzing and the food was mouth-watering. With up-beat Jazz and rhythmic blues and happy chatter under the tented blue, red and purple hues, the evening drifted us away to a breezy island, relaxed and energetic. It was perfect.
Mira and Aarti are grateful that over 240 of their most special supporters, partners and customers attended. Their moving speeches topped off the night;
Aarti
“Good Evening and Hello Everybody! It’s such a delight to see you all here. So many lovely faces! Thank you all for coming out tonight. When my sister Mira and I began this journey, to be honest, we had no idea what to expect. Mira, an optometrist and I, a trained corporate lawyer had never worked in hospitality. We also had limited experience in running any sort of business. So clearly, with deep relevant experience, we ventured out to do what we didn’t anticipate would be such an amazing journey! Today on our floor, Urban Eatery provides employment to over a hundred staff and is a lifeline to suppliers, both small and big.
We are so proud! But more than proud, we are truly humbled. We are humbled by your love and support. We are humbled by the undying dedication and personal sacrifices by our team. We are humbled by your tweets and Instagrams. We are humbled by the guidance and mentoring of our business partners.”
Mira
Most of all, we are humbled by you our customers, who come out to support us every single day. Some of you eat here daily. Some of you celebrate Birthdays and Anniversaries with us. We have seen you bring your ageing parents, your young ones, your CEO’s and business associates. The journey of our lives, the journey of celebrating our good times and bad times, is what Aarti and I wanted to share with you, as our community tonight. We thought we would tell you our tales of women entrepreneurship and how the glass ceiling has come down now that we have a woman in the white house. Sadly that part of our speech tonight, we have ironically deleted! Yet we know, that while we have had two great years, we will have many more seasons to come, and with your love and support our best days are yet ahead!”
Although Hilary didn’t break the ultimate glass ceiling, it just shows how far women today have come in chasing their dreams. Women everywhere, are breaking down glass ceilings and disrupting the status quo daily. Mira and Aarti exemplify the value that “You have to dare to dream and execute on your beliefs and the outcomes will follow. The two are the definition of passionate, hard-working, humble women with a continuous passion to spread love, inspiration and positivity through food, flavours, culture and a wonderful space we can all call a piece of home away from home.
Thank you to all our customers, staff, partners, suppliers and families for your wonderful support over the past two years. We can’t wait for the next few as we’ve always got exciting, new, foodie-filled ideas, plans and experiments up our sleeve!
#WeareUrban
xoxo
