New Aromas for restaurant spot

BY TAYLOR ANTONIOLI

Special to the Observer

Situated in the collection of businesses on Cornerstone Drive is an Indian restaurant called Aromas of India with a newly hung banner above their part of the overhang. The restaurant is the culmination of a dream for Sarita Devi that, according to her husband, Yogi Singh, she’s held for a long time, since before they were even married.

“It’s not a business,” Singh said, “it’s her dream. She’s been living for it.”

Devi is a woman entrepreneur, running and owning the business by herself and doing the majority of the cooking. Despite opening only for takeout on July 9, Devi and Singh are busy cooking for catering orders and taking phone calls for takeout, respectively.

According to Singh, the great response from the community about Devi’s cooking is why they were able to make the move from Richmond Kitchen to Williston. He described how, when they first moved to Vermont, she was always cooking for their friends and for gatherings, and their friends would always say Devi should start her own business and how everyone would love her food.

“She loves to get people together and cook for them,” Singh shared.

When she saw the listing for the space on Cornerstone Drive, long occupied by Naru Chinese restaurant, they went to visit it the very next day and applied.

Devi and her family hope to open the dine-in portion of the business in early August, as they are only waiting for the furniture, such as the booths, to arrive.

“The kitchen is ready; we are ready. All we need are the booths,” Singh said.

When asked what their favorite dishes on the menu are, the couple said they couldn’t pick but gave a few options that seemed to be the most popular. Devi shared a small preference for the Dahi Bhalla, which are lentil fritters dunked in yogurt and topped with spicy and sweet chutneys. Her husband, on the other hand, said people should try her unique Hariyali Paneer, an appetizer with paneer cheese and green sauce.

One of their business models is to have a multitude of options so “you can eat what you want to eat,” Singh said.

There are organic options for their rice, and they are planning to reach out to local farms, as they believe in having fresh ingredients. They themselves used to have a farm, and Singh shared that Devi uses her keen eye for good food during her cooking.

They hope to see a similar, if not better, response to the new business as they did while in Richmond to keep Devi’s dream going.

LaunchVT recently held its demo night and pitch competition at Hula in Burlington to celebrate the program’s Class of 2023. The startups in the class presented their businesses to an audience and a panel of investor judges. Two businesses walked away with cash awards, and all eight will receive professional services from local businesses worth over $100,000.

Demo night marks the end of LaunchVT’s annual 12-week intensive accelerator program, where entrepreneurs work with business coaches and strategic advisors to refine their business models, develop their go-to-market strategies and prepare for future fundraising and investment.

Taking home the $15,000 grand prize was Plink!, an electrolyte tablet maker founded by Max Luthy and Luke Montgomery-Smith of Richmond.

Winning the $5,000 Audience Choice Award was Sleep Well Recycling, founded by Joshua Costa of Burlington. Sleep Well Recycling converts mattresses into raw recyclable materials, keeping them out of landfills.

The rest of the LaunchVT Class of 2023 includes: DairyDirt, DandyLion, LOGIC Building Systems, PurplCouch, QOR360 and Tacitly.

The Vermont Department of Labor is hosting a job fair to coincide with the Aug. 1 Lake Monsters game at Centennial Field in Burlington.

The job fair begins during the pregame time, at 5:30 p.m. Game time is 6:35 p.m. Anyone who registers for the job fair in advance will receive a free ticket to the game. Register at www. labor.vermont.gov.

Employers in industries such as healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing and technology will attend.

The Vermont Maple Sug-