KIMONO, 1652 East Second St., opened Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that included such dignitaries as Mayor Elizabeth Patterson.

General Manager Omer Sidike and executive chef Hiroshi Sekita, who have a combined 35 years’ experience in the restaurant industry, will operate the restaurant owned by John Meric, Napa, along with his brother, Raffi, and father, Duran, both of Benicia.

The restaurant boasts teppanyaki-style Japanese cuisine as well as sushi and appetizers, and a selection of sake. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. Sundays. Private rooms are available.

The restaurant’s number is 707-750-5418. Its website is kimonorestaurants.com, and the establishment is on Facebook.

Woman-led LifeGear Design turns bottles into bags

LifeGear Design, started by Vallejo native Magi Raible, is a Mare Island company launched, directed and staffed by women, spokesperson Jenna Shephard said.

Raible, with more than 30 years’ outdoor industry experience, is both president and creative director. “When she launched LiteGear Bags last year, she wanted to bring her business back to her roots and set up LifeGear’s headquarters in an old mansion on Mare Island,” Shephard said.

Her employees, all women, come from as far away as Argentina and as nearby as Benicia. They work as a team, Shephard said, working and playing together to cultivate company loyalty and a serious work ethic.

LiteGear Bags, one of the company’s lines, are made of 100-percent recycled polyester that has been made from used plastic water bottles, Shephard said.

She said the bottles are melted down to become fibers that are used to make the bags’ fabric.

Raible’s products are sold in such stores as Bon Voyage (Alameda) and the Luggage Center (Burlingame), and online at Amazon.com and eBags.com.

Her company’s website is www.litegearbags.com.

The Benicia Herald’s weekly Benicia Business Beat column is an opportunity for local businesses and companies to tell our readers about business-oriented news, such as moves, grand openings, awards, promotion of employees, staff changes and changes in goods and services.

Submissions will be edited for length and content; and need to answer the questions who, what, when, where, why and how, preferably in the body of an email; and provide contact information.

Deadline is 3 p.m. Friday for news items that will appear in the next Tuesday edition’s Benicia Business Beat. Please email news releases and accompanying high-resolution photographs and logos to beniciaherald@gmail.com, and put “Attn. Business Beat” in the subject line, as well as the name of the business.

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