The owner of one of Craven’s only eateries, the 641 Grill, is adding to his plethora of restaurants. He purchased the Humpty’s on 1616 Albert St. in Regina and turned it into a new eatery called Rise & Dine.

This restaurant is Bill Singh’s third within the city.

Singh, 66, immigrated from India to Canada in 1979. He began his life in Canada as a blue-collar worker.

“I worked as a machinist for 26 years,” said Singh “I quit in 2002 and decided to purchase a restaurant with my wife, Pamala.”

By any measure, quitting a secure job to become an entrepreneur is a life-changing risk. Singh and his wife faced this challenge head-on.

“No, we were not scared,” said Singh. “It was a risk, but we felt we could handle it. We were right.”

Singh was successful with his first restaurant, and he figured he could handle more.

“Honestly, I can’t even tell you the exact number,” said Singh. “But I’d say I have around 20 restaurants in total.”

Restaurants aren’t Singh’s only businesses

“We do a lot of stuff,” said Singh. “I own a gas station, a mechanic shop, we conduct auctions and a whole lot of other things.”

The 641 Grill is one of the closest restaurants available to hungry music fans during Craven’s famous Country Thunder music festival.

“We are actually quite busy all year round,” said Singh. “But yes, the festival is a whole different level.

“We prepare for the madness a couple weeks in advance by just buying a lot of extra food. We’ve owned the place since 2017 so we know what to expect by now.

“Burgers and steaks are the main things that sell fast during the festival, so the grill is always hot.”

The hot sellers during the festival are a lot different from the rest of the year.

“Steaks and burgers really only get made during the festival,” said Singh. “Normally, we sell a ton of Indian food. Butter chicken and samala are probably the best sellers.”

Without any food distributors in Craven, getting fully stocked could prove to be a challenge.

“We really have no troubles with getting food,” said Singh. “We just order everything we need from Regina and business runs smoothly.”

With such a busy life, Singh and his wife still enjoy what they do.

“My wife loves cooking and has been a chef,” said Singh. “I like to bartend and have done a lot of it in my life. So, we both enjoy this business.”

After many years of undertaking more business ventures than most people could handle over multiple lifetimes, retirement is something Bill and Pamala are heavily considering.

“I know it sounds funny to retire right after opening a new restaurant,” said Singh. “But I’m 66 years old. We are very busy all the time, and being bored sounds nice. In the next couple of years, I think we will be retired.”