 The Adventures in Small Business. This program is a collaborative effort by the U.S. Small Business Administration Hawaii District Office, the Small Business Development Center, the MING Center for Business and Leadership and the Veteran Business Center of the Pacific to showcase the local entrepreneurs, the stories of entrepreneurs and small businesses. I am Laura Hiromatsu from the Small Business Development Center and your host for today. We are fortunate to have Carrie Louie, who is the General Manager for Aloha Erobo's. Welcome Carrie. Hi, Laurie. And thank you for being here. Thanks for asking us. For me. We've been working together from the time you started and I would like you to share your experience in starting up the business and if you could also, what went well and some of the unexpected challenges that you faced as you started up the business? Well, I think what happened was it was fate because we ran a small restaurant and we made some beef jerky chips for our customers to try and that went over well and we decided well we should close the restaurant and do a beef jerky business. So lo and behold, we took the leap of faith with our eyes closed because shortly after that we found out you had to be USDA inspected to produce beef jerky and to resell it, which is what our plan was. And so we started the journey of learning all about USDA and all the complicated hoops and things you have to jump through and we had a customer actually who told us, hey, if you guys want to do this, you know, I have a warehouse out in YPO and we can build it out. So we did it. It took us over two years to get everything where it needed to be so that we could get inspected by USDA and have them give us our grant of inspection. So we started from a bare shell of a building and we learned all about plumbing, we learned about FRP on walls, our facility, you can shoot it down from the ceilings to the floors to clean it. We learned a lot of things and we also learned that moving your operation from a small thing to something large is, you know, there's a lot of things that go wrong because when you're increasing your production, you then have to, along comes all these things that happen, like maybe the jerky does not respond well in a bigger cooking, yes, dehydration unit and what we had to do to do it and then we had to figure out, oh, we need to take HASAP classes. So then we reached out to the UH system. We reached out to people on the mainland, Clevera Bundak. We hired a consultant and we knew this was all going to cost money so then we reached out to Laurie, you at Small Business Development. You helped us write our business plan. You guided us through a lot of things that we knew nothing about. So finally it came to the point where, okay, all our ducks are lined up, now let's go ahead and build. And even that was an adventure, right? Because the people building had their own opinions on what your plant should be. So they had their ideas and then, going to get back a bit, what is a HASAP? It takes a lot of, is it like a, right? So we had to learn about the Food Safety Modernization Act, which is FISMA, referred to as FISMA. Through that we also had to learn about HASAP plan, which is a hazard analysis of your critical control points. We had to learn about GMPs, good manufacturing practices. So our book is filled with all of that. Our book is about this thick, about three inches. And it's just our basic guidelines of what we go through every day. So your inspector comes in, goes through your books, goes through your records, walks through your plant, they do, they check in the mornings, you know, they'll tell you, okay, tomorrow morning we're going to have inspection before you start. So what we have to do is, we can't touch anything until they come in. They have their flashlights, they shine it at all different angles, they climb into our dehydrators, they make sure that the, you know, the fan blowing has no dust on it, or they go through everything with a white glove. This is like not for the faint at heart, and you need a lot of capital, it took two years for you to do it. So you really couldn't produce or scale up your main product until you had your USDA sunlight facility. We could do retail sales, so that's, you know, just one-on-one, and really if you're building out that type of facility, it's not enough to cover the expenses. On top of that, you have your monthly expenses. We needed to hire an exterminator to come in monthly. And so, you know, I was explaining to someone just yesterday, they stole all the exterminator comes, they checked, if you have bugs and all this, yes, but along with that, you have to get someone who knows about food safety, because if they spray any kind of chemical that isn't, everything that's in that room or in the facility has to be thrown away because it doesn't contaminate correctly. So we hired Orkin, and you know, Hawaii, it's all about business relationships. So we hired Orkin because of our relationship with Lan Okamoto, just the best. We explained to him what we were doing. We explained to him the USDA side needs all of this. Our FDA side needed certain things, and so we've got that all in place. My Orkin book that USDA comes and inspects is another three-inch binder. It's another binder. And so you have all your safety data sheets and all of that there. And even that, you know, that's quite an expensive thing that you have every month. What a journey. Just to share with you the products. This is, I'm going to show the audience, this is one of the main products. It's a beef chip, thin as a chip and delicious. It's like beef turkey chip. Right. So it's really good for people who are trying to cut down on their oils, you know, so they want the crunch of a potato chip, but they don't want to eat the starch and they don't want to have the oil. So our beef chip, we have three different flavors right now. Pepper, which of course is self-explanatory. Traditional, which a lot of people on the keto diet like, because it's only salt, pepper and garlic. And your original, which is the teriyaki. Oh, this must be popular. The most popular is the teriyaki, right. And then after you did your beef jerky, I noticed you have other. So I guess there was some pivotal moment in your business that made you expand. Right. So we decided that, you know, there's, we couldn't rest all our laurels on just one product. And the company owner and our core group of people were all kind of crazy. So we, and we're all foodies. So we all have our favorites and we discuss things. And so the next product we came up with was our furikake potato chips. Both these? Yeah. And, you know, everybody in Hawaii, right, furikake is a big thing. So we have that does really well. Then we said, okay, we got to do something else. And we always, for some reason, we don't stick in the same category. So we ended up doing this, an instant crème brûlée mix, and talk about instant. You mix the packet with four cups of heavy whipping cream. Bring it to a boil for one minute and refrigerate. And you get restaurant quality crème brûlée. So we have it in the original, which is a vanilla and Kona coffee. And we're really lucky because the owner's uncle is Stanton Ho. And Stanton Ho is touted to be the pastry chef of the millennium. He took the pastry team for the U.S. to Lyon, France. And that was the first team to ever get gold from the U.S. Oh, nice. So unfortunately, he passed away recently. But, you know, he left us this gift. And so we have this crème brûlée mix that does quite well. Then brainstorming again, we decided to start making doggy treats. Oh, my gosh. And that's it right there, 100% beef. If you're on a low-salt diet, that's wonderful. I eat that. Human consumption is OK. Yep. Same type of beef we use for the beef jerky. Your dog may not be too happy, though. Well, my dog loves it. And everybody's going to the healthier treats with their animals. Very, very healthy. So then a couple of weeks ago, in the next product we looked at, totally different again, called Jabba Lava. And it's 100% Kona coffee tablet. You drop the tablet into boiling water or hot water, stir it, and then you get Kona coffee in a cup. But the unique thing about this tablet is we've made it into different shapes. So one is a shell shape. One is a hibiscus. We're working on other shapes, and we're getting ready to launch this product in a couple of weeks. Oh, nice. This is going to be, where can you find this? Hopefully, you'll be able to find it at stores like Dai-Ai, or not Dai-Ai anymore, Don Quixote. You'll be able to find it at, perhaps, Safeway, Hostel Unlimited. That's where we sell our other items. And so because we've got that product almost ready to launch, we were sitting down again, and we came up with another new product. Our Fudikake chips did so well, we decided to make it into a cookie. You have a cookie here. So it's a Fudikake potato chip cookie with chocolate chips in it. And it's a very unique flavor. And one of my girlfriends says, I don't even like cookies, but I can't stop eating these. So quite addictive. So in the last few years, you went from your main product, which is the beef jerky, which is branded to chips, your creme brulee, your dog treats, your car. So new adventure. So what advice do you have for small businesses on surviving in Hawaii and making things work? You have to love your product, but not be in love with your product. You have to be willing to be like bamboo. You have to be strong, but you also have to bend. You have to rely on your resources. I mean, I have many people that are my mentors. Laurie's our mentor for business advice. We use resources like Aurora Salo and Lauren Tamamoto from the UH Systems. I use Klavera Bundak from the mainland, who's a great resource. We oftentimes call our consultant Kenny Olds. We have a number of people who can land a lot of light on many facets. So you build your team, make sure that you're always connecting with them, and then making sure that you network or make the connections. There's a lot of resources out there that you have shared. So small businesses are really highly recommended to reach out and then seek help when they need it, not too late. I like your saying about love your product, but don't be in love with it. Can you expand on that? And what brought you to that saying? Sure. For instance, I really like a lot of different types of food, but other people may not. So when we first came out with, for instance, a beef jerky, we had so many people telling us, oh, you know, I really want it a little bit thinner. Or on the other hand, I really want it thicker. I want it to be more traditional. I want this or that. And so we had to experiment. We do a lot of taste testing. We take it to events like Made in Hawaii, and we'll get customer feedback on it. And some of it may hurt. They may say, well, I don't really like this flavor at all because I don't really care for ginger, or I don't really care for teriyaki. But don't take it personally. You have to take it as really good advice and someone critiquing. Listen to your customers. Yes. We're going to take a short break here. And we'll be right back. Aloha. I want to invite all of you to talk story with John Wahee every other Monday here at Think Tech Hawaii. And we have special guests, like Professor Colin Moore from the University of Hawaii, who joins us from time to time to talk about the political happenings in this state. Please join us every other Monday. Aloha. Aloha. I'm Tim Apachella. I'm here with Cynthia Sinclair. And this is Trump Week. It's going to appear every Friday at 11 AM between Jay Fidel, Cynthia, and myself. We talk about Trump, the activities, and the news stories for that week as it pertains to the Trump administration. We hope you tune in and watch the fun. Aloha. See you then. Hi, welcome back to Adventures in Small Business. We have with us Carrie Louie from Aloha Edibles. Carrie, any words of advice? I know you were looking to export your products. Can you tell us the adventures in exporting? Oh, yes. OK, so what you have to do is you have to link up or partner up with people who really know the pitfalls of where you want to export to. So for instance, we definitely wanted to export to Japan. That was our number one goal, right? And then we found out Japan doesn't take beef products. So then we had to say, OK, well, we really want our crème brûlée there. And then we found out there's huge import taxes on sugar-based product. Oh, and your product is high in sugar content, right? I mean, it has one of the main ingredients. Right. So you learn all of this. And then we did research through Larry's office again. And we found out where the hugest consumption of beef products are. And so we're definitely looking to explore Canada next. You know, you just have to learn what the countries will allow and what they won't allow. And then you have to link up with someone who knows that market. So we were in touch with someone who wholesales a lot to Japan. And they really help us a lot. So you still export to Japan? Yes. We do our crème brûlée product. We found out that people in Japan have very small refrigerators. Yes. Your small kitchen, everything is very compact in that market. Yeah. So then our crème brûlée makes quite a bit of dessert. So they have to make it when they are having a party. So it's a good experience for small businesses in terms of doing your homework, making sure they understand all the customs of tariffs, shipping, challenges, and so forth before they. So it gives a lot of capital to get there. It does. And then rely on SBA because they have classes. Right? The high step program, which is put on by the bed. They have classes that teach you about exporting. And that's a good way to start. Good to know. Any other advice that you have for small business as transitioning, what was the difficult part when you realized that some of your products that you just love were not as loved by others? So what did you do? How did you fall into all of this, make the transition? Did you look for people? Or did they come to you? How did that morph? Well, like I said, you can love your product. But you can't really be in love with it. So we've been experimenting with our meat. And we did a lot of taste testing. You have to have a thick skin. If there's a critique, it's not against you. It's not against your product. But it's really to make you stronger. So we've done that. We've tweaked our recipes. We're looking into offering other flavors that people like. A new one coming out is like a, it's a salt and vinegar. Because that's so popular. So salt and vinegar beef jerky. And there's many pitfalls too, right? So USDA would not allow us to do our sriracha flavor for a while because it would stain our cooking mats and things. And so we recently, in fact, last week, we found a way where it didn't stain. And so we're going to be bringing that back. So you have to really, one of the things is we have to have a passion. Because no matter what stomping blocks you come across, that's going to get you over the hurdle. Is that true? And then you just keep going. So what keeps you going whenever you have? Because you have had some multiple blocks and boundaries and everything that came at you. How did you keep going? What makes you keep going? I'm just one of those that if there's a challenge, I'm up for it. And it's fun. And so all the workers know if there's something that we have to overcome, yeah. Kara's going to dig in and we're going to go for it. So I'm the one who takes apart the band sealers to check out how they work. I'm the one who took apart our new coffee machine to figure out exactly what's going on. And I called in mechanical engineers and all of these things. And it's just I got to make it work. I have to find that solution. If I don't, I don't sleep. You're lucky to have you as part of the team to be able to drive all of that. In this tight labor market, is there anything that you recommend in terms of maintaining, keeping your staff? Because a lot of people are looking for good employees. What are the challenges and how have you maintained or kept your employees? Yeah, that's an ongoing problem, right? But we've been lucky. We have some key people that trust 110%. You know that they're going to show up. You know that they're going to give you 100%. They care about the product. So they want a quality product, too. And it is hard to find. But somehow, if you have that faith that you're going to find someone good, yeah, it happens. OK, so to keep them, what do you feel is too different than you think? To keep dog? Because everybody's looking for a good worker. So what do you do to, you know? Well, we take them. We try to, small things. You know, like when we stumble upon something, say, for instance, we stumble upon someone who makes a really good pistachio bread or something. We bring it in. We have everyone come in. And we all sit down and we just talk. Instead of having formal meetings, we do that more. So live it informal. Bring something in. Talk. We brainstorm. Talk about issues. Talk about future opportunities. And it makes it for a little bit more comfortable dialogue. So what it does is have a really formal setting with our agenda. Because we're a small company. So we can do that. I don't know if it would work in a large company, but it works for us. Yeah, it's nice. So what's the adventure next? When you started out, you first had to do a business plan. I'm going to backtrack a little bit. So you did a business plan. Is that something you highly recommend to small businesses to start sometimes if you're, or I don't have much time. And it takes a little time to do it. But how do you feel having to create the foundations when you start? I think it helped us because it set the direction that we needed to go in. And then we tried to stay with it. But then as time goes on, you do expand. And so of course, you have to update it. But it's like setting down your goals. So without your goals, you know who it is. It's like a roadmap for your company. Yes, it is. It tells you, and it's always changing. Like you change completely from when you're looking at your business plan now, it's so different from what you are now today, right? Correct. So sort of updating it, keep it going. Where's the next adventure for you? Well, we've decided dog treats is something that is very, very popular now. So we're actually working on a Marlin jerky dog treat. Nice. Marlin jerky treats. OK. Look forward to that. I know that that's a good one because we've done some test batches. And my dog personally whimpers and cries when she sees it. And she just can't wait to get it. So that's one opinion that I believe. That's great. I think that's interesting. And then I think you mentioned real quickly before we have to wrap up here is co-packing. Are you also going to be considering that? And what kind of businesses or food are you looking to assist? So we are looking at co-packing. And we've got two other beef jerky companies that don't want to invest the money into a larger facility, but do want to expand their product line. And so we will be co-packing for a couple of other companies. So besides beef jerky, somebody's asking, want to know can you make my cookies? Or are you willing to open up and discuss it with anybody who are looking for someone to help them co-pack and then get their product to scale up? OK, very good. We'll entertain anything. And then that'll be your next adventure as you expand. So this is very interesting. And it's been a pleasure going to journey with Aloha Lotobals and you. And as you work towards growing the company, moving forward, your facilities there, any words to anybody else who wants to consider? Are you open to people looking at your facility to such a degree? They can give us a call. We do many tours if someone wants to see it. We're proud of our facilities. Are you the only USDA? We're not the only ones on Oahu anymore. There's one other. But I do know this. We're very, very proud that when USDA walks through and they tell us it's the cleanest facility they've seen so far in the state. And it's because we're new too, right? But it feels really good when they say, wow, no problems here. We're going to be wrapping up. But any other other words you'd like to share with us as far as the business or to impart on small business owners as they start to develop their team? What are the team members that you folks look for as you move forward with the company? I think the first thing you have to do is find people who you can have as mentors, like you. There are resources out there. The resources. And if you could share with us your phone number, your contact, your website information. So our website is www.alohaedibles.com. And our phone number at work is 808 732-2292. And we're out in YPO. So if you'd like, drop by. Ours are governed by USDA. So we're there Tuesday through Saturdays from 6 AM to 2 30 PM. So they can buy all these products at your factory? Yes. And other than that, they're located at Don Quixote. And then all of these are located at Safeway. Not the whole line. Stores pick and choose. So we're at Hoso Unlimited. We're at some farmer's markets, especially Oneward Mall and Fourth Street Mall on Fridays. We're at Don Quixote, Safeway, Matamoto Shea Vice. You're all over the place. Nice. So. Yes. OK. But they can go to your website, and that will tell them where your products are located and how to get them. Or they can shop online? Yes, they can shop online on our website. OK. Good to know. Thank you for being here. I know that this has been a very, very exciting journey. Carrie has much expertise. She has whatever she puts her heart in, she has done more than 100%, 110%. And there's other resources out there as well for anybody who needs assistance besides us, the Hawaii SBDC. But we really enjoyed working with her. We'll continue to work with her going forward. I guess for other businesses out there besides exports, what other things can you share with us as far as running a business? Like you're back at the house. We're talking about your accounting, your bookkeeping. How critical is that to the business? Very critical. Are you a good accountant? From the beginning, right? Yeah. It's good to have a good accounting system from the very beginning before you start. Because once you wrap up, how is that? You had a system? We hired someone who's very good. And so he keeps us on point. And we'll get little text messages from him, love letters, right? Remember to give me this figure. Remember to give me that figure. You have this many more days to file this. Sometimes, especially December, you lose track of time. And as you get busy with operations, everything, especially if your orders start to increase, your accounting system is something that you really want to have in place at that time. But we're going to be wrapping it up. And we appreciate you being here. Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you to the audience as well for joining us for Adventures in Small Business. Thank you.