 I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou School Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books, Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, and it's about inspiration, leadership, and creating a superior culture of excellence. My special guest today is the founder of the very popular award-winning Aloha Beer Company, and he's also the president and principal owner of Cushman and Wakefield, Cheney Brooks Real Estate Company. He is Steve Sombrero, and today we are going Beyond Aloha Beer. Hey Steve, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Hey Aloha, Coach Rusty, how are you? Steve, you have been making such a big positive impact in our community, and you have such a great personality. You have one of the best smiles and the best laughs. And I'm so happy that we're friends, but Steve, I wanna ask you about your family. I mean, you have such an incredible family. Your wife, Takako, your son, Kyle, who works with you at your real estate company, your daughter, Candice, who is the director of marketing and development at Aloha Beer, and her husband, Yusuke, your son-in-law, who is the COO of Aloha Beer. I mean, it's such a great family affair, right? That's correct. And you know, a lot of people ask me, you know, why do you start a business? Why do you have your family working with you? And you know, my answer is nobody will hire us. I have to create my own jobs. See, you see, there's that laugh, there's that smile that I love. I wanna ask you, Steve, how did the Aloha Beer concept happen? The Aloha Beer concept actually was a project at my executive MBA program. I was at the EMBA program in band number eight at the University of Hawaii. And in 1993, I was asked to, we were all asked to write a business plan for a business concept that isn't in Hawaii, but should be. And so, you know, I had just moved to Hawaii in 1991. I didn't know too much. So I said, what am I gonna write about, right? So like most people do, they go to the nearest bar and I went to the Maikai bar in Waikiki. So I sat there and I said, oh boy, what am I gonna write about? And so I was observing the entire time a customer would walk up into the Maikai bar and the waiter will say, Aloha and a customer will say, oh, beer, you know, it's typically a Japanese region and the beer, so it's okay. And then the waiter would bring him a bottle of Budweiser and it just kept happening over and over again. Aloha, oh, beer, and he gets a Budweiser. I said, wait a minute, there's something wrong with this picture. Hawaii doesn't have its own beer, right? This is back in 1993. And I said, okay, I'm gonna write a business plan for a beer for Hawaii. And because, you know, if you go to Japan, there's Kirin, Sapporo, Asahi, if you go to the Philippines, there's San Miguel and Chin Tao and on and on and on, right? So I said, okay, Hawaii has to have its own beer with this many visitors coming to the island. It's a shame that they cannot drink our own beer. So, and I said, what would I call it? And it was Aloha, beer, Aloha, beer. And sure enough, that was the name I gave it. And I said, I need to do some research. There was a beer called Pronto. We don't wanna make the same mistakes. So I researched about Pronto and I learned that it tried to come back, but by the time it tried to come back, the new generation didn't know what Pronto meant. It wasn't even Hawaiian, as you know. It sounds Latin, so Italian. And so I said, Aloha, beer is a perfect name. So I wrote a business plan. My professor gave me a double A and he said, Steve, this is such a great idea. Why don't you do it one day? And I said, okay. So I trademarked the name in 1994, DCCA. And I worked towards global trademarking. And I said, I'll do it one day. And then I did one of my big real estate transactions. It was the Don Quixote deal when I first moved into Hawaii and I had money available. So I asked my wife, I said, hey, I'm thinking about executing on my business plan. Do you approve? And she said, why don't you ask Pastor Wayne first? Because we go to church at New Hope Church, right? I said, we wanna make sure it's okay for you to be in the liquor business. So I reached out to Pastor Wayne and I said, hey, Pastor Wayne, I'm about to start a new business. It's gonna be in the beer and liquor business. We need to know that it's okay for me to be in it. And then he goes, okay, but before I can give an answer, can I try your beer first? So he tried my beer and he said, okay, I approve. Steve, I love hearing that story. I mean, it is so amazing how you figured that out in college and then you executed it years later. I wanna congratulate you on winning the 2023 Ilima Award for the best brewery. I mean, it is absolutely awesome. I mean, how does that make you feel? Just wonderful, you know, and I know it's not about me. It's about my team, my managers, my daughter Candice and Yusuke that have been leading it and our brewmaster Jeff and all the managers there and all the staff, you know, and they made it happen. I was just there drinking the beer and tasting the beer and paying the bills, but they did all the work and they deserve all the credits. So Steve, can we do a toast right now to celebrate your winning the Ilima Award and just the spreading of Aloha beer? So really cheers to you, Steve. Yes, thank you. And that's a blonde you're drinking, right? One of my favorites is your Aloha beer blonde ale. So absolutely love it, absolutely love it. It's one of my favorites. And Steve, you have so many various beers. I love that you have so many different ones and I love the names like you have metal waves, red zeppelin, fruit loops, high bitch kiss. I mean, I love them all. I mean, what do you feel about, what are your thoughts about having so many of those varieties? Well, you know, we make 15 different styles of beer and at any given time you'll have a dozen beer available to you when it comes to our brewery. And the naming of the beers really goes to my daughter. She has a very creative mind. And in fact, they're like the high bitch kiss, right? It's a high bitch kiss beer. And she asked me saying, dad, what do we call this new vehicle? You know, it's gonna be made using real hibiscus. It's gonna be pink, it's gonna be great. And I gave her some three names. And so I go to the brewery and I said, so did you choose which one out of the three I gave her? And she goes, actually we decided to call it high bitch kiss. I said, what? High bitch kiss? That's not even proper. He said, okay. She goes, yeah, no, don't worry. We asked all the women with that work here that waitresses and they say it's a cool name. And sure enough, the name high bitch kiss has really caught people's attention and they try it and they decide it's a good beer. So my daughter has a very, very creative mind to come up with all these names. Steve, I completely agree with you. And Candice is brilliant. And I love the name high bitch kiss. And I absolutely love that beer. I mean, it is so good. And you can taste that high bitch kiss in there. Steve, your establishment is also a dog friendly establishment. And how important was that to you to really make it dog friendly? You know, we're in Kakako, right? And we're surrounded by a condos and residents. And I figured, right? If a man wants to go to Aloha beer every day, he better have a reason and that better be as he's walking his dog. So people walk their dogs and they come by, have beer and their wives don't yell at them because they're walking the dog. But in all honesty, I wanted to make Aloha beer a very dog friendly place because we have two dogs at home and we love pets. We love dogs. And I really think dogs are a gift from God and you wanna hang out with them. And so when you come to Aloha beer, we actually have a dog menu that you can pick from. And we also have, you know, Aloha beer logo products for your dog. So if you come by Aloha beer, you'll realize that boy, this place is really the most dog friendly place in Honolulu. Well, and Steve, you know, it's no accident that dog spelled backwards is God. That's true. And I completely feel the way you feel. And when I'm with you at Aloha beer company, we love looking at all the dogs that come in and everyone's so happy. The dogs are happy, the owners are happy, everybody's so happy. I mean, it's such a great environment, such a great positive vibe that you've created there. Also our workers, our staff, they're all happy to be there because they love dogs, you know, and who doesn't like dogs, right? Cats are welcome too, but, you know, I'm personally allergic to cats. So I'll probably keep at this. In fact, we have a resident cat that lives under our purple house and his name is Hopps. That's funny, Hopps. And Steve, let's talk about your Aloha beer team, like you mentioned. I mean, they're so positive, they're such a great group. I mean, they're so happy to be there. You've created a culture of excellence with your team members. Well, what does Aloha, the letters Aloha, really truly mean to you? You know, when we interview people that wanna work for Aloha, that's the first thing we ask. What does Aloha mean to you? Cause you know, we're using the probably the most sacred name in the Hawaiian language. And so I wanna make sure we respect it and we honor it and that everything we do is respectable. And it's a great representation of Hawaii. And so that's one of the first questions we ask all our employees, what is Aloha? So if you ask me, what is Aloha? You know, it's really, I break it down into the acronyms. A is to acknowledge. You know, you need to acknowledge the person in front of you, whether it's a customer, whether it's an employee, whether it's your wife, whether it's your husband, acknowledge this first thing. The next letter L is to listen. Listen very carefully what they're saying, right? And they have something to tell you. And so you pause and you listen and all is to observe what they're saying and what their actions are. Cause if it matches then they're speaking genuinely to you and then H is to hold, hold that thought for a moment and then A is to appreciate them and show appreciation by expressing your appreciation. And that's really Aloha. It's acknowledging, listening, observing, holding and appreciating that is Aloha to me. I think Steve, that's gonna have to be Aloha for everybody. And Steve, you met the sumo grand champion. And I mean, what a great meeting that must have been. And your beers, the Aloha beers are spreading throughout Japan as well, right? That's correct. You know, our mission is to spread the Aloha spirit. One bottle, one pint, one can at a time. You know, as they say in Hawaii, right? If can, can. And I say, if can, can. If no can, we have bottles and pints also. By the way. So he spread Aloha all over the world. One can, one bottle at a time. And I tell you, I just came back from a trip to Italy and they heard that I was an owner of Aloha Beer Company in Bandai or just embracing me. And they're like, I wanna go to Hawaii. I wanna go to your brewery and I wanna drink beer with you. And I say, sure, come. So I am the ambassador of Aloha through the Aloha Beer Company. Steve, one of my favorite things to do is to be with you drinking beers at Aloha Beer Company because the next day my cheeks are sore. I mean, we laughed so much that my cheeks are sore. I'm thinking, what happened? Oh, I was with Steve. And Steve, you have both of my books. I wanna ask you, what did you like about the books? You know, I love both books. And, you know, the first chapters of each book, right? The first chapter of beyond the line, in fact, I have it right here, okay? Is the choices yours. You know, that is a very, very important thought because we actually have a choice to not read the book but we read because, you know, it's a great start. And if you really ask yourself a lot of people that fight with anxiety, depression, they don't understand that they have a choice to get out of it, right? And life is not nothing but a series of choices we make throughout our life. And then the first chapter in your other book, Beyond the Game, is make an impact, right? So if we choose and we have a choice to make an impact, I think you'll be living a pretty amazing life. And, you know, I've always wondered, why did you call the first book beyond the lines? Because one of the things that I asked is, you know, if Rusty is a coach teaching tennis, wouldn't you be teaching to hit within the line and not beyond the line? Because beyond the line is a fault, right? But then when you look at your cover, it shows that the ball is just enough that it's about to go beyond the line but it's still in the line. And so I said, okay, that's what it is. It's pretty profound. And then when I think about, you know, all the words, the terminologies in tennis, right? It's when you get the game started with what? Service. And when you make a mistake, it's called a fault. And when you're tied, you're called a deuce. And then when you're ahead, it's an advantage, right? It's not life. And then it's also love, right? The word love is in there. So I really believe you're onto something there, Coach Rusty, and I love your book. Every chapter I read, it's almost a book that all MBA students should have read. And if they did, if we did, we'd probably become better leaders and better managers. Well, Steve, you're so kind. You are my promoter. And I like that you know about, you know, that just that thought about, what is it? Tennis, you got to hit it inside the lines. Yes. And so for me, I'm just thinking, so many people through the years were asking me, why are you guys winning? How did you win 22 in a row? And it's doing all those things that you should be doing so that it allows winning to happen. Winning is a byproduct. Making money is a byproduct. Results, performance are byproducts of going beyond the lines. And you do that with your companies. I mean, you focus on character of your employees. You focus on creating a positive environment for your guests. You're always looking at creating win-win situations. And Steve, I want to ask you, you're the president and principal owner of Cushman and Wakefield, Cheney Brooks. Your executive team, I mean, they're absolutely brilliant. Why are you guys so successful? Well, you know, it's really hard to explain why, but it was done through a lot of trial and error. And I think you lead by example. And that is something I truly believe in. And as you say in your book, we're all coaches. We have to be coaching our employees and doing our best to give them a good example. And I always also believe that a fish, I grew up in Okinawa, right? And my grandma told me, when you go buy fish in the market, you go look at his eyes, because the fish always spoils from the head down, not from the tail up. And so that I applied that in my business. The head is so important. I am the head. And if I am not, if I don't make sure that I'm okay, the company is not gonna be okay because the fish, the company always spoils from the head down. And then if you have a problem, if you want to know really how the character of the person, look at his eyes. Look at his eyes. Look at the eyes. Yeah. And Steve, you've consulted, you've worked with many other Fortune 500 companies and you are a tremendous leader and you've been around other incredible leaders. What are some things that you feel the greatest leaders do? You know, and that's very true. I get to meet, and that's what I love about my business, I get to meet all kinds of people, good people and bad people. And I learn from their successes and I learn from their mistakes. You know, I have several billionaire clients and I try to understand how they became so successful. But at the same time, I see that the more wealth they accumulate, it doesn't necessarily equate to happiness. In fact, I have some of the most miserable billionaire clients that, and I think Calomoto, Genshiro Calomoto was a billionaire client that was truly unhappy. He accumulated wealth. That's him right there. He accumulated wealth and he accumulated a bunch of houses in Kahala and he basically trashed them. And so he became a problem. He was probably the most disliked Japanese investor ever to come to Hawaii. And so I basically approached A&B, Alexander Baldwin, and said, hey, you know what, let's see if we can buy everything he owns and if we can do this, you guys are gonna be heroes. A&B will be a hero and your stock prices should go up. So I should probably buy more stocks, right? Anyway, so I got them to engage with me as a buyer representative. And for three years after that, I constantly pursued Calomoto. I went to his office in Tokyo, Ginza, went to his headquarters. I tried to deliver a proposal to buy everything he owned and his security guard would always meet me at the front door and say, get out. You're not welcome here. But he took the offer and presented to Mr. Calomoto. I did this for three years, hoping that I would one day get to meet him. And then the fourth year, he got arrested for tax evasion and the government took away his passport. And so he had no way to come back to Hawaii. And so guess what? He calls me and say, Steve-san, I'd like to meet with you. Can you come to Japan next week? No, you've been trying to buy my property and I'd like to meet with your person. So I went to the new Otani hotel, which is where he was staying. It was a, what do you call it? I guess he was forced to stay there. It's better than going to jail, I guess. But we went there and he shows up and then he pulls out a file and said, Mr. Sombaro, you've been trying to buy my properties for the last three years. It's always been the same buyer. It's always the same price. And so I think there's something about you I need to, I think I can trust you. I can believe you. So that's where it all started. And so in 2013, A&B was able to buy 30 homes in Kahala, 100 acres in Kihe Maui, and a mountain out in Waimanalo. And we got it for less than half price. And the day, so the day A&B bought Kahala and Mr. Kalmodo's estate is the day they made money. We got a heck of a deal. So Steve, that day that you closed, that was your big celebration day. What did you do? Well, I actually went to his blue house. It's called a blue house. It's his biggest property. And if you recall, if anybody remembers what was going on, he had statues put up in all his properties. He was allowing people to move in for like a $1 rent. And he was trashing the property and making it very uncomfortable for his neighbors. And so he was trying to buy more homes. And so the day I closed, I was so happy that we finally resolved and solved this problem. And so I went to the blue house and sat on a statue. And that's the statue right there. I sat on the lion's statue. There was a lot of other statues available, but that's the one I liked that I said, all right, this is it, it's a victory dance. And so I felt like I finally tamed the lion of Kahala. Wow, I mean, that's something, I like seeing you on that statue. You did tame the lion. And wow, Steve, I remember seeing Kawamoto on the news because I mean, he bought 30 luxury houses in Kahala. And then why was he trashing it? You know, that's a question I asked him. I asked him. Kawamoto-san, you know, why are you doing what you do in Hawaii? You're not really appreciated. And why are you making very, very uncomfortable and miserable for people, your neighbors? And he said this, he said, I came to Hawaii with good intentions. Like any investor I came to buy real estate and make money on real estate. But then over the years, I met some really bad people. And so I was taken advantage of by some of the contractors, some of the professionals and advisors. And so I said, I can play the same game. And so he basically became an angry or not so happy investor trying to get more property and to make a point. And then he realized that every time he did something weird, the media would come to him and interview him. And so I guess he really thought that he wasn't being rewarded for strange activities. And so that continued to escalate until finally it came to a point where, you know, we had to do something about it. Wow. I mean, that's interesting insights right there to see what the reason was behind his actions. And I mean, it was so bad because Kahalas are premier luxury neighborhood. And I have to say, all of Kahala, all of the people that own homes there, they must be super thankful and super appreciative of you, right? Yes, especially Richard Turbin, right? During he came to see me and he embraced me and said, man, Steve, you're a hero. We love you. And then I was encouraged to apply for membership at the Waila country club. And the reason why was because Waila truly appreciated what I did to clean up the immediate area. And so in my interview, I can't believe this. I still can't believe this, but the membership committee all got up, gave me a standing ovation and hugged me and said, thank you. We want you to be a member of Waila. So that's why I became a member of Waila. I was welcomed with open arms. And so you should be big time. I mean, talk about statues. They should have a statue in Kahala and Steve. I mean, it's unique what you do because you're not a typical real estate company. And what would you say are like three or four of the biggest transactions that you've closed? Well, you know, we did the biggest transaction during COVID, during the pandemic. Everything was shut down. And I was able to sell the Waikiki Galleria Tower for 270 million. And then after that, very recently, actually this year I was able to sell the Tauna Pali Beach Hotel for more than 300 million. So these are mega deals. Deals that realtors typically don't do but these are more like investment banking deals. But you know, I go for the big one. I'm the big whale hunter because I know that when a whale is hunted the whole village eats. You see all that wisdom that you have, Steve. It's incredible. And Steve, I want to ask you when you reflect back on your life so far what do you feel is a valuable lesson you learned? Valuable lesson and I'm still learning. I mean, I'm still working progress but I know that my faith is what carries me. My faith is what moves me. In fact, in our company every Monday we have a prayer meeting amongst a special group of people our staff and employees and we pray for our employees, our clients, our customers and that's what's kept us going. Well, I love that you said faith right there. And Steve, I have to say I'm so proud that we're friends and I really, really want more Steve Sombro's in the world. I mean, you are a tremendous person. What you've done to help Hawaii and beyond is incredible. And I just want to thank you for taking time to join me on the show today and please come back, okay? You're always welcome at Aloha beer, okay? Okay. Thank you, Steve. Okay, cheers. Cheers. And thank you for watching Beyond the Limes on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKomori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I hope that Steve and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.