 and welcome to Restaurants Hawaii on the ThinkTech platform. My name is Cheryl Matsuoka, the Executive Director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Today you're going to have a treat. We're going to be featuring the Waihata and Company, which is one of Hawaii's most charitable companies in the state. As they continue their legacy by pledging $200,000 a year over the next five years, a million dollars to Hawaii Restaurant Association and the Food Service Industry. Learn today how this generous donation of a million dollars will benefit our Hawaii Food Service Industry. Aloha and welcome to Restaurants of Hawaii on the ThinkTech platform. Today I have two guests and I'd like to have them introduce themselves please. Chris, welcome. Aloha Cheryl, thank you for having me. My name is Chris Lee. I'm the Director of Sales and Marketing for Waihata and Company Limited. Thank you, Chris. And Andy, could you please introduce yourself? Sure. Yeah. Thank you for having me. My name is Andy Huang. I'm the VP and Chief Operating Officer for LNL, Hawaiian Barbecue. Hi. Thank you so much, gentlemen. And today we're discussing Waihata, Russell Hata's pledge to the Hawaii Restaurant Association and to the industry, the Food Service Industry in Hawaii. So, Chris, share with us to our viewers a little bit about Waihata. Yeah. Thank you, Cheryl. So it's a privilege and honor for me to be able to represent our 450 people of Waihata, our Hata Ohana, as we call them. This year we made 110 years doing business in Hawaii, where the largest locally owned independent food service distributor in the state and one of the largest in the country. So we are very fortunate to be able to be a big part of our food service community, our local restaurants, to our schools, to our military, being able to provide them with all of the goods that they need on a daily basis. So, you know, just such a pleasure that we've had the good fortune to be able to make this contribution and on behalf of Russell and his family. And he has been such a generous person and one that really genuinely cares about the community and our people of the state. So just a privilege to be able to share a little bit about our organization. Thank you, Chris. And you are so right. You know, gosh, how do I say this? It was Waihata's 110 year anniversary. Huge, just huge. And typically, you know, at an anniversary or a birthday, you know, you receive gifts, not Russell Hata and the Waihata Ohana. Instead, they gift to the food service industry this pledge. And it was huge. And I don't know what other word to say that it's just an amazing, amazing gift at the time of your celebration to again, give back to the community. And if anyone knows, right, Russell has been in this industry for a long time, the family, 110 years. So, Chris, what type of challenges are the food service operators still challenged with today? Well, Andy's probably the best person to ask that question. But, you know, we we work with our operators, our customers every single day. And so we're first time we're in their operations, you know, understanding, you know, not just the labor challenges, but also the rising cost of goods, right, inflation. And on top of that, you compound that with the rising cost of utilities, increased rent in Hawaii, you know, it's just it's the perfect storm for for a disaster for a lot of our operators. And so really, our role is to understand those challenges and really help them control what we can, you know, mainly their food costs, identifying the right product for them to use, understanding their biggest challenges, and really, you know, just trying to leverage all of our resources to be able to support and give them the best chance for success. So that's really what we pride ourselves on all of our teams are committed from our warehouse guys to our salespeople, you know, all of our marketing people as well, you know, looking for the right product to promote and share those resources and knowledge to our customers. And you're so true. It's so true. You're right. If anyone knows what our operators, our restaurant operators are faced with, it's going to be Andy. So Andy, what are you hearing? And what are you experiencing through the L&L franchises? Yeah, definitely, you know, the restaurant industry is always evolving. We, you know, just when you think your business is getting better, now you're, you know, you're rising food costs and labor shortage, you know, it's really hard to find good quality employees and in the industry. Now, a lot of people wanted to work for like big tech company, right? You know, it sounds so good, but, you know, we also need a lot of new generation to support industry and how are like restaurant industry in Hawaii is one of the biggest industry employees, so many tens of thousands of people, right? So we wanted to educate the, you know, like the state, all the people about how to support our restaurant industry, you know, the food costs and it's very, it was really fortunate that we have a company like White Hata to support our small mom and pop stores. You're so right, Andy. You know, gentlemen, if anyone knows the impact that happens to our economy, to our community, when our restaurant closes their doors is Russell. And when we met, you know, we talked about the pandemic and how he observed, you know, we had a few restaurants that has decided to close their doors, not only through the pandemic, but even after, you know, and what the impact of each restaurant when they do close their doors, how the community and the state loses, right? Now, it's not only the distributors because through this endowment fund, it's going to be helping the whole food service industry. And even though they're, they could be, you know, maybe out there looking at who can I support? Who can I bring on board to our vendor list? Russell mentioned, right? It impacts a growth, it impacts a farmer when a restaurant closes their doors. It impacts a fishery because now they're not ordering fish. The distributors, whether it's the paper goods or anything else, it impacts so many different businesses when a restaurant permanently closes their door. And that's one of the wishes, you know, of Russell and the endowment fund is how we can keep these restaurants open and strong and growing. And that's, that's what the fund is all about. So Chris, you know, one of the things that you've, you've talked about is maybe bringing on some subject matter experts. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? Sure. You know, I mean, the restaurants are not just providing food and cooking, right? I mean, they're business owners. They have accounting and bookkeeping that they need to do. They need to be marketers at the same time. You know, when you're building a restaurant and you need to have planners and designers, there's so many things that go into starting a restaurant business. And once you open your doors, you know, those needs continue. And so, you know, we recognize the need for that and we recognize the cost for that. And we're just hoping that a little bit of these funds can help offset that, you know, just to give the restaurant a bigger, a greater chance for success, right? When people are working, you know, with the labor shortages, right, there's very little time for payroll and to balance your book. So if we can help just a tiny bit with that, you know, again, the restaurants have a better chance for success. Exactly. And Andy, you know firsthand how many different partners in a restaurant, right, whether it's your bank, whether it's your commercial lease, rent, realtor, whether it's your accountant, whether it's a tax. So, you know, there's all these different businesses that restaurants really rely on. Can you discuss a little bit about what kind of other business partners restaurants need to have on their side in order to be strong and viable? Yeah, so, you know, the support that the support fund, this endowment fund will help the restaurant to access, like such a matter, experts who can provide guidance, various topics, for example, like the legal employee relations, the relations training, commercial real estate advisory, tax strategies, you know, also a possible resource for future employees who have been trained in culinary arts, you know, we need more education to the public on how important the restaurant industry is to our state. And, you know, the work ethic that the younger generation can learn from working in the industry, flexibility work scheduled while going to the college. So all these education marketing is going to be very useful and helpful for the small, especially small mom and pop store, because when the small mom and pop stores, they don't have a lot of time to go research and go study, watch the news, and you know, all they do is working at the restaurant. They wanted to, you know, provide the best food to their customers. That's all they want to do. So, you know, for us to come in to help them, that's going to be tremendous help for the small mom and pop stores. And it's so true, Chris. Many of the restaurant tours, they tell me, you know, they're so busy in the kitchen, or maybe placing inventory orders or working with their staff, or even, you know, during the employees, the worker shortage, I see, you know, owners of restaurants or general managers actually busing tables and washing dishes and serving food just to keep those customers happy. So, you know, part of this endowment fund, you know, we're going to, we're hoping that we can really implement programs that are going to help those restaurant tours that are so busy in their restaurants that they don't really have time to get the knowledge or to reach out to business partners to help them, you know, make sure that their businesses are financially strong and succeeding. So, Chris, do you have any thoughts or any, I guess, recommendations to restaurant tours for watching this as to how this endowment fund will help them in the future? Yeah, you know, Andy hit it right on the head, you know, it's really about the education, right, allowing our restaurant tours to, you know, not only address the operational challenges today, and hopefully, with time and some of the programs that HRA is working on, on the educational level, those will cure itself, but really allowing restaurant tours also to continue their own personal education, to gain further experiences in culinary, in the culinary field or in business. And I think that's really important, you know, that, you know, they're always working to keep their knives sharp, so to speak, and, and, you know, just even for their staff, right, allowing those opportunities for their staff to gain those experiences, you know, that I've been fortunate to have to, you know, expand my career elsewhere around the world, right. So, you know, I'm really excited about what this, the possibilities are with this endowment fund. And, and I, Russell doesn't want to stop after five years, you know, our commitment is as long as we can continue to do it, that you want to continue to contribute to it. And our HANA is 100% behind that, our HATO HANA is 100% behind that. So, we look forward to trying to make that happen. That is so amazing. And you're so right, Chris, you know, the state economic advisor, they mentioned that every time a dollar is spent in a restaurant, when somebody orders a meal, that dollar is impacted into our state economy a dollar 88, because now restaurants can pay their rent, can pay their employees and maybe, you know, hire on more staff, can now pay that farmer for their produce, or that fishery, or that distributor, and that impact and pay taxes, right. And that supports the whole economy, you know, the food service industry is so important to our economy. So, Andy, you know, as you're growing more and more L&Ls out there, you know, you tell us what you feel is the forecast for the future as more L&Ls come on board to the family. Yeah, so, you know, we're really fortunate, you know, to grow to this level, to going to expand it to the mainland to, you know, we're continuing to support local here at home, but also expanding, you know, our Hawaii aloha to over the whole country and over the world. Yeah, so, you know, both Chris and I, we started in the restaurant industry and started as Busboy, we actually worked together way back, you know, 20 plus years ago. And then, and we've seen the industry evolve and how much challenges, even back then, we're facing until now, we're still facing. And back then, we never had this endowment. I wish we had this endowment back then, right? So, and really, if a restaurant closed down, it affects a wide range of, you know, suppliers, you know, employees needs to find another job, customer no longer have a place to dine, they have to find alternatives, right? And less options, all these chain reactions, right? So, we really don't want to see our one of our favorite restaurant to close down. And like L and L, we evolved from a small mom and pop to, you know, a big organization, but each individual operator are still operating like mom and pop style. So, when, you know, as working in the corporate office, we see the challenges and we're really glad to see Wehatta stepping up to help us to grow our industry in Hawaii. Well, thank you. Now, I didn't know the two of you actually knew each other. I mean, you worked together. Is that what it was? Yes, we did. That was a long time ago, Andy. Yes. 25 years, I was thinking about it this morning. Oh, yeah, 25 years, man. Yeah, busboy server, we did everything. I didn't know that. Oh, that's so, it's so serendipity, right? That the two of you are on the show talking about this wonderful gift that Wehatta is providing the food service industry. And you're right, you know, I also have been in the food service industry for many, many years. And the Hawaii food scene has definitely changed. And we just talked about some of the changes. If anything, you know, during the pandemic, it taught us is that, you know, restaurants do need also, you know, online ordering apps or software that helps them streamline their inventory process so they can quickly process the next inventory order, right? So some of those ways that maybe Wehatta, do you want to talk about it, Chris? Some of the ways that Wehatta is helping the restaurants, especially in their inventory ordering systems, which is, you know, now quicker, it has to be quicker, because long gone are the days that I used to take inventory with a notepad and a pencil. Yeah, you know, it's all about efficiency, right? You know, the more efficient that we can be as an organization, the better services that we can provide our customers. And at the same time, the more efficient we can help our customers, the more time they can focus on their customers. So, you know, we've made a big effort to look at new technology. We're upgrading our system to be able to accept orders via a web-based app. You know, we're looking at self-deceit inventory guides, order guides that customers can take from their, you know, what used to be paper and pencil right, you know, right to their smartphones. So those are all plans that we actually have in motion and are looking forward to introducing that to our customers. But we have to continue to involve, you know, Russell has the foresight to know that we have to be at the forefront of that if we want to continue on to the next hundred years. So we're really grateful to have, you know, his commitments to that. And again, hoping that will help our restaurants to receive some more efficient on their end and ultimately continue to contribute to our economy, right? So it's not just about the technology, but it's about the product that we're able to source as well. You know, we are searching globally for the right products for our customers, again, understanding what their needs are and making sure we're providing the right product at the right cost to them. So we have teams dedicated to that. And, you know, that's what keeps us growing. So really exciting to be a part of this organization at this time. That's so great. And I know that you're sourcing all kinds of difference, really unique types of foods to to provide to our our visitors and our locals and our community, because each restaurant, you know, if anything I saw recently is the emerging of all different types of restaurants that I've never seen before. And especially on the menus, as you know, guys, my husband is vegan. So more vegan offerings, I'm seeing a lot of that. And I do see also a lot more local produce at the I go to the chef's zone. So a lot more local produce over at the chef's zone to Chris, you want to talk about a little bit of that the local farmers? Yeah, you know, we do bring in a lot of products. I'm not going to lie to you, you know, it's part of the challenge that we face, you know, being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as a distributor servicing the schools and military, as well as our independent local restaurant. It is important. But at the same time, we also recognize the importance of working with our local producers, right? Not just the farmers, but other local businesses, producers of cheese, beef, poultry, eggs, etc. Right, we are working and continuing to support them by bringing in products for them to support our restaurant, because that is an important part as well for restaurants, right, making sure that they're continuing to support local as well. So, you know, it's not just why HACA, but it's very encouraging to see a lot of other distributors as well from our produce people to our other broadline distributors also supporting the idea of sustainability and supporting local. You know, it takes a village and if we want to get there, it's not going to be predicated on just one person doing it. This is where our competitiveness, you know, kind of falls to the wayside and we focus on doing what's good for Hawai'i and Hawai'i's people and economy. So, really, you know, again, it's encouraging time to be a part of the industry and just, you know, I'm really excited and seeing what Andy's guys are doing too, right, to support local in their L&L restaurant. I mean, that's huge, right. Exactly. Andy, you want to touch on a little bit of that because I've seen that too over at the L&L's and then also, you know, talking about vegan, you have that vegan musubi. Yeah. So, you know, I think the growing, you know, consciousness about the environments and so more and more people wanted to have options, vegetarian or vegan options. So, we brought in this plant-based musubi. So, it tastes and looks just like a span musubi, but it's vegan. So, I mean, give people extra options, right. The restaurant world is evolving, like you say, you know, we need to accommodate a different type of eaters, foodies. And then also, you know, just want to touch base on that, you know, this endowment fund would really help mom-and-pop shops so that, you know, give them extra resources and help them, assist them for the day-to-day operation other than that, you know, the rising food costs and also to help them to understand, to maybe educate them on the importance of the technology, right. So, now, all we are hearing everywhere, every day, it's AI, AI, like what is AI, right. Well, what does the AI to do with my barbecue chicken or, you know, chicken katsu, right. So, the mom-and-pop operator, they are just focusing on cooking, but, you know, don't forget about evolving with the society, with evolving with the technology. So, we are here to help them, you know, to educate and be one of our support, you know, they can reach out to, as a Hawaii restaurant association, grow to thousands of members. This is why we're here to offer them to give them advice for. Exactly, because the Hawaii restaurant association is here to support the whole food service industry. And you're right, Andy, you know, everybody is talking about how they can utilize technology, as Chris mentioned, you know, to streamline, to make everything more efficient, especially when it comes to operations in a business. In general, you know, restaurants, it's just bottom line, it's a business and needs to be profitable in order to keep their doors open. So, Chris, is there anything else that I missed that you really wanted to mention about this endowment fund? Yeah, you know, I think the big thing is that food is a big part of who we are in Hawaii. It's a big part of our culture, you know, it represents all the diverse people that are part of our state. And one of the things that the endowment fund is also intended to do is, you know, support cultural preservation through culinary arts, right? And it shouldn't be a financial reason why a staff or a restaurant owner or their team members couldn't broaden their comfort level and experiment and try new things, whether it be going out to a local farm for the day, or taking a trip to a ranch on the big island, you know, and we really want this endowment fund to support that idea that food is a big representation of who we are as a people of Hawaii. So, you know, it's not just about the challenges, but also about the opportunities for the future. And that's another thing that I think is very exciting for this fund to support. You're so right. We're just talking about that, how food, our food is our culture. Our food represents all the different cultures in the state, and everybody, it's a melting pot, right? And when you come to Hawaii, and Andy, you talk about, you know, L&L and the Spam Musubi, well, it's not Spam, right? It's a plant-based Musubi. People come here and they said, what are you talking about? And I said, just think of it as a breakfast sushi, and they have one bite, and they just love it, and they don't know that it's plant-based. Andy, they just think it's a piece of Spam. But everybody represents, all the different restaurants represent all their different cultures, and that's what makes Hawaii and our food service industry so special. You're so right, Chris. So, Andy, is there anything you want to discuss before we wrap up the show? What did I miss? Well, Niu, you pretty much got everything. It's just, you know, Hawaii is a melting pot. We have so many different cultures. It's one of the most diverse, you know, city and state in the whole world, and we are just like our food, L&L food, is we have chicken cuts that's like Japanese influence, and we have the barbecue chicken, where the short of it is like Korean, Chinese, Portuguese. It's everything different. That's what makes Hawaii cuisine. Like Hawaii cuisine, that's how we, you know, differentiate, define our cuisine. So, just glad to that we have this endowment that we can share, we can support. And HK, I think the biggest part is the education of the general public. So, that's what we need to continue to do for. Thank you, gentlemen. And thank you so much for being with me today. So, in closing, again, we just want to give a shout out and a thank you, just a sincere thank you, to Russell Hata and the Hata Ohana for being one of Hawaii's most charitable companies and continuing their legacy by pledging this million dollars, 200,000 dollars over the next five years. And hoping to go on, this is really going to impact the food service industry and keep the industry strong. When I spoke to Russell, he said, you know, this is all that he wants to do is, how do we support our local restaurants and businesses? And that's what this endowment fund will do. Again, my name is Cheryl Matsuoka, the executive director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. The Hawaii Restaurant Association is the voice of Hawaii's restaurants and food service industry. Thank you so much for joining me today. We'll see you again soon. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.