 and thank you for joining me today on Restaurants of Hawaii on the Think Tech platform. I am your host, Cheryl Matsuoka, the Executive Director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Today, we're gonna be sharing with you a can't miss event. Yes, the best of Hawaii's best kitchen, showcasing Hawaii's top chefs and restaurants. And this is the second year, Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation is fortunate to be the beneficiary of this wonderful event. This year, we've added some special sponsorship only pre-event reception, special things that will be providing all of our sponsors. And I'd like to please introduce the creator of this event, Daryl Chalk. Hey, Daryl. Hey, Cheryl. How's everything? Great. Can you please introduce yourself and share with our audience all the wonderful things you do for the food service industry? Sure. I have a company called Viper Group Media where a marketing company and from there, I created back in 2014, I believe, Hawaii's best bars and then about six months later, we created Hawaii's best kitchens. And then also, we have one more called Hawaii's best photos. So, we're a digital marketing platform for restaurants and bars and a bunch of different things. And from that, we got into private dinners, corporate dinners and other course events, which is the one coming up in September. Yes, very, very nice. Thank you, Daryl, for introducing yourself. And Keith, could you please introduce yourself to our audience? Aloha, Cheryl. I'm Keith Malini. I'm director of operations of Kitchen Door Napa, Waikai, the Plaza Grill restaurant and Boardwalk Cafe out in Everbeach. We're actually celebrating our four month anniversary today on the 25th. So, happy to be able to join you today. Thank you. And it's a wonderful location out there. I've been grateful that I was able to go out there, Keith, and it's just absolutely amazing out there. I never knew that existed. It is a beautiful space. And that's what everybody says. Nobody knows we're out there. And when they find us, they're really awe-inspired, which is great. Exactly, gorgeous. So, Daryl, share with us. How did Hawaii's best kitchens start? Well, you know, I created Hawaii's best kitchens to help my friends who had restaurants and bars. And then, you know, from there, we decided to, you know, why don't we help all the mom and pops? And from there, we went on to the bigger restaurants, some of the chain restaurants. And, you know, just creating a platform for them to feature their either new dish, specials, new chef, or even grand openings. I love it. Thank you so much for all that you do for the Hawaii restaurant industry. So with that, you then started doing this event. Now, how long have you been doing best of Hawaii's best kitchens? So we started in, I believe it was 2017. So this should be my fifth year doing it. We couldn't do it for the last two years. I'm sorry, 2021 due to the pandemic. We came back last year, 2022. And I decided to want to benefit a nonprofit. So we were able to meet with Cheryl and her team and Nathan from Chairman of the EF, our Educational Foundation, and started to do this event. And then this year, I wanted to continue the relationship with HREF. And we're so grateful. We're so grateful, Darryl, because I'm going to have Keith explain to our listeners exactly what the funds, the sponsorship dollars, where it went. So Keith, do you want to cover a little bit about who the HRA Educational Foundation is and how the funds were used? Certainly. So I'm on the board of directors of the Educational Foundation. And I've been on the board for two years. And it's been pretty amazing to watch the work that's been done by this foundation. We sponsored the ProStart culinary program in 12 high schools around the islands, so here on Oahu on the Big Island and in Maui. And we fund or we raise funds for scholarships for students to be able to continue their culinary education. We do workshops with teachers. We provide them with resources along with the ProStart curriculum, the workbooks, and textbooks. We also issue grants for the school programs. So the school programs are a need of ovens and sinks and countertops to be able to recreate a kitchen, restaurant kitchen environment in their high schools. So it's been pretty amazing to watch how these dollars are spent. And I think last year we were able to provide three scholarships from the funds we raised from joining with Darryl on Hawaii's Best Kitchens. Thanks to Darryl. Thank you so much, Darryl, of those three students able to get scholarships. And as Keith mentioned, the school grants is so important. As Keith mentioned, because he was very close to Kohala, right Keith? And then now we're here in Ewa. Now here, so I previously lived on the Big Island and I worked closely with the Kohala High School, Tracy Figueroa, the culinary teacher there. And they had an amazing program and we were able to start an internship for their students at the Monikaia Resort. So I think five of their students came and one of them was one of the big scholarship winners last year. But I was just amazed to see the ingenuity of the teachers working with really minimum funds from regular sources. So we were happy to be able to provide extra help, especially with the on the equipment side, just seeing what she had to work with. It was an old home-ec facility that was built in the 70s, I believe. So it looked like you were walking back into a Betty Crocker house. But it's great to see where these dollars are going and see them come to fruition. Exactly, and Darryl, you have to know some of these classrooms are classrooms. So they don't even have an ice maker. So they can't even chill things, right? Keith, they don't even have a blender. So they can't even teach the students how to make anything because you need to blend. Just the basics and not only equipment, but food as well. So I know they were struggling to be able to fund buying fresh fish for their sushi program. So they were very creative in doing Kamaboko, Niggidi and things like that. But we were able to, with these funds, help them actually buy products so that the students can work with and experiment with as well. Yes, and I want you to know, Darryl, through your support in 2023, May of 2023, out of our 12 pro-start schools, over 1,000, right Keith? Over 1,000 students graduated in May of 2023 with culinary experience because they were coming out of our 12 pro-start schools. And those 1,000 plus students are really our future superstars that I always talk about. Luckily, Darryl, you got to meet a couple of them at your last year's Hawaii's best, best of Hawaii's best kitchen. You met some of the students, right Darryl? Yes. And I think it was important that what we were able to do is get the students involved with either the chefs there, as well as the, you know, part of the whole event. And then one thing that I think what made them feel more special was the HRAEF had given them chef's hopes. So they just went walking around in like either black, long-sleeved shirts or white, but they actually were wearing an executive chef's jacket, which I think it made them feel great being part of the event. And some of them, for the first time, they're putting on an actual chef coat and we imported them on the chest with the HRAE Educational Foundation. Darryl, we're doing the same thing this year for the students that will be attending the event. As Darryl said, some of the students were plating, right Darryl? They were helping some of the restaurants plate. Yes. You know, and then they, I believe some of them, that was the first time they've been in it, being into Waikiki. Some of them, first time being at the height, we can see, well, the whole event is on the pool deck of the HRAEF. Now, we feature 14 Russians, but you know, I was just glad to see the students there and involved. And, you know, we invited, I think one of your scholarship winners to participate in the event. Darly takes in the invitation again this year, Cheryl, for the three scholarship winners to be my guests at the event. Thank you, Darryl. You got to know you're correct. Last year, we had a girl show up and she was a recipient. And when she received the scholarship, I said, okay, so, you know, sweetie, I was presenting the scholarship to her. She was over at the Copy Money Community College and she said, Auntie, I want to be a pastry chef. Well, when she showed up last year, Darryl, thanks to your invitation, I had it connected with her. And she said, yeah, she said, Auntie, I graduated from the KCC in the culinary program as a pastry, you know, that was her thing, right? She was a pastry chef. Now she is working at a place that makes the best. And I'm going to say the dishes so that people know it's lemon crunch, Tadimisu, that's my favorite over there. And she's so thrilled that she gets to do her dream, Darryl, but you know, her big, big dream, right now she's getting experience. Her big, big dream is Darryl to someday own a bakery. And I told her, you just let Auntie Cheryl know when you open your bakery, we're so proud of her. Thanks to what you do, Darryl, I just want you to know that's the impact you're doing on these young people's lives. Thank you. Well, I think it's a combined effort. And as I've said myself, it's everybody involved. And the whole HREA, the HREF, the board, the instructors, the students, and then just the community support that we were given last year or the past five years. So that's a whole team effort on everybody's part. Yes, and you're right, because when I had invited her, she's like, I've never been to the Hyatt, but I can put it in my GPS, but Auntie, what do I wear? Cause all she has is chef coats, right? She has chef coats and chef pants, cause she's a baker. And I said, don't worry, Auntie has clothes for you. You want to borrow something? She said, no, I think I can borrow from my cousin. And she came, you know, black slacks and a blouse on it. She goes, is this okay? And I said, you're perfect, perfect. She, that was the first time, Daryl, you were right. That she ever attended number one, anything at the Hyatt and number two, an event that had so many people at it. So Daryl, how many people, let our viewers know, how many people are we anticipating to be at the best of Hawaii's best kitchens? So we're anticipating later, we're 600. We released our tickets last weekend. So we have general mission and elite reserve tables. The elite table sold out in two days. And we're just, you know, thrilled with the response that we got in. And, you know, people look forward to this event. And now too, because it's, it benefits the Hawaii HRAEF. It's a more possible for everything. Perfect, Daryl. Perfect. And I want to really let our viewers know we still have sponsorships available. So how Daryl is helping us is, you know, the educational foundation provides sponsorships and we still have some sponsorship packages available. And I want to give a shout out to the companies that have already stepped up and said, yes, we want to support the culinary industry out here and our Hawaii high schools. And I'm going to read it because I don't want to miss anybody. It's WCIT, Aloha petroleum, Young Brothers Hawaii Gas, Allstate Foodland and Odom Coca-Cola. So they've stepped up, but just want to say to everyone, we still have some sponsorship packages available. Keith, do you want to cover a little bit about what the sponsorship packages include? Oh, certainly. So there are three sponsorships, Gold, Silver and Platinum. And they involve like tickets for complimentary seating, reserve seating. And then we are starting a little reception this year sponsored by Tito's for the sponsorship. So it's like a pre-event gathering talk story, enjoying some Tito's cocktails, meeting some of the students as well and then heading into the event afterwards. But each of the sponsorship packages this year includes hotel rooms, which I think is amazing. So the Platinum level includes two hotel rooms for one night stays at the Hyatt and the Silver and Gold are both one night stays. So this is a great opportunity to come. There's a lot going on in Waikiki that we can. So enjoy the HRE AEF fundraiser, Daryl's Best of Hawaii kitchens and everything else in Waikiki. Yes, and we want to give a special shout out to Tito's for bringing the presenting sponsor for us. And you're right, we're going to have a pre-event that's going to be really fun just for the people who are buying sponsorship packages. So let's ask the big question, Daryl. Do we still have, we have sponsorships still available. Do you still have tickets available? Yeah, we have general admission tickets available. We anticipate, you know, unfortunately we sell out usually about three weeks prior to the event. So we were just a little bit early this year due to the number of events going on that same night. But you know, with the response that we've been getting and it's just been tremendous, you know, I can't, we're blessed for the response and the people just want to be involved. They want to come out, they want to enjoy the different restaurants that we'll be featuring. And I want you to mention some of the restaurants. And if you miss any of them, I have my list up, Daryl. Yeah, I can't remember them. So, you know, we do have our restaurants that have started with us from, you know, the day one. First year we did like, you know, in Arantino, Skahala, we have Ma'ali, Stai Bistro, Namakaze, Oyster, Hawaii. We have the Hyatt, we have Zegu, Pop Culture, 604 Hospitality. And this year we do, you know, we like to feature new restaurants. So we have Agadu, you know, which is an Italian restaurant. It's opening next month. Pesco, Waikiki Beach. Pesco, it's a brand new Philippine restaurant that just opened last month and Robata, Virginia. So we're total of 14 restaurants involved. 14, and you've covered all the cultures. You've covered all the cultures, Daryl. You haven't missed any, you have the Italian, you have, right? You've got everything there. That's so exciting. So, Keith, is there anything else that you want to say about that? Educational foundation and how this opportunity that Daryl is providing us to raise sponsorship dollars is helping the students. Right, and I think, as Daryl mentioned, it's great for the students to come out and interact with the public. I know we see a lot of like culinary school students at different events helping out, but these are high school students and they've never really gone out in the real world business-wise or culinary-wise, much less stepped foot in a professional kitchen or have participated in an event of this scale. So it's really great to see them exposed. They got all very excited about it. And I just remember last year, all the students were in their black jackets. They looked so sharp and very nervous and excited. And at the end of the night, they just felt that was just the most amazing thing. So I think we inspired them to move on in their culinary careers, which was great. And then last year's event was great because, as I said, I was living on the big island. I was able to come back and this was the first live event in a long time. So able to see a lot of people that I hadn't seen in years and reconnect. And one of my favorites was the oyster shuckers. So you, and they're here again, this year, right, Daryl? Yes, yes. Yeah, these are sweet, fresh oysters and putting hot sauce on them. I think that was, for me, that was the standout. I love it. And, you know, Daryl, I just want to thank you all. So not only for this amazing, amazing gift of us having this opportunity to raise funds to support our teachers, the 12 schools, and all of the students, but at the end of the night, it was like probably an hour into the event. And Daryl's like, okay, let the students have something to eat. And when we went to tell the kids, Daryl, go ahead, kids, go get something to eat. You should have seen their faces. They were like, what? We get to eat. And I said, yes. Our host, Daryl Chalk, is inviting you to go enjoy the food, Daryl. These are little, I mean, you know, they're like, what? You know, how old are they? 16, 17, right? They're juniors and seniors, right? 16, 17 year olds who's never even been at the Hyatt, let alone eating at these type of restaurants. And they see, because everybody's right, they're plating, they're serving, they're helping clean up. And they're like, no, you can go eat. They're like, their faces were just, I wish I had taken a picture. Their faces were so precious. So thank you so much, Daryl, for letting them have that experience, not only being at the event, but they actually got to eat food and, you know, enjoy, enjoy what the guests were enjoying. Yeah, it was so amazing. I should have taken their faces, they were just in shock. Daryl, is there anything else that you want to say about the event that I've missed? I think you covered, you and Keith covered everything that I could possibly be saying. And, you know, I just, again, thank everybody for the opportunity to put on this event and to get the students involved, because like you said earlier, you know, without the high school counterparts, there'd be no future stars in the restaurants. And this is where it all starts. So I'm just glad to be a part of it. And you're so right. Keith will tell you when we see these students and a lot of them, you know, they're in high school, they still don't know, you know, what they want to do, but yet some of them just love it. It's like the girl that came last year at the scholarship recipient, right? She just loves it and she knew, right, that she wanted to be in pastry and that she actually graduated and said, Auntie, I graduated and now she's actually working, you know, making my favorite lemon crunch and tiramisu and, you know, to see that it's actually happening. So this year we are Darryl, thanks to Darryl, inviting the pro start students who are currently in high school. Darryl, they don't start school until next week. So, you know, we sent the email out to the teachers, but the kids aren't in school yet, so we're gonna get the names. And then we are reaching out to the past scholarship recipients and inviting them to come out so that you get to meet them and hear their stories because it's so inspirational. Is there anything else, Keith, that I missed before we close the show? I think you pretty much covered it. I just wanted to thank Darryl for this opportunity to raise the funds. And thank you, Cheryl, for all the work that you do for both the HRA and HRAEF. And I'm really looking forward to this year's events. Going to the Hyatt Pool that brings back lots of memories from events over the past 30 years, but it's always great to be back at the Hyatt on the pool deck. Thank you. Anything else, Darryl, before we close the show? I just wanna say, you know, I wanna thank all the restaurants that have been behind me since day one. And without them, I wouldn't be able to put on this event. And, you know, we chained up the restaurants, but you know, they're so supportive of my boys' miss kitchens, as well as the events that I do the dinner that I do. So, you know, I gotta give them a big thanks. Very nice. And you're right, you know, to be able to, in one night have tastings from all these different restaurants. And Darryl, you've covered the whole globe, right? With all the different types of cultures, of food that you'll be having at this event. It's gonna be a great event to our viewers. It is again, September 23rd. Darryl, I wrote it all down, so I wouldn't say the wrong date. Saturday, September 23rd. Again, as Keith mentioned, there are other things happening Waikiki. So we want everyone to come on down early and enjoy Waikiki. It's at the Hyatt, and the event is again, we wanna thank Tito's for being our presenting sponsor. The Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation still has a few sponsorship packages available. So if you're interested, reach out to me. And again, the Hawaii Restaurant Association is the organization unifying, representing and supporting Hawaii's restaurant and food service industry. The Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation is really the culinary education programs in local high schools. And right now we have 12 of them. So if you're interested in knowing about any of those two organizations, just reach out to me. And by attending this event, the Darrow's putting on the best of Hawaii's best kitchen. Please know that you're providing support to the restaurant and hospitality industry through various Hawaii high school educational programs, industry engagement, and the promotion of our industry to potential hospitality and restaurant superstars. This is our future workers. The funds raised through this event goes towards providing student scholarship and school grants. And they definitely need it. We wanna keep these students interested in staying in our industry. The Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation pro-start culinary program was established with the objective of enhancing Hawaii's restaurant and hospitality industry for providing educational programs and encouraging industry engagement and promoting the industry to our future generations. And again, everyone, I wanna thank everyone for joining us today. Thank you Darrow for all that you're doing and gifting us. We really appreciate it. And thank you Keith for jumping on. Until next time, until next time, we'll see everyone soon. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please click the like and subscribe button on YouTube. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Check out our website, thinktechawaii.com. Mahalo.