 I'm really getting hungry. It's one o'clock and here on Think Tech, it's restaurants Hawaii and it's very important that we understand how the industry is doing because we all want to go back to restaurants and eat like we used to. Hawaii is so dense with restaurants and so many good restaurants and such good experiences at the restaurants. We need to study what's happening. Cheryl Matsuoka is the executive director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and she's going to she's going to introduce our two guests and two guest restaurants, but I want to give you some hints, Cheryl. The first one is Jeremy Shirakani, Tika Kani, and the other is Michael Newburn. Okay, those are your hints. Now you go ahead and introduce them, okay. All right, I'd like to introduce Jeremy Shirakani. Jeremy is with Chef Marvel's restaurant over there on King Street and Michael Newburn, he is over at Lele's over at Turtle Bay. Okay, well let's examine. Welcome to the show, you guys. It's nice to have you together this way. It makes me feel like I want to order something and eat all day. You have to have guests who do that. They come in for like a meal and they stay for hours and hours and they have a life experience at the restaurant and you know they sort of renew their vows at the restaurant, you know, ever have that? You got to watch them when they do that. Go ahead. Every now and again we have, they stay for like four hours. Our average dining for Chef Marvel is about two and a half, maybe three hours. Sometimes they stay like four and a half, which is kind of long, but I mean I really like that's their experience. Yeah, it tells you something about it. You have this experience Michael, they hang around for a long time and get romantic. Oh yeah, absolutely, absolutely. A lot of people have gotten married to Turtle Bay and then they come year after year and celebrate their anniversary and they come for an hour and stay till they're kicking them out at midnight. That's the way to go. That's the way to go. You want that because they will always, always remember it. It's embedded in their way of looking at the other person. Okay, so Jeremy, let's talk about what's going on at Chef Marvoreau. First class dining, high fancy dining, great food, French, all that. I love French food. Let's talk about how you're doing. So we're actually terrible. Everybody else is doing, but we're terrible. But since everything happened in March, we're fine dining, we're tasting menu only. We used to do about maybe nine, ten courses and now we do, when we did take out, we had to do three courses with sides. We did lunch at two courses, like an entree and dessert. We do, we basically do everything now. We do CSA boxes. We do everything. We do some events. We're doing prepared sauces and we're selling the bread. We're doing everything. Now we're doing outside. We did it about a month ago, a month and a half, and then they shut down. We did it for about two weeks and then they shut down. So that's a real problem. My heart goes out to you because when the rules change, you have to dance around the change. You have to change everything you're doing every time they change the rules. Am I right? Yeah, it's a little hard to shift on a dime. Like when they shut down on, they make the rule on Tuesday, shut down on Thursday, we already have product or we have product coming in. I mean, I can cancel on the purveyor, but that's not really their fault either. So I try and take it and make something out of it. Yeah, speaking of which, there's an interesting issue there. How are the purveyors doing? I mean, you want to get first class stuff and you have relationships with purveyors and then, you know, they don't have regular business either. Do they stay in business or they go to Tasmania? I found some of them cut instead of a five-day week, they do three. Like us, we were a five-day restaurant, but now we do like three services depending on what we're doing. It's rough for everyone. So what's it like right now? Are you open or closed right now? I'm then talking about the inside. So we're closed inside. We have been since we started about a month and a half ago or so. We decided to do outside. I was a little concerned about people eating in the parking lot because that's the only outside we have. You can't really do sidewalk dining here on Macaulay and King, but we have a large parking lot. So we can sit about between 30 and 40 social distance outside at a time and it's a little difficult because instead of going, we have to go out the back door basically for the food and everything. So we have to prop open the back door. We still need music and I don't know. There's a lot of stuff that you don't really think of outside for inside lights, everything. We needed to rent the tables, chairs, see what kind of napkins you put outside, silverware, and what you put outside depending. Our trash is outside. So that's a little tricky. I can reinvent everything to make it work that way. What about the traffic here on King Street? Traffic getting away? Is it noisy? Has it changed the ambience? It's a little noisy, but it's not that bad. At night, we started at 5 now. We started at 5.30. So the traffic wasn't that bad. Everybody was still kind of closed, but now I see traffic getting a little louder. It is what it is. I tell everybody when they make a reservation, eating in the parking lot. We still deliver service and food, but you are eating in the parking lot. It's a different environment. We try and make the best of it. We put it out there, garden outside. It's a nice parking lot, I think. It's still a parking lot, but... You know, my guess is you'll find other ways to make it appealing as time goes by. Are you maxing out those tables? What I mean is are you filling the tables that you have out there? Yeah. So we were doing it for two weeks. We did it for about four services. We pretty much maxed out at what we could do, but we still really have to push hard to get it out there. Chef Mauro is known for fine dining, tasting menus, which is good. And also, it hurts us at the same time because not a lot of people have that much money to spend. So we did it at a $50 set menu, but it's still hard to shed sometimes that negative connotation about our restaurant. You mean that it's expensive? That it's expensive. Local people, just as soon as they hear Chef Mauro, they go expensive and they move on. That was smart for you to reduce the to a set menu because that'll make it more appealing to a certain number of people. But there's a lot of people don't have jobs now. They're afraid of spending money now. So that's got to cut off your support community just in that alone. So what we did, we ran it for about four services at $50 set menu. It's easier for us as well for logistics, for the front of the house, back of the house. But I actually made a menu that we're going to launch this week Friday. And it's going to be an Alucard menu, very limited Alucard, but in line. So it'll actually, if you look at the menu, it looks like a tasting menu, but it's Alucard. A little bit more affordable so that you're not locked into that $50 meal. And if you want, then it's about $50. Well, the price looks better even if it's still a little bit steep. And the parking out looks great if they drink enough wine. They drink enough wine, these things resolve themselves. Cheryl's laughing. Cheryl, you and I have to go out and test the wine there and Chef Mauro. Yeah, so we're known for our food and wine pairing. But we had to take down the wine a little bit. We still have wine. It pairs with the food. It's not as exact as our original restaurant, but it's definitely affordable gourmet food. Now what about the takeout? I'm interested in that because if I, let's assume I'm the kind of guy who likes to stay at home in the time of COVID, but I still want to eat well. I want to eat what you have. I'm going to eat French food and all that. How do you make that work for me? I call you up. I order the food. I come down. Where do I pick it up from? And how do you, what's the presentation like, right? To present it. So I salivate all over myself. So we still present, we still plate basically in the to-go container. We make our food based on travel, how it's going to go. So I'll tighten up the sauce a little bit more or loosen it up depending on, like sometimes you microwave it. So we adjust for that. If you heat it up in the oven, you pick up. If you, we ask for pre-orders since we're not like a regular to-go, we're not just like scooping from the steam table or anything. So we ask that you pre-order. You can pre-order online or give us a call. And then we bring everything out to you. You just give us a call when you're here and we bring everything out to you. Oh, cool. Okay. Yeah, so I think that that works. But are you having regular business that way? I mean, are people coming around for that? Are they like what I was talking about? You know, they want fine food, but they don't want to leave home. So they'll come pick it up from you. So what we found was happening was in the beginning, and about March, we only did a three course dinner menu. And what we found was people are getting their Chef Marvel experience at home. They plate their to-go food. We were doing it hot at the time. They replayed it on their plate like they're eating at the restaurant. And it's insane. We do lunch, dinner, prepared sauces, CSA boxes, and they're almost all different demographics. So lunch customer is different. The dinner guest is different. And we get new return guests from this, which is we're pretty much rebranding now. And it's really rough, but we're seeing a lot of new guests. So it's good. That's great. Well, I mean, you're doing something right. What about website? Is a website play in this process you're talking about? So we had to build a new website. Since everything happened so fast, we had an original website, Chef Marvel. But we had to change it to M by Chef Marvel restaurant. We overlapped it. So if you search Chef Marvel, it'll go through the same thing. But we had to build everything pretty fast. And we had to build it for online ordering and whatnot. So it's a full process. It's really fun. Did you get any Cares money? Yeah, we did. So that helped. Like everybody else, the money is running out about now. Right, right. What about your wait staff? Are they, how are they, are we able to retain all of them or do you have to let some of them, you know, go? So some of them, the ones that wanted to stay, we kept them on. Some of them couldn't. They take care of elderly parents and whatnot or something. So and some just didn't want to come back. But the ones that did want to stay, we kept them on. We did some, we helped, they helped us out for like, to run the to go food and take orders. And we did small remodeling, like painting and stuff like that. So we tried to keep them on payroll. And then we would have to supply everything else, like the hardware and stuff for painting and whatnot. But yeah, it's interesting, because you know, you're a fine dining place. And you have to be flexible if you want to stick around in an indefinite period of time with COVID. Let me, let me shift over for a minute to Michael. Now Lele's been around for a long time at Turtle Bay. Was it around when they called Turtle Bay Cooley Lima? No, that's too long ago. No, not exactly. We were part of the transition into the newer era. We actually, yesterday, celebrate our 18th anniversary. We opened September 28, 2002. We're the golf course clubhouse restaurant. We live a lot of different lives. You know, we go, of course, we're here because of the golf in the morning, you know, light breakfast, clubhouse fair. And for years, our line was, you know, five o'clock, we switch from cheeseburgers to filet mignon, you know, obviously prime ribs, steak, seafood. And one of the funny things about our business model was we wouldn't do takeout in the evenings, you know, between six and nine, because we wanted to focus on the guests that were sitting in the restaurant and making sure they had a great experience. And, well, our guests have always been, we learned early on that, you know, live and die by the hotel, live and die by the hotel. So we got into the community. And it's actually paying dividends now because those are the folks supporting us. You know, of course, when the hotel is operating and they're full steam, of course, we get some of the whipped cream on top, you know, with, you know, the overflow and, you know, resort guests, of course, they want to eat around the property. And, you know, not just whether it's in the hotel or Roy's over there on the beach, you know, they spend their time around. But right now, it's obviously all local business. And our demographics basically is Haula to Haleva. There's not a lot of people out here. Do you change your prices? Do you change your menu? We definitely streamlined the menu. And we adjusted the prices slightly down initially. And they were fair to begin with. You know, we always had the reputation of not being the typical resort, you know, overpriced their perception of it. But, you know, when we streamlined the menu and took away options, we felt compelled to, you know, make it a little more local friendly. I wanted to talk about the putting green thing. Cheryl told me about it. That was pretty exciting to find out that you could do that. So, first thing is the hotel or at least the golf course was cooperative with you and said, Michael, why don't you use the putting green? Which is a great idea, great connection. We're out there with the putting green. And that's pretty exciting. You know, in Jeremy's case, it's the parking lot for you. It's the putting green outside. So, tell us how that works and whether it's been successful. Yeah. Well, fortunately for us to begin with, we have a high percentage of outdoor seating to begin with. Our dining room is what it is. But, you know, 70% of our seating to begin with is out under the covered lanai, you know, kind of all around the outside. And for that reason, we haven't reopened the dining room at all since March. You know, we've obviously opened for service, but it's only for, you know, dining, you know, the outside, you know, and really people don't really want to be inside to tell you the truth. So, what happens is we have this outdoor lanai seating and as, you know, we get a little momentum, kind of running out of space, you know. And so, you know, kind of on a whim, initially, we started just putting tables out, which is, you know, just adjacent to our lanai, putting tables out on the putting green. And the only thing we fear is, you know, afternoon squall coming through and raining on the parade. But fortunately, we've had great weather for the last couple of months. And it grew and grew to the point where that's the preferred place to go, you know, where the best part about it is it takes the social distancing to the extreme. You know, they say six feet apart, their tables out there are 20 feet apart. And then they bring, you know, they have the family and then the kids can run around and do wind sprints on the putting green. And that was always part of the deal, you know, at Lele's when it's family friendly and parents bring in their children and they have their meal and then they send them out to run around on the putting green and burn up all their energy. I have this, I have this image, I have this image, Michael, you know, you sit there, you finished, you know, the entree, you're going to go to dessert and the husband says to the wife, why don't we, why don't we put a little and so that you give them a, you give them a putting iron and a golf ball and they go out and putt. People do. You're kidding, really? I was joking. And not so much, not so much on the green that we're using, but the golf operation has this really cool thing. It's called the brakes. It's a, it's like a putt-putt course with real grass that zigs around the property. And it was intended for resort guests to have something to do. And it's grown into being something for locals, something to do instead of being stuck in their house. And more so on the North Shore, folks aren't really happy being locked up. And they're not necessarily trying to poison the well, but they want to get out. They want to go to the beach. They want to ride or jog or walk or whatever. So they can come and putt 18 holes on what essentially is a putt-putt course, but nicer. You know, it's, it's like professional. It's cool. And so it's a, it's a good diversion. But what about the future of this? I mean, I would ask you both this question, but you know, COVID's not going away anytime soon. You could talk about vaccines all day. Not going to happen right now. And, you know, we're going to be stuck with a limitation on gatherings and for that matter, restaurants for a while have to build that into planning. So what have you learned in the putting green and other creative things that you've done for Lele, that you would carry forward, that you would make, you know, permanent? Well, I can tell you that a high percentage of our guests want us to keep it, you know, want, because it goes both ways. We put tables out there, but for this last month, when we were in the lockdown mode, people were, because we were only doing takeout at the point at that time. And people were really just taking it upon themselves and they were bringing a blanket and throwing it out there. And who are we to say no, you know? And so, and they weren't violating anything. It wasn't like they're coming in big groups. They just didn't want to have to go back to their house and eat, you know, soggy takeout food out of a box, if they can have it right after it's, after it's made. And my partner and I discuss it all the time because how are we going to regulate this in the future? In other words, now it's a little, a little more casual that if a little rainstorm shows up, people can, you know, duck under the lanai and wait it out. When there's formal service and there's plates and bottles of wine and all that, it's going to be a different beast. And we don't quite know, but we know that that outdoor kind of seating is kind of here to stay. I mean, it always was, but don't forget, don't forget Chinxano umbrellas, right? Chinxano umbrellas. Yeah. Well, we thought about like doing the, the another, like a little tent out there of some kind of, you know, whatever. We're, we're trying to be open-minded because it's, it's a great amenity and it's very relaxing, but it's a logistical nightmare when it comes to multi-courses and, and, you know, giving proper service, you know, to refill the water, you know, my, my service staff will, you know, be putting on miles and miles of foot traffic. Well, I suggest that you kind of find ways to be more efficient that way and maybe modify the whole meal, the whole theater of the meal, if you will, going forward because, because it's more difficult. Let me, let me flip back to Jeremy, because I want to ask you guys what, what it looks like. Okay. It doesn't, it doesn't look great for any restaurant in the, in the, in the state right now, but how does it look for you, Jeremy? What do you see in the future? Are you, are you going to make it? Are you going to have to dig, what are you going to have to do to make it is my question. Are we going to make it? I don't know. Every day is, every day is a new day. Every week is a new week. We, we just played week by week. And hopefully we survived the week. What we do to try and make it fine dining is extremely difficult at this time. And in Hawaii, it's even harder. So what we're doing is we split it up. We pretty much run five different concepts in one restaurant. I considered, I always think about what next and what's going to happen. What if this, you know, what, so we don't, we're never totally just pivoting on a dime. But I thought about doing outdoor and indoor on, on a reservation system like open table or Rezzy, it's a little difficult. It's a little confusing for people. The best idea I got right now is we do two days outdoor, two days indoor, and then a brunch outdoor in addition to our lunch. So everything is separate. We're pretty much running like five different restaurants. You're just in one location. That's to, to supplement the revenue plus we're opening pretty much a new, we're rebranding. And so to do all that, I think we have to do this. And thought about different ordering systems where somebody can order without calling the waiter over. Yeah, like the, like the touch button and whatnot. So, um, yeah, yeah, our, our, I think our service is a little different. It, we have that personal touch. We're lucky enough to have good front of the house. And so they don't, people don't really need a button like that. We're always on it. You should pretty much have to ask for nothing, even, even in a setting like this. I mean, it's a little difficult, but we still try and deliver food and service. At just a more affordable price right now. Yeah. Well, I mean, nobody knows, you know, the ups and downs of the next few months really is like a roller coaster in so many ways. All you got to be is fast and creative. So Michael, what do you see is the future? If you get cares money, are you okay? You're going to be able to weather the storm here? What? I'm very confident that we can weather the storm. We have always managed our money pretty good. And, and, you know, we just give people what they want. But, you know, fortunately, we've felt a little bit, I'm optimistic for the future, believe it or not. I don't hear that that often from a restaurant tour. And we recognize that it will not be what it was, for sure. And I was telling someone the other day we had a fabulous weekend by new standards this last, and it was golf, golf opening up, recognize it's a little honeymoon period. So the golfers were out in force. And so all day long busy, it's segwayed into dinner business. And, and, you know, there was momentum. And we that's the word we like to use on a regular basis. And we had really good momentum going through the summer, up until the end of August, when the the rug got ripped out from under us. And it went from, you know, set a zero to 60, it went from 60 to zero. And, and, you know, we made our way through the month and, you know, doing the takeout for a couple hours a day. And, but when we returned from last week, there's a little energy. And it's obviously people are cooped up and they want to get out. But, you know, we're our angle is just to just keep making people happy. Yeah, I think that's central in all of this. Because when people go to a restaurant, especially in Hawaii, they're happy. And when they're cooped up, a restaurant alleviates that. And, when they need a little romance, they want to have a meal together. And those are so attractive that they're irresistible for most people. What do you, what do you think, Cheryl? What have we learned here today? What would you carry back as a, let's say, a takeout on this? Restaurant tours are creative, right? We create meals, we create appealing banquets. And look at these two guys. They are so creative. When I drive by Chef Marvel's, I see the big Luau tent in his parking lot. And I've seen it crowded, but like lights out there and it's very festive and I hear the music. I haven't been out to Lele's, but I can envision, right? A green putting green and you've got your kids running around doing somersaults and cartwheels all over the golf course, you know, where they can't do that in a normal restaurant, dining room setting. So restaurant tours are very creative. And I know moving forward, you're going to hear more creative ideas coming out of the restaurant industry. And you're going to hear them right here on Think Tech, Restaurants Hawaii, with Cheryl Matsuoka and the likes of Jeremy Shigokani and Michael Nuber. Thank you, you guys, for coming around and sharing your stories with us. And we're going to, we're going to do this every couple of weeks with Cheryl so we can keep track of how the industry is doing because it is central to our lifestyle in Hawaii. Thank you so much to everyone. Thank you. Have a good one. Peace.