 My name is Cheryl Matsuoka, the executive director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Thank you so much for joining me here and Restaurants of Hawaii on the Think Tech platform. Today, we have a great show. We'll be discussing how you can get involved by supporting this event and again, supporting our Educational Foundation and our youth. The Top Tracer Golf event serves as a fundraiser for the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, which channels the raised funds toward providing scholarships and teacher grants at the culinary schools, of our culinary schools in 11 local public high schools. The Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, finally known as the HRAEF, has established a vision to boost Hawaii's restaurant hospitality industry by offering educational programs, fostering industry engagement and promoting the industry to our upcoming generation. So today, we're gonna be talking about our next fundraiser, which is the Top Tracer event. I'm gonna first start off with explaining a little bit about how it started. The Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, again, finally known as the HRAEF, has an amazing board of directors, 25 board directors. And they're passionate about supporting our future culinary superstars, our future culinary leaders. And as a board, we're always brainstorming. Different ideas, how can we engage students and engage the community in supporting our culinary efforts? And when you participate in the HRAEF's fundraiser, such as the Top Tracer range fundraiser, you will be supporting our 11 local high schools that are participating in the pro-start culinary program. So who's the mastermind behind this fundraising event? It's our board director, Justin Matsukawa. Justin Matsukawa came up with this idea and this is our second year in doing it. So Keith, please, four members and subscribers, please go ahead and describe our Bayview's Top Tracer range event. Thank you, Cheryl. Yeah, so Top Tracer is actually a branded technology that uses cameras to track the ball. So you can stand on the driving range and hit the ball several times and you can actually play a full round of golf by not leaving the driving range. So we're turning the Bayview driving range into more of a lounge restaurant atmosphere. So we have 34 teams that'll be competing. They're playing from each of their stalls. They are in three-man teams. We also have three VIP rooms, which will hold eight people each. So all of these golfers will not only be able to golf, but they'll be eating some great food, drinking some great drinks. We have four high schools participating. We have Pearl City, Lelyhua Castle, and Kohala High School serving food, as well as Kitchen Door Napa. It's my restaurant. And Luna's Hideaway at Bar 35. Also, Chung's Meat Market is serving up a whole roasted pig. So that kind of gives you the idea of the scope and the scale of the food. And then the beverages generously donated by R&D, so we're gonna have four bars that'll be serving up cocktails and drinks and all sorts of fun. Thank you, Keith. Well, since we're talking about the beverages, let's go ahead and move over to Kim. Kim, thank you so much for providing the beverages for this event. And Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation greatly appreciates R&D's ongoing support and partnership. And as you know, Tim, food and beverages are a huge part of any event's success. So we really appreciate R&D setting up the bars. Why don't you share with us why R&D is stepping up again to support this event? Well, we're honored and excited to be involved in this event and with the HR8EF. You know, I think about what we can do to provide back and give back to the community. And what better event than top tracers? We have some fabulous products we're gonna be serving, Tito's Vaca, Jack Daniels, Tennessee Whiskey, 1800 Tequila, we'll have some RTD's from Cutwater, we'll have some local products as well. Kalua Realm will be represented. And some fantastic wines from the Sonoma and Ava region, but we're excited to be a partner with this organization and this great event. We're excited to be the adult beverage sponsor for the event. And we're excited to see everybody there. Thank you so much, Tim, again, for providing the beverages. And now Ms. Katie, you were there last year. This is our second annual. And so from your perspective, why don't you share with our viewers and members a little bit about what you experienced last year? Oh yeah, last year was a lot of fun. And I think an important thing to note is that this is for everyone. You don't have to be a golfer, don't have to be a foodie, but it helps because food is delicious. Wide range of food, it's a party atmosphere, so much fun. And from my perspective, I was watching the students. The students were active and talking to the guests, serving up the food, keeping the area clean. So really being active in restaurant work, going around and interacting with the guests. And at the end of the night, I just, I loved getting to hear their impressions of working with the other school. All the kids from Lele who were so nice and the kids from Castle, competing to see who gathered more business cards and who's gonna get in touch with someone for potential opportunities in the future. So it was a great perspective to see from the students' view and what the students got to contribute and learn and really take from this event. Thank you, Katie. And can you please talk a little bit about the HRAEF's involvement with the public high schools and the ProStart culinary program that's in the high schools? Sure thing. So ProStart is a national restaurant association curriculum for culinary high school students. Katie is our coordinator. And so this curriculum is in these 11 high schools and soon to be more. But for us, our fundraising efforts really go to supporting the teachers, giving them the support they need to engage their students and get them interested in becoming chefs and cooks in our industry. We supply grants for the teachers to be able to outfit their kitchens, to buy product, to kind of sponsor trips, to go field trips. And we also offer scholarships. So right now, our scholarship committee on the HRAEF board is diligently going through our scholarship applications to be awarding some scholarships. I think we announced them on March 13th, but I've seen some of the applications. They're all really amazing. These kids are pretty amazing. Some of them are presidents of their organizations. Some have won FCC LA culinary competitions already. So they're very promising and looking to continue their culinary education at the community college level. So our scholarships go to help that. And then we also just provide internship mentorship programs for the teachers and the students as well. So lots going on with the educational foundation. Yes, always lots going on, right Katie? Always lots going on. So Tim, so we still have tickets available and the tickets for the team, it's a team free. The tickets are $500 per team. And so Tim, what do you think that the people who are participating, learning teams, what will they benefit from attending our time laser event? Yeah, I mean, I don't even know where to start. I mean, there's nowhere I'd rather be that afternoon than at the span. From a consumer perspective, just some value of the ticket and the admission for your team is incredible. I mean, you get to eat and enjoy food for some of the best restaurants in Hawaii. So enjoy some of the best brands, adult beverages in the world, really. You get to support teachers, 11 local high schools students. It's a great social event, it's a great opportunity to compete. It's gonna be a fun competition. So if you're competitive, you definitely wanna be there. So I mean, just to summarize it, if you're competitive, you like good food, you like good beverages, you wanna get back to the community, there's really no place you'd rather be than at this event. I'm gonna be there and look forward to seeing you all there. Thank you, Tim. And Katie will tell you, Tim, yes, you're right, it's great restaurants. But you know those four dishes that the actual high school students that are actually going to be making? Last year, Katie will tell you, everybody loved one of the school's dishes and they voted that one the best. It was even chefs who were at our event, right, Katie? They are still talking about it. And we've got some good ones on the menu for this event too, a wide range too from appetizers through desserts. I'm really excited for this one. Yes, yes. And as you mentioned, Tim, everything's included in the $500, the team of three unlimited range balls, unlimited food and beverages during the play, team challenges, great prizes. It's a great family event, as well as a team building event. And the date is March 28th, it's a Thursday. And it's the day before Good Friday, which is a holiday for many. And this was all established and created by Justin again. He's the one who said, hey, you know, many people are off on that Good Friday, let's do it on that Thursday night. And he is true because many people say, let's go do something with the family or let's go do a team bonding thing for work. It's just a great, great event. So now I'm gonna go back again to Keith. Keith, is there anything else that I missed that you wanted to bring up about this event? I have a couple of other questions for you, but before I get into the question, is there anything else I missed? Sure, so I think thinking Justin again, what a mastermind to put this all together. Who would have thought like to do a world-class food and beverage event on a driving range? So I think that's really special about this event. I'm just waiting through some of the menu items. I know Kohala High School is bringing Pipi Kala Poki from the Big Island, which is gonna be amazing. There's a prosciutto, oshizushi, which I think I wanna have right now. And then mantan min, so all sorts of fun things. And then we at Kitchen Door are gonna do our signature fried chicken, so it's gonna be something else. Nice, nice. And Keith, do you wanna share about other initiatives that we have going on at the Educational Foundation? Right, so our main purpose is to raise funds for our kids and for our teachers. We have a silent auction coming up at the Hawaii Hotel and Restaurant Show, which is on March 20th and 21st. We are also sponsoring a whole at the HRA Golf Tournament in May. And then our signature event is the best of Hawaii's best kitchens at the Hyatt in September. And that draws out great restaurants. We thank Darryl Chott for making HRA-EF the benefactor of this great event. And then throughout the year, we're doing all sorts of fun things. Yes, yes. And you can just go to our website, HRA-EF.org. That's HRA-EF.org. We always post all of our events there. And you want to be involved in supporting an organization that's supporting our future culinary leaders. This is the event and this is the foundation that will do that. So now I'm going to go back over, because I think there was a couple of other things that I miss anything, Tim, that, oh, what other involvement does RNDC have with the EF? Yeah, well, the top tracers coming up, we're really excited about that. We do it every year, of course. The golf tournament will be involved in that golf tournament as much as you would like us to be. So just say the word and we'll get involved in that. And then the best of Hawaii's best kitchens, we're involved in that event every year. We're excited about that as well. And then throughout the year, there's various, how HANAs and things of that nature that get together is that you all host that we're happy to be involved in. So we're a big supporter. And anything you need or help with, we're happy to help with. Thank you, thank you. We really appreciate it, Tim. Now, Katie, do you want to talk about the sponsors? Oh, yeah, well, we're very happy and grateful. Thank you so much to our sponsors, Tim. Of course, from RNDC, thank you so much for all your involvement in this and all the other events. We also do have Odom providing soft drinks and water. Chef Zone is going to be one of our sponsors for this event, along with others that we do. Honolulu Beer Works, Foodland, the Sullivan family of kitchens. And then, of course, all of our participating VIP teams who will be joining us, are hot big sponsors for this event and for the EF. And we appreciate it, thank you. Thank you so much. And the three VIP teams were sold out immediately. So we really want people to start thinking about putting together a team, buying a team for just $500 and enjoying a great night. And it's a shorter game, Tim, because it's not like you're on a golf course, but you are on a golf course. I don't know how to explain this, but it's a shorter game. It's not as many hours as you're playing out in a course. It's in the evening. It starts at six, so it's cooler. Our VIP rooms sold out quickly. We want to thank them. Shobu's Air Conditioning Eco Clean and Century 21. They took the VIP rooms so quickly, but we still have regular stalls, the $500 stalls, still available. So as we said earlier, go to our website, hraef.org, sign up there for a stall because they are going to also go out pretty quickly. Now, Keith, is there anything else I missed about the actual event itself? Because it is a shorter event. It's not where it's a four hours, right? Normally golf, Tim, is like four hours in the sun. So this is what, six from six to nine. So in three hours, then you're staying on the driving range at Bayview. So it's a pretty unique setup. There's two decks at the venue, and we're gonna have four bars there to make sure everybody has a cocktail or a refreshment as they're enjoying the food and playing golf. And then it's just really unique that you can be there with your teammates and you can be serious about the competition or you can be serious about the food. You can be serious about the bar or you can do all things. And then throughout the evening, there are gonna be other competitions going on and other fundraising opportunities for us as well. And then just to mention again, so it's gonna be a Luna's Hideaway at bar 35 doing some food as well as Chun's Meat Market with the whole pig, which I'm looking forward to. And of course, Kitchen Door with the fried chicken and then our four high schools, which is gonna be amazing to see all their food. I'm really looking forward to the Pipi Kala Poki. Yes, and that's one of the things Katie worked so hard on is getting a well-rounded menu so that we don't have just the same type of food that we're serving. So just envision this viewers and subscribers to this channel. You're in a stall in the evening at 6 p.m. So it's nice and cool in Kaneohe. I don't know if a lot of people know this is at the Bayview Golf Course and you're with your friends. And like Keith Molini said, it's like a lounge. All the food gets delivered to you and you would have to of course go get your beverages but all the food is delivered to you but you will also have an ice chest there where you can also put your beverages in. The utensils are there, the plates, everything is there in your stall so that you don't really have to leave your stall. It is kind of a lounge, right Keith? Yeah, definitely. So it's where else can you golf and then have and be catered to and pampered with food, all the high school students so work their little legs off running the food from the preparation area to the decks and delivering right to the stalls. Right, and Tim you've golfed at these types of driving rate events before? I have, there are a ton of fun. I mean, like I mentioned earlier, to just relax in a nice cool environment, get served by students, grade food, unlimited beverages. And by the way, one thing I'll note is there's gonna be a wide variety of beverages to enjoy with the food. There'll be wine, there'll be cocktails, there'll be beer, whatever it is that you enjoy pairing with food, you'll have the opportunity to do that. So pretty excited. Nice, Tim and Tim, overall, how does R&D see view community engagement opportunities in Hawaii because you have been such a valuable partner and sponsor of the Educational Foundation. But how do you view community engagement opportunities? I mean, to say it's important, it would be understated. I mean, for us, giving back to the community is something we're passionate about, something we enjoy doing. It's a big part of what we do. And I'll go on record and say that I was just able to post the position last week that will drive this initiative for us on the island of Hawaii and moving forward. My entire team does it as a part of what we do. We all have sport and go day jobs, but we do this in addition to that because we enjoy it and it's so important to us. And we're hiring someone to focus on this so that we can take it up to another level. So we're really excited about it. It's important, we love it, we enjoy it. And anything we can do to help, R&D sees here to help. You're so awesome, Tim, you're so awesome. We're just so blessed to have you as part of our partners. Thank you. So we have like five minutes left and Katie, I just wanna go with you first. Is there anything you would like to mention that I missed? And then at the end, if you could just share with our viewers and members what you're looking forward to this year's top tracer event. Well, not necessarily anything that you missed, but I loved how you were describing how the food is delivered right to everybody's stalls. I think the cool thing about that really though is the schedule is really people come, they check in, they get to their stalls and get settled in. There's already a treat for them waiting. I hope I didn't spoil any surprises right now. We've got everything ready for you to come in and enjoy yourselves. But then once it gets kicked off, we're on a schedule. So every 20 minutes, a new dish is being delivered to those stalls. And I think that's really the thing that makes it so cool is you're not even thinking about it, that you're just participating, hitting those balls and then you turn around and there's a new treat for you. So I think that's really kind of one of the special things about this. What am I looking forward? I'm just really looking forward to seeing these kids. I think the impressions of one school working with another school and then hearing them talk about working with those other students and getting to know kids from elsewhere was really the great thing. And for this event, we now have four schools attending. Last year was two. And one of those schools is even coming from Big Island, Kohala High School. So this is a very big deal. And we're really grateful for it. I think it's a really great thing to be involved in. So thank you. It is. And we're grateful for sponsors like RNDC because it wasn't for Tim helping us, right? Because it is a fundraiser. Katie, it brings tears to my eyes because I do remember the students all speaking to each other, chatting among each other. We had different schools. Just like this year, we'll have four different schools. And they're all comparing notes. And as Katie said, so excited because this is an opportunity for them to be networking with businesses, with business owners, with people who are in the careers that they're in. And so they're really excited. And as Katie said, they're collecting business cards and taking notes and writing things down. The sense of enthusiasm and excitement, right? As they're entering our industry, it's just amazing, Katie. Just amazing. So blessed. And we always have their teachers there, right, Katie? Yes, yeah. We've got great teachers coming. I love connecting with them too. And they get to see each other. You know, it's different for a culinary teacher to connect to their math or science teachers on either side of them, but to connect with other culinary teachers is great. And they're all wearing their chef coats. The students are wearing their chef coats. They're learning how to serving, they're learning portioning, they're delivering. So it's a great experience for the students. Tilso, Tim, any final comments? And is there anything special that you're looking forward to at the Top Tracer event? The final comments I would say is, I'm really looking forward to just the event in its entirety. I'm looking forward to meeting people, giving back to these wonderful teachers and kids, eating some wonderful food, enjoying a couple of cocktails, just getting to know people. You know, I've only been on the island seven months. So I'm looking at it from a networking perspective myself and just getting to meet the future leaders of the hospitality industry and why he's gonna be exciting. Just to see that excitement in their eyes and watching them walk around and be so proud of the food they're serving and the people that they're meeting. It's just gonna be an exciting event. And if you're a consumer, you're gonna wanna be there for all the reasons we've talked about today. So thank you, Cheryl. Thank you, Tim. And you're so right, Tim, on all of the takeout containers, which is donated by Waihata, there'll be a label on it. And the label will say the school lobo and the local dish. And when they're handing it, Tim, to everyone. Right, Katie? So proud. Yeah. So proud, because they made the food themselves in their own future. Tim, it's so, it's such an amazing, it's for them to see people enjoying the food that they made. That's what it's all about, Tim. That's incredible. It's amazing. Okay, Mr. Keith. So before we wrap up, anything else? You can share any final things that I may have missed. And what are you looking forward to when you attend the event? Well, I'm actually looking forward to being there this year. Last year was, the event was on the actual day that we opened Kitchen Door out of a beach. So I wasn't able to attend. So I'm really looking forward to the creativity that's involved this year from the kids coming up the dishes and putting them together. Tim's team will be working with the bartenders to create some interesting cocktails that'll be featured. The chefs that are participating as well, able to put their creative hats on and do something out of the ordinary not that they don't usually serve in their restaurant on a day-to-day basis. So it's all the creativity from Justin's mastermind in the entire event to everybody involved in putting it together. Cheryl, you putting like pulling all the strings and pulling all everybody in to make sure that we have the forks and the napkins and the water and everything else, ice chests and being able to coordinate that with everybody. So it's a huge team effort by the board of the HRAEF and all of our sponsors and partners. So just seeing it all come together and come off as a perfect event is gonna be amazing to see. Thank you so much. And Keith being the chairman of the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. It's just been a pleasure having you there. So in my closing remarks, please go to the HRAEF.org website sign up for the top tracer golf range fundraiser held on Thursday, March 28th. It's the day before Good Friday and for many Good Friday is a holiday at 6 p.m. I mean, you can hit balls, have fun and it's in the evening. Includes a team of three unlimited range balls, unlimited food and beverages during play. All the team challenges great prizes. It's just gonna be a really great event. So please sign up. We have a few stalls available. We love to see you there. And 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 organization unifying, representing and supporting Hawaii's restaurant and food service industry. Now remember everyone, please nourish connections, save your life, eat well and live well. We'll see you at the next show.