 welcome to Restaurants Hawaii on Think Tech Hawaii. I am your host, Cheryl Matsuoka, the Executive Director of the Hawaii Restaurant Association and the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. We discuss twice a month all of the important and timely topics around our Hawaii food service industry and today I'm excited to say I have two guests and I'd like them to introduce themselves. First of all, may I have Daryl introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about yourself and the name of your organization. Hi guys, my name is Daryl. I'm the owner of Waker Group Media. We are also the founder of Hawaii's Best Kitchens, Hawaii's Best Photos, and Hawaii's Best Bars, which is our main platform we use on Instagram to showcase and feature restaurants, bars, and trucks events. Awesome. Thank you, Daryl. Thank you so much. Nice to see you again. Yeah, I'm Keith. You want to introduce yourself, Keith? Aloha, I'm Keith Malini. I'm the Assistant Food and Beverage Director for the Mauna Kea Resort. Basically, I'm responsible for the operations of the nine restaurants on the two properties on the resort, which are Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and the Western Hapuna Beach Hotel. I'm on the board of directors of the HRA Educational Foundation. I've been a member since earlier this year and I'm excited to be here. Thanks. Thank you, Keith. So today our discussion is all around the best of Hawaii's Best Kitchens 2022. It's returning since the hiatus because of the pandemic back to the hiate Regency on September 24th, 2022. So what is Hawaii the best of Hawaii's Best Kitchens? It's Hawaii's premier foodie event that will showcase Hawaii's top chefs and restaurants at the hiate Regency. They're beautiful pool deck, and this event is going to be we're gifted by Daryl. This event is a benefit for the Hawaii Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation to support Hawaii's high school culinary programs and their restaurant management curriculum that's taught in our local high schools here in Hawaii. The culinary programs taught in our local high schools, we award scholarships to students. We've awarded five students scholarships so they can continue their education in the culinary education, and it also provides teacher grants and support to the schools that have the pro start program. So we're really honored Daryl to be a beneficiary of the best of Hawaii's Best Kitchens, and we invite everyone who's viewing this show today to please join us and it's going to be an awesome event. So I'm going to have Daryl tell us a little bit about the event and what we can expect on September 24th. Thanks Daryl. So this is our return back after our events at 2017, 18, and 19, and during the pandemic nobody was able to do any type of event. So this year we're coming back on September 24th at the hiate Regency which is the event will be on the entire pool deck. We will be featuring 13 restaurants and it'll be, we have General Mission VIP, Libyepi kids is going around in the restaurants and chefs will be featuring a significant dish for all our guests to participate in. You know we've been fortunate that the response that we've had throughout the time that we've been doing Hawaii's Best Kitchens that is grown into something that I would have never expected. When we first in 2017, when I reached 100,000 followers I was asked what was I going to do so we came up with this idea and you know it just has grown from there through these events we do monthly dinners and basically we like to help the restaurants and bars in Hawaii with getting them out there into the you know world but you know again too we're just fortunate and this year I was asked through with the HREF which are gladly you know supported and anything that could do this is why we're doing the event. Thank you and we're so honored that we are the beneficiary of this event and maybe I can have Keith share a little bit about the educational foundation and what we do and why you know this type of events supporting the educational foundation is so important to our future culinary superstars, our future chefs and our teachers. Keith? Yes so I'm here on the Big Island, Manakea Resort and I'm right now in Waimea actually heading to work but I think the foundation is doing amazing work with the pro-start program which is sponsoring the culinary programs in high schools around the state. The one here on the Big Island is at Kohala High School and I've been working with them we actually started an internship program for four of their seniors and they're bright four young bright kids we put them through the interview process of having them join the resort and they'll be working with us for 60 hours and also helping out as well but I think the the program is great there are about 20 kids in Tracy's class the Tracy Figuero is the teacher here at Kohala High School and she has an amazing facility and they actually have a farm and they they raise produce and we're actually buying a lot of their produce at the at the hotel as well but I think the kids are all really super interested in the culinary industry and it's great for them to kind of get exposure through this program I've kind of worked with Tracy a little bit on the curriculum the educational foundation supports all of the the textbooks and all the teaching materials and they also sponsor a serve-safe certification program. I was really impressed and the chefs at the hotel were really impressed that these four kids like passed their serve-safe examination with flying colors so I think this program is is pretty amazing for our state for this island particularly as well because as we all know we're in a shortage of of labor especially in kitchens so all of our kitchens are suffering I think the more we can get these kids interested in joining this this career path it's um it's pretty pretty amazing. Thank you so much Keith and you know I just want to let our viewers know that the elite and VIP tickets sold out right Daryl? So our elite VIP tickets sold out within the first day of sales and our VIPs we do have a few left which I'm totally surprised at the response we got this is we just released a ticket on the September 2nd and by the 3rd again the unique VIPs were sold out but we do have you know general missions available which we more than you know want people to come and try all the different restaurants that we'll be there supporting the HRIEF and here was that we have some some surprises too for our guests there. Nice nice so yes the elite VIP tickets are sold out but we still have the general admission tickets that are still for sale so if you are interested please register purchase your tickets early and we we also have sponsorship of opportunities still available so I just want to give a shout out Daryl to our presenting sponsor Tito's thank you so much for Tito's for being the presenting sponsor of the evening our silver sponsors are Odum and Kola bottling of Hawaii WCIT our bronzes Ricky thank you Ricky at all state insurance Kahala branch American floor and home Engels and Volkers thank you Kay Foodland Hawaii news now Mad Bene Prince Resorts and Young Brothers but we still have sponsorship of opportunities available so if you're interested in it please give me a shout out now the event that night what do people other than I mean of course the food we're looking forward to because we are going to be having students there our culinary future chefs will be there plating and serving and so we're really excited of getting our high school students involved in it Daryl because you know to show them that this is you know to be in an event like this many of them don't have the opportunity to do it so can you kind of go over a little bit there'll be music yes so our VIPs and Levi is will have the opportunity to enter it one hour early at 6 p.m. our general admission guests will enter at 7 p.m. the event goes from 6 to 10 o'clock we do have entertainment that will be featured we do have with the help of our students they'll be providing a table side service for our elite VIP guests and we do have you know even at least there'll be each one we get a featured signature Tito's cocktail as they enter as well as they have their own elite VIP swag bag which we're very honored to have so many companies donate this swag bag and you know it's a it's a fun evening um it's again gives not only the students but a lot of our guests a chance to try restaurants that they normally wouldn't have an opportunity to go to but it is overall it's just a totally it's a fact i'm not family but it's a fun event for everyone involved we are so looking forward to it you know some of the schools that the educational foundation the pro-start schools that we support and through Darryl you know we're the beneficiary of this event so the high schools that Darryl's supporting is Castle High School, Farrington High School, Moanalua, Roosevelt, Kaiser, Maui, Kohala, Leleua, McKinley and Pearl City and good news Darryl you know through the efforts of the educational foundation we also have three more high schools that will be coming on board very shortly yes this is so needed as Keith said Keith as we struggle with the worker shortage you know in getting these students excited by having them at the event Darryl is going to be super awesome because they get to see uh because they're young right i mean their students teachers will be with them the teachers will be their chaperones but you know they've never probably been to anything as as exciting they've probably seen it on tv and they've probably seen it you know on a net flick but they've never been at it personally so this is really exciting for them so Darryl did i miss anything is there anything else about the event that we need to share with our viewers to give them a little idea so that they you know purchase tickets early well i think to it you know as we are honored to be um benefiting the HREF i think for all our residents here you know that's that's something that we should look forward to attending our event as well as supporting it in other ways because without our high school culinary art students you know there will be no college culinary art students and and further further no new Hawaii chefs coming out or people in that restaurant and bar industry i think that's right it was so important for me to um do this event for the uh each right yet learning the stories about from exactly from the high school in Pahala that really you know made a difference in in why i wanted this is actually the first time i am benefiting a non-profit and this one is so important to us that what we talk about from day one and we're so we're so blessed that we are going to be the beneficiary of this event and you know the word the message that i'm hearing once we talk to the people who are sponsoring Darryl all of our sponsors is like this is awesome that Darryl can really support Hawaii's high school culinary programs and these are our future chefs and our future superstars and getting them so excited you know to continue their education by providing them scholarships by providing the teachers with grants and providing school support that's what the educational foundation is all about and i just read you know all the names of all the high schools that we support so Keith is there anything else that you would like to share about the educational foundation yeah well i'm looking forward to saying Darryl Darryl and i have worked on a few events in the past and this being like the first one after after everybody staying home for a few years i'm really looking forward to reconnecting with all the industry people who will most probably be there and hopefully catch up and chat and talk about the educational foundation um i will say one of our students here at Pahala is going on to the um CIA culinary institute of america in Hyde Park after he graduates so that was very impressive and he organized his own little fundraisers here in Pahala to to be able to pay for his trip to Hyde Park for the interviews and just very resourceful and energetic little kids and the more that we can help them and more that we can inspire them i think it's it's just amazing thing to do right and Keith can you cover some of the mention some of the um things that they learn because it's a two-year culinary program that's in our local high schools juniors and seniors so kind of what are some of the topics that they learn and then when they graduate what do they have under their belt to get into our restaurants and food service and our hotels so a lot of a lot of it is based on the serve set serve safe certification which is based on sanitation in the kitchen proper um cutting cutting techniques and just being able to keep a clean kitchen so a lot of these kids go through a really rigorous training of that i will say that some of our chefs at monica resort didn't pass the first test that they took of serve safe so these kids having passed it on the first time was was pretty amazing so they learned the basics of kitchen etiquette they learned how to work with the chef the whole hierarchy of the of the kitchen where you have the chef the chef cuisine and the sous chef and they learn all that and how to behave in a kitchen as well they have just started a baking program and i think two three of the kids that we're starting the internship with our pretty have become expert bakers so we're looking forward for them to work with our executive pastry chef michael moorehouse and being able to inspire them even more so it's it pretty much covers all operational aspects of working in the kitchen and it's a it's a good exposure even though they're in the classroom they don't get much real real life exposure this is why we're trying to start this internship program and hopefully we'll be able to get this internship and more properties around here in the big island and get more high schools involved as well and they're in the water as well yes thank you thank you so much it reminds me of a story darrell i just want you to know these students that you're now supporting through this through this event this gal sweetheart 17 years old got a scholarship that year we were able to free scholarships and i said so you're going to be going to college and you're going to be learning more about the culinary institute she said yes and i said so what do you want to do and you know just out of the mouth of babes darrell she's just looked at me with her big eyes and i'm going to cry because she said auntie i want to have a bakery and i'm going to hire the homeless and i'm going to teach the homeless how to cook and bake and if i teach them how to bake and i can give them jobs in my bakery they don't have to live on the streets anymore this is a 17 year old child telling me that she's now solved our homeless problem and she's going to support them so that she can also you know support her family through her bakery but now she's provided education for them in training 17 years old these are the students that come out of our educational foundation it's just amazing and keith knows because he's met them right keith in your hotel they're so mature they're just they know that they love the culinary industry and that's who we need to keep not only in our industry but on our islands need to keep these students here and not lose them so thank you i just needed darrell to know the impact that he's making but we invite her as our guest oh gabby oh okay can i write that down okay yes please do oh my goodness and so she's telling me the story darrell and as she's telling me the story her father and her sister is sitting there and i'm crying right and the father's looking at me like why is this lady crying is it because your daughter you know through her culinary interest through what she wants he loves to do right as now her heart has now tried to help the homeless and she said nt if i can teach them and i can give them money then they don't have to be homeless amazing i also had another scholarship um student that that round we were talking and i said he was actually there was a nice cutting competition and i understand that this guy who won that company he got a scholarship also he ended up at lcc he um won the knife skills competition and evidently it's very competitive guy and this guy can handle a knife and evidently it's beautiful it's like art they said when he started slicing and dicing and um he was very he was very sweet and and i said i heard you won the competition and it was a you know a large competition and he said yes i did and that's his thing you know cutting up cutting and preparing food and all the different flavors he just wasn't he was a sweetheart just a sweetheart and you know this is going to be right geith our future our future chefs our future entrepreneurs and that's what we're totally and these these kids are all very inspirational they all have a voice and they all have they're so focused right now and i'm really impressed that this program provides them a platform for them to express themselves that if we didn't have these culinary programs in the high schools they probably wouldn't even know what what a culinary career is all about um so this this is great exposure for the kids and we're learning as you mentioned with your stories that they're just very inspirational and just taking taking the opportunity and running with it yes and i want to also you know daryl mentioned the instructors these instructors keith will tell you tracy is awesome right keith like you were saying she's farming they're selling the produce that they're growing so that they can have more funds so that they can buy more products so they can teach the students how to make sushi or how to you know make simon or whatever it is they're teaching the students how to make and it's it's so inspirational to see the involvement and the the contribution that these teachers give i've been to some of these classrooms and daryl you have to know they literally have a burner they literally have a burner and and and some of the classrooms where they said they could only have like one device on at a time because their circuits can't take the surge and so we try you know the educational foundation provides for the instructors there's a wish list they give us a wish list and some of them just want basics use pots and pans use mixing bowls you know just use um appliances that they can use in their kitchen so that they can teach the student how to use these the equipment use knives they'll take anything and these are the teachers that are really cultivating our future culinary leaders and those teachers are just amazing you're going to get to meet a few of them at the event because yes because the teachers are bringing the students down so they can chaperone the students so now we've got five minutes left Keith is there anything you want to say before we wrap up this show will you mention the ingenuity of the teachers and working with what they have and this is we we are happy to be able to to offer resources for them to to get more equipment in the in the classrooms um so i'm what a real operation looks like in a hotel like in their own high schools that might might be a better thing as well nice but it is a really to this event um coming back and then as meeting all all of them all the chefs and you Cheryl looking forward to seeing you in person too yes that's right Keith I don't know we've ever seen each other in person because it's cool and he sits on our board of directors and we have monthly meetings Keith how wild is that oh looking forward to seeing you too Daryl do you have anything you want to wrap up we've got three minutes left sure well if you can wait as my as my guess the three spell to winners in the is it three or four spell to winners um so total is five you write all five please on behalf of poisonous kitchens on the on our website for participants i did do a donation button that make the event we'll need to do the great yeah thank you Daryl thank you so much so in closing everyone you know we want to thank Daryl chalk Daryl is the owner of the best of Hawaii's best kitchens and we're just so honored that he selected the Hawaii Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to be the beneficiary of the event on September 24th again everyone at the Hyatt and my name again is Cheryl Matsuoka we look forward to seeing everybody at the Hyatt Regency on September 24th the best of Hawaii's best kitchens thank you 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 twitter and linked in and donate to us at think tech Hawaii dot com mahalo