 Welcome to Restaurants Hawai'i on Think Tech Hawai'i. I am your host, Cheryl Matsuoka, the Executive Director of Hawai'i Restaurant Association. And today I have two special guests. I'd like to introduce the ladies. Ladies, I'm gonna introduce you. And if you could tell us a little bit about yourself. The first lady is Sherry Ewan. Sherry, you wanna introduce yourself? Hey, yes. Good afternoon. I'm Sherry Ewan. I'm newly on board with Waihata. I am the Broadline Sales Manager. So that means that we service and handle all these street accounts or our broadline accounts. But of course, as many of you know, we handle all types of customers. And I'm excited to be on the show today to share a bit about what we've been going through and also what we've accomplished as far as a company that's been in business about 108 years. So that's about it. I'm excited to be here today. Thank you so much. And I'd like to also introduce Christina. Hi, Christina. Hi. Hello. My name is Christina Lee and the Director of the Hata Cares Program at Waihata. And I'm also really excited to be here and to share more about our company and all the great things that we're doing. So thank you. Thank you, ladies. Hawaii Restaurant Association's Hall of Fame is quickly approaching Monday, February 28th. And we are grateful for Waihata, who is our this year's Hall of Fame Presenting Sponsor. So this year, HRA and Waihata will be paying tribute to our pandemic champions and industry advocates. And these honorees have demonstrated exemplary dedication during the pandemic in various capacities. So I did my homework, ladies. And I found out that in 2009, 13 years ago, Waihata received the honor of being inducted into the HRA's Hall of Fame. So it's just so fitting that this year in 2022 that Waihata is the Presenting Sponsor paying tribute to our pandemic champions and to our industry associates. So maybe Sherry, you could help me. Why is the Hall of Fame important? So the Hall of Fame, as you know, recognizes industry leaders. So why was it important and meaningful to Waihata when they received their induction into the Hall of Fame? What did it mean to Waihata? So what it meant to Waihata, first of all, just knowing that we're coming out of this pandemic and trying to get back to some kind of normalcy, it's exciting to reenter our industry and our operations and whatnot with a big bang. So for us to sponsor this year is super exciting for us. In 2009, it was such an honor to be an inductee and to have shared that accomplishment along with a lot of successful restaurateurs here in Hawaii. We feel that we play such a vital role in feeding Hawaii as part of Hawaii's food chain and we service our Department of Education, so our KKoka'ina or our children in Hawaii and also all branches of military and we're a locally owned and operated business. So that is such a highlight and such a great accomplishment for us and we're proud to mention that. We really love to get into our communities and help families in Hawaii, starting with our Ohana or our staff here at Waihata and taking it outside into our general public. So we know that we're part of Hawaii's food chain and it's gratifying to be recognized for our efforts in all of our hard work. You just touched on something. I was gonna ask Christina. Christina, share with me a little bit about what is Hata Cares? Well, thank you so much for asking that. Hata Cares is about doing good every day. During the pandemic, our Hata Cares team was first on the scene to help prepare meals and take them out to first responders to participate in food distribution, to all of those in need and to donate food to various nonprofit companies to help support Hawaii's food chain and food industry. And now along with all of that good work, the Hata Cares team is also looking at ways to develop ways to improve from within. So our Hata Cares program is our dedication and focus to enhancing Hawaii's food industry starting with our employees, our Ohana. And we feel that great service starts with happy employees. So we've made it one of our key focuses to focus on culture and process improvement and enhance our employee experience. So this in turn is that ripple effect of creating happier employees which makes greater productivity and provides excellent levels of service and the community as a whole wins. So we're extremely proud to say that we're kind of in the business, our Hata Cares team is in the business of spreading joy and happiness while making things more efficient. I love that. Oh my goodness. And no wonder that, you know, why Hata has been in business since 1903, 108 years ladies, that's incredible. And that they can still support the industry or food service industry by being this year's Hall of Fame presenter. You know, I had to look it up ladies, you know, Russell and I, we went public school, yeah? So what is epitome? What does it mean? And I looked it up in the English dictionary and it says that a person, a thing or a business that is emphasizing and being the best possible example of it. And that's exactly why Hata. So at the Hall of Fame, it is all about the awards and I'll go through the list of all of the inductees that are this year. But it's also about the food and it's our 14th annual Hall of Fame. So we have 14 chefs of Aloha. So I was going to ask Sherry, if you could please or Christina, it doesn't matter, please share with the viewers a little bit about chef Chris and his dishes because as I mentioned earlier, I can't pronounce it, but it sounds so yummy. I can take this one. So I have a little script to read though, because it's a long description of one dish. So that evening, we will be preparing and serving creation of Chef Chris Blanc. It's a shichimi-crusted kuwa aina, ranch, flat iron steak with pickled honshi-meji mushrooms, Mari's garden greens in a sesame vinaigrette with crispy shallots and a yuzu ponzu brown butter. Ooh, that's a long description, but it sounds really good. So the inspiration behind Chef Chris's dish, of course, being locally sourced and using sustainable products. We are sourcing our beef for that evening from kuwa aina ranch on the west side of the Garden Isle of Kaua'i. And under the ownership of Jehe Fuller, and of course our beautiful greens from Mari's gardens found locally right here in Mililani under the owner Fred Lau. And we're a big supporter of Hawaii Agricultural Foundation, HAF, which is a nonprofit organization. And they were created to kind of promote and support Hawaii's farmers and agriculture. And their mission is to support and sustain all our products that we grow here in Hawaii, which I know a lot of local farmers and local chefs have really got behind this to promote from within and promote from our islands and sourcing products from our islands. And needless to say that the flavors incorporated into this dish is probably Chef Chris Blanc's favorite flavors. And of course, all our products you can find here at our local chef's zone. I love chef's zone. You have to know when my husband goes there, it's the boiled peanuts. There's like four bags of boiled peanuts. And it's just me and my husband. Four bags of boiled peanuts automatically every time we go to chef's zone. And so thank you for that. And that's the reason why, why Hata supports the community. And that's the reason why they have been inducted into the Hall of Fame because of all the support, the community support here in the Hawaiian islands that why Hata does. And our nominations for the inductees are submitted by our food industry peers. So ladies, I'm hoping next year that you all will also nominate people from our industry. The nominator must submit a detailed statement on why they are nominating that person or business into the Hawaii Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. And then the selection committee, they have to go through the rigorous process of reading all of the ballots and then selecting. So this year we have 10 and I'd like to read off the name. So it is Denise Hayashi Yamaguchi, my dear friend. Victor Lim, who is amazing. I call him the Energizer Bunny. Greg Maples, who is my knight and shining armor on a white horse. Mark and Amanda Lagucci, who's done so much for our community. Ryan Tanaka, who is just brilliant. Gwen Yamamoto-Lau, who has a heart so big. Sherri Manor McNamara, who is my dear, dear friend and representative Sylvia Luke, who if it wasn't for her we wouldn't have had the Hawaii Restaurant card. So those are the this year's 10 inductees and we're excited and it's an honor to induct them into our Hall of Fame. There's so many other achievements that they've done. I just kind of touched on a few and there are so many other people that are still out there because we are still coming out the end of our endemic. There's still so many people out there that are still helping our food service industry. So to our members and our viewers who are watching, please next year, nominate the person or the business who has really helped our industry because that's what we really need. So this year, our Hall of Fame is on Monday, the 28th. And if anybody's interested in getting tickets, all they have to do is go to our website HawaiiRestaurant.org and tickets are still available. So ladies, I don't want to close yet. There was still lots to talk about but I just wanted to ask you if there's anything Sherri that you wanted to discuss that I haven't touched on? I think what I did forget is just a little background on our chef, we have to thank him because he's gonna, he's gonna be showcased that evening along with his dish. So he was originally born and raised actually in Phoenix, Arizona. And he's cooked professionally over 23 plus years all over nationwide in different states. He's, I'm sure he's planned many of menus and designed a lot of kitchens. He's worked for a lot of James Beard award-winning chefs and celebrity chefs. And he actually was with the BLT concept. So he helped to open a few of their stores including Trump Tower as an executive chef, sous chef, I'm sorry. And then he moved to Hawaii and married a local girl. But he moved to Hawaii to open up the beach house in Haleiva and also worked a few years at Michelle's at the Colony Surf in Waikiki, which is a nostalgic spot for many of the residents and what we know. And so we're super proud of him. And I am sure that we will all enjoy his dish that evening. So we're excited for him. And the secret is he married a local girl. So that means he married a local girl. But he's not going anywhere, lady. The local girl's going to be, right? Christina, is there anything else because we can still chat about the Hall of Fame or we can chat about Waihata. Is there anything that I missed? Oh, you know, I just want to share that, you know, as we all know, the pandemic has created such a challenging landscape for the food service industry. And so we're just really grateful to be able to give back after we've kind of weathered that storm. And so, you know, being part of this sponsorship and being part of such an amazing event is really exciting for us because we feel that, you know, as a locally owned business, it's important for us to give back to that industry that has allowed us to be part of the community. So for so many years, we're so grateful. And we know that a lot of the restaurants and our dear friends have suffered through that pandemic. So it's our hope that this event provides a little bit of light and hope and excitement for what's on the horizon as we all get through this together. That's very nice. And one of the other topics that I wanted you to share was a little bit about Waihata's philosophy because I know it comes from the top. I know it comes from Russell. And so he's done so much for the community and he's done so much, you know, to keep this business going for all these years. It's like, it's so impressive. Do you want to share a little bit about some of Russell's philosophy and the core values of Waihata? Yeah, I wish, I don't know if you guys can see our core values behind us, but they're partners first, continuous improvement, Ohana empowerment, Ohana pride, candid communication, live aloha and give aloha. And, you know, some of the ways that we show that or bring that to life, during 2020 and 2021, Waihata donated about half a million pounds of food to various charities. We also partnered with HRA and the Hawaii Food Bank as well as the City and County of Honolulu and the Great Aloha Run to distribute over 3,000 turkeys to unemployed food service industry workers. We also worked with chefs to put together curated chef boxes so that the community could have access to these deluxe meals during the shutdown when they couldn't go out to eat. And we prepared meals again for first responders to thank them for all of their dedication and hard work to the community. And we also started Ohana meals within our own company. We know that we have a lot of frontline workers that could not stay at home and needed to come to work to continue with that food chain, keep that food chain going so we want to make sure that we took care of them as well. So it's really important for us to take care of our Ohana, our employees, as well as our community. So that's a huge part of our philosophy. That's so awesome, you're right. We were there doing the food box distribution on a Sunday out there at your location. And to see all these cars come through and people so grateful, so grateful for free food boxes. It was awesome. So ladies, I'm going to read the rest of the chefs that are gonna be providing food at the Night of Hall of Fame, but I'm gonna read it and then we have the list here because I don't wanna miss anybody. And later on, oh my goodness, I missed someone. So yes, you're right. Number one is Waihata with Chef Chris. We also have pounders who is Chef Graham Elliott. We have Chai himself who will be presenting his dish. We also have the Sheraton Chef Matt, Matt Benet, Chef Bon Chow Bao Tran, Dukes and Hula Grill, Chef Drew Crocker, Cahill Avenue Food Hall, Chef Mario Lopez, Kapahale, Chef and Owner Kea Kali, 53 by the Sea, Chef Kavika and Short Fire. And we also have some desserts. El Gelato will be making their gelato. We have Hawaiian pie and we also have the Sheraton making some yummy lavender panna cotta. So I don't know if I said outback in there because I now see outback is staring at me. So we do have, like I said, it's our 14th year, we have 14 chefs and it's gonna be a great event. Part of the fun of the event that night is that we will be having some auction items. We'll be having, of course, the whole diner round. We have a lot of beverages that will be there. So we're looking forward to another night to just celebrate ladies just to get together. It's been so long, right? That we've gotten together and it's been so long that we've gathered. So we're looking forward to a great event. Let's see, what did I miss, ladies? I'm gonna go back now to Sherry. I see here, I think I've asked all of the topics that we were talking about. Did I miss anything else? Oh, the locations. I wanted you to cover the locations where Waihata covers on all the neighbor islands. Okay, great. We are actually on the island of Kaua'i and also the big island. The original Waihata brand started out of little Hilo, Hawaii. So we're super excited how our company has grown. We have also some presents through a third party on the island of Maui as well. But we're looking forward to expansion in the upcoming years as our Ohana here at Waihata is growing. Russell really believes also in work opportunity and job opportunities for our locals, supporting even our college students for future, future leaders in Hawaii. So supporting our schools and our culinary program at KCC. So he's a strong advocate of growing Hawaii's people and giving back to the people and where I'm very honored to be a part of a company that really and truly believes in that because my employment or career is much more than that. There's a purpose behind it. And that's what I'm excited about. So we provide tools for KCC culinary students as well. So, yeah. And statewide, statewide DOE, statewide military, chain restaurants as well. So, yeah, a lot of work for us. I was up at the Culinary Institute of the Pacific. Beautiful, and Russell's support up there is just amazing. I also was gonna ask Sherry to mention about charity days. As you know, the Hawaii Restaurant Association has our Hawaii Restaurant Association's Educational Foundation. It's a markable. So we call it the HRA Educational Foundation. And Waihata is gonna be, I mean, Chef's Zone is gonna be allowing us to come down and participate in a charity day. Do you wanna cover a little bit about that, ladies? One of you? Maybe quickly. Being a supporter of it, you know, in addition to that also, I forgot to mention, this is a super exciting time for us as well. But we also were a part of judging along with Loon Farms, I believe it was, to the high school culinary championship and program. So again, really being supportive behind Hawaii's education. You know, a lot of our keiki go away to college, you know? So it's quite an exciting accomplishment when we can establish and get behind these programs or be advocates for these programs where the kids can stay home and learn and develop in their career path. So super exciting time for us. And to support that, it's again, such a greater purpose than just food service. Exactly, and what you're supporting also with our HRA Educational Foundation is on our board is Chris Lee, and he's been a huge supporter. We have 10 local high schools that have culinary programs, and these culinary programs are for juniors and seniors. And ladies, you know, that's our future chefs. That's our future general managers in our restaurants. So we really, really appreciate all of the support. The Educational Foundation has, like I said, 10, and one on Maui and one in Kohala. And we're looking to grow because we need those future restaurant employees in our restaurants and in our hotels and anything in our food service industry. So ladies, he's giving me the five minute warning. Is there anything that I missed that we have not discussed? Cheryl, I just wanted to say huge congratulations to all of the inductees and to you as well. So, you know, thank you to you and your team at the Hawaii Restaurant Association. You guys have been a leader and a voice for the restaurants of Hawaii, especially during this challenging time. So really a big shout out to you and all of the inductees that have, you know, brought the industry through these tough times. And we have a great executive committee and a great board. You got to know it takes a village, right? Well, this it takes like an army to get through a pandemic. So again, everyone, Cheryl Matsuoka, the executive director for Hawaii Restaurant Association, our annual 14th annual Hall of Fame is Monday, the 28th at the Sheraton. For ticket information, go to our website, which is hawaiirestaurant.org and we're paying tribute this year to our pandemic champions and our industry advocates. And again, Hawaii Restaurant Association is the voice of Hawaii's restaurants and food service industry. Thank you and we'll see everyone on Monday night.