 Welcome to another thrilling episode of Hawaii Food and Farmers Series. I am Pomei Weigert, and I'm going to be here hostess with the mostess today. I am very excited because I am all by myself, which is, you know, thrilling. And my guest today is someone who's going to talk to us about one of my favorite subjects, which is pork, and not just any pork, but pono pork. So I would, everyone, please join me in welcoming Bob McGee from Pono Pork. Hi Bob. Hi, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to be here. Excited. Mm-hmm. So Bob, why don't you tell us a little bit about your pork and why it's pono and what you're doing. Okay, so we started bringing the pork to market a couple years ago based on a few premises, which is this. Number one, I didn't want to be in the pork business. So that was really important to me was I wanted to avoid in any way being in the pork business. So we started pono pork with that premise. The idea being this, the pigs were being raised in a very special way, which we thought was very appropriate to be raised in Hawaii. We have a lot of food security issues and we have a lot of space issues. So the pigs were being raised in a way that is very kind to the state of Hawaii, is very kind to the soil, is very kind to the tilth of the land that we live on here. So for that reason, it was time to go to market with these pigs. I was using them and I was pretty much the only one using them. When my farmer David decided that we could do more and that we could kind of grow exponentially with time, we started a pork business. How long ago was that? March 22nd, two years ago, so less than two years. Oh, wow. Wow. How's business been? Business is, so okay, business is truly organic. It really is. It is not what you think it is. The end game is nowhere close to what I thought it would be, but it's good. So it's slow, it's gradual, which I think is the best way to build a foundation for business. Definitely, especially for like a small start-up business. As we're heading into the new year, can you maybe share with us one triumph you had last year and maybe one challenge? I'd like to throw those in there from 2017 that you're kind of using as a springboard going into this year. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess, well, the biggest triumph will be, actually, will be realized this year. So that's great, that's a great question, is that we're going to be retail available. So that's huge. And up to now, we were, I was wholesale distributor of pork. So we worked with restaurants, we worked with hotels, restaurants, industries. So if you were buying big pieces or whole pigs, we were your supplier of anti-biotic free, hormone free, completely vegetarian fed pork. So we are the only distributor of really, really, really super clean, beyond organic, wonderful, that kind of pig. So because of that, we were able to go into retail and that's a huge triumph for us. So our margin is much better. Our potential for long-term success is much better with retail. Definitely. Definitely. Challenge? Challenge is just the same. Challenge is really, it's a whole different market. Everybody in the livestock industry and everybody in the meat industry has told me, across the board, do not go retail. Avoid retail if possible. Really? Yeah, absolutely. So there's so much work. Because once you go to a human being, instead of a group of human beings, it's so much more, it's so much more needy, right? I mean, it's not maybe the prettiest work to use. Consumer wants a lot more stuff. Which is great, which gives us opportunity to provide more stuff and it's a great thing for vigor and for health of the market. But I'm one guy and my wife and I, you know, we're working at it, but it's, yeah, retail is a big thing when you have a pig. Is it just you too? How many people are in your operation? Well, okay, so there, okay, so let's move away from the farm and say, it's just me, my wife and I, so that's the business. But there's also, of course, the farmer. There's the farm, there's in everything, the complexities of everything that goes on at Mountain View Farms, which is a big farm in Wynnei, a very big farm. Oh, okay, so that's where the farm is? Exactly. And do they only do pigs? Or do they do a lot of stuff? They do so much. Yeah, and it's all Korean natural farming. So first of all, it's all farming that's really, really, really good for the soil. People are really loving that, really, I feel like there's been a real strong movement for the, or a desire even for consumers on the retail end for how things are grown and processed. People are fine. Well, okay, I guess the answer is yeah, there's a demand for what I sell now, as opposed to, there was not the demand necessarily five years ago. I don't think there was, it wasn't available. So things if you follow trends in market and stuff, antibiotic free was not a big deal three years ago even. But then again, 20 years ago, what did organic mean? So if we're looking at our, as our product is trying to bring something that's beyond organic, we try to stay ahead of the curve. It still picks, but we try to stay ahead of the curve. That's great. Just sort of a spin off question. As someone who really likes pork, it's one of my favorite dishes. If I ever see it on the menu, it's going to happen. Like I'm always going to, I'm going to order it. What is your favorite style of pork to eat? Oh, wow. You know, it's funny because my farmer, my farmer is vegetarian. Oh. My farmer no longer. He doesn't eat pork. He raises the finest pigs right on this island, but he doesn't. And so for me, it's a tough cook because I have studied it all over. I like all types of pigs. I like all breeds of pigs and I like all types of cooking. I like a big pork adobo is always a safe answer for me. What about something weird? Something weird. Like what is a weird, you know, a spleen, spleen, spleen, spleen, spleen, you can never get enough spleen. Yeah. Tasty. Yeah. Irony. Irony. Big irony, livery, depth of the body of the animal. Deep, deep, deep within the, the, you know, where the heart is pumping blood through it. Tasty. Wow. So how, how is that prepared? So, yeah, okay, right. Yeah. So, no, so, well, you know, but, well, spleen, I would say, okay, in Italy, it's often braised in a flavorful sauce and it could be just like a tripe in a, in a, in a red sauce, right? Okay, okay, okay. So it's feeling safe. It's feeling a little safer. And it's a thin piece. It's like kind of like a, it's like a thin livery type piece of meat. And so it braises down pretty easily. It's also can be grilled. It's one of those traditional things where bacon makes, seems to make anything that's from deep within the body. Any of the now or awful or any of those types of bacon seems to be the answer. So, so, you know, you'll have, hashtag bonus. So yeah, exactly. So bacon and she, bacon and spleen sandwich is not, it's, oh, so mixed bacon. Yeah. So liver is great, but liver and bacon makes it okay or liver and so, yeah. So, you know, there's a way to spoonful of sugar or, or, or bacon, spleen go down. And spoonful of bacon. Yes. I feel like that's would be a good hashtag for us today. So what did you do this afternoon? Well, we talked about spleen. And bacon. And bacon. And bacon. Okay. Awesome. Jumping sort of all over the place. Like was this your dream? Like how did you get into this? It's only been two years since we've, we've been doing pork, but. Nightmare. What were we doing before pork? We were cooking. Yeah. So, yeah, chef that wanted better product. That's it. That's the answer. That is the answer. Like you were the chef that wanted better product. Yeah. I had certain goals. I mean, I do a lot of charcuterie and curing of meats. So yeah. So a lot of sausage making, a lot of letting meats get old. And so doing that, you really, really want a certain, a certain product quality. You know, it's just like fresh. It's just like, it's, it's like poke. Right? I mean, you, you, you can chop anything up, but there's certain things you'd rather have over certain things. So, so the answer is we were looking for the finest ingredients. And when my wife and I decided that in the future, we wanted to do something very special with pork as a career, as a, as a, when we grow old, we needed to have the best, the best ingredients. So and they weren't 100% where we needed them to be. So we thought if we adopted this kind of program, maybe it'll, yeah, that was it. And then how did you find your farmer? Like, you know, because you were looking for obviously something specialized. And then you went and found someone special. How did you get connected with him? Yeah. Small island, right? Of course. No, really. It really is. And the truth is it was a entirely huge island and I couldn't find that guy. And I couldn't find it. And I really was looking for that guy. What is his name again? Tell us. He would rather I didn't. Oh, okay. But the farm is Mountain View Farms. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's so shy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I call him, I call him Yoda. You can say, I can't. I can say it. Yes. I can say it. Yes. But he's a, he's a brilliant man and he raises, yeah, he raises a lot of different things at Mountain View Farms. So when I, when I met this guy and he had this great small pork program that he was willing to go forever for, based, based on this, he believes in a farming style that's a very important farming style. So, so he was committed to it and I was committed to the pig part of it. So we said, are we both in, there we go. And that was, that was it. So the pigs had to come to market and nobody else wanted to do it. So together we did it. Why do you think that nobody else wanted to do it? Was it just timing and spacing? I mean, I feel like trends in food are changing so fast and so quick. The rise of the, of the super cool, awesome chef that kind of, I mean, chefs were always cool, but I really feel like there's been a lot of social platforming for, for the food industry. I mean, even in Hawaii, you know, a lot of new chefs are, and new farmers are kind of like creeping into the scene. What do you think has changed to where Hawaii is ready? You know what? I think two things that, well, okay, I think both people have changed it, the groups of farmers and the groups of chefs. The groups of people that bring all those products to market, everywhere in the sales persons, everywhere in between. I think what's happened is just, it's evolved. But one of the main things is, number one, chefs are willing to take chances and commit. They're willing to adjust their prices to bring a product to market as opposed to saying, you know, that's just too expensive, I can't bring it to market. So for that reason, that's a big, big, big thing. Chefs being willing to take chances, diners demanding that chefs take chances. That's a big thing. So diners are paying with their, you know, they're voting with their dollar. Chefs are voting with their dollar. And farmers are willing to take, I have a farmer buddy that, he swears, he says, this is the best year ever, 2017, the best year ever. What did it for you? It was it, you know, was it your accounting principles? Was it your soil? Sun chokes, Bob. Sun chokes. I've discovered sun chokes this year. It changed my life. Okay, well, you don't know what it's going to be. It's organic. Yeah. You don't know what it's going to be. Right. All right, guys. Well, we're going to take a quick break and we'll be back in a jiffy to talk a little bit more about pork. Aloha. My name is Mark Shklav. I'm the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea. Law Across the Sea comes on every other Monday at 11 AM. Please join us. I like to bring in guests that talk about all types of things that come across the sea to Hawaii, not just law, love, people, ideas, history. Please join us for Law Across the Sea. Aloha. Good afternoon. My name is Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on Think Tech Hawaii. We show at 3 o'clock in the afternoon every other Monday. My guests are specialists both from here and the mainland on energy efficiency, which means you do more for less electricity and you're generally safer and more comfortable while you're keeping dollars in your pocket. Hi. Welcome back to Hawaii Food and Farmers Series. I'm Pomei Weigert and I'm here with Bob McGee from Pono Pork and we're pretty much just talking Pono Pork. We're just talking pork, the world, how to cook it, how to, oh, clean it. So you're a butcher. How to clean it. Yeah. You're a butcher. So was that where did that start from? Your whole life? You were, how did that come from? You know, yeah, actually, by default, yes, because I grew up in a small town in Western New York. I know. I look local. But I grew up in a small town in Western New York and there was a few businesses. One of them was Tom Walls. I miss you guys. I know you're all watching this, Tom Walls on 5 and 20 and there's only a few places to work. So there's only a few jobs in that restaurant. That restaurant, your job was either you could sweep up the outside grounds or you could grind beef for Bud Bornman the butcher. And Bud Bornman was a heck of a butcher and he taught me a lot, mostly grinding burgers and tying roasts. So he would take a whole cow and turn it into nothing but burgers and roast beef because you had a roast beef sandwich on the menu and burgers. So this is back in the day when that was a thing, when there was a butcher on premise, right? You know what I mean? Yes, yes, yes. An actual guy who had an actual huge piece of something on it and he would come in. And so to me, I don't know if that was a romance thing or anything, but it was really cool. And I could do that and nobody else could. So I had that from a very young age and then as I went to all that goofing around in life eventually it came back to where I was cooking and the butchery skills really made a big difference in my life. So before I even got to Hawaii, like in 09, yeah, it had been making a big comeback in my life. But here it really, yeah, it fits. It took off here and I don't know if we talked about this already. But coming to Hawaii, how did how did you make the decision to do that? Like, did you always just you come here on a trip or you knew someone here or how did you choose here? That's a great question. Oh my, I didn't want to move to Hawaii. I didn't really want to move to Hawaii at all. My wife is a surfer. My wife, my wife, she shreds. She's an insanely talented woman and a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful patient woman. And she surfs. And when we sold our house in Oregon, where she surfed and it was so cold, she said we're moving to Hawaii. And I said, no, we're not moving. She said we were. And we are. And I said, okay, but I'm just going to flip burgers on the beach and I'm not going to get crazy. I'm not going to start my own business and I'm not going to get involved. I'm certainly not going to like this place when I'm, oh my gosh. And I got here. And a day later, I was on the west side just on the beach for the whole day. And I fell in love. And then she came out months later. But the answer is I didn't want to move here. And when I shortly after I was here, I fell in love with all the farmers. I fell in love really with a couple of places like Mau Farms guys, right? Of course. I mean, who doesn't fall in love with them? Yeah. And then back at the same time, they kick out the girls. And so there's a lot of people that were doing stuff here. I wasn't crazy about the livestock. Oh. I wasn't. I really wasn't crazy about all the different programs and I was confused by them. And I couldn't find stuff for home and for restaurant that was wonderful. And I couldn't find it in all the stores. So I decided back then that that was an important responsibility is even though I'm just a cook, you know, we got to find a way to get everybody's got to be able to have the same stuff. It's got to be, you know, equal. It can't be just the four season chef or the, you know, whatever you want to figure. You want to close the class divide between livestock that people eat. Wow. Some cows go this way. Some cows go that way. Some parts go this way. The truth is, yeah. Other parts go this way. Yeah. It's a, you know, it's a small town and it's, you know, there's only one slaughterhouse. So there's, you know, it's the processing on this island is. There's only one? Yeah. About this whole island? Yeah. So every, yeah. So, again, remember that we're a state that is. I feel like I knew that. Sorry. I just was like, wow. It's so, it's hard to swallow when you, you know, get it right away again. That could have been different 20 years ago and it could have been different 40 years ago. So, yeah. So that's a thing. And if you look at it as being like truly local, the people that are growing, you know, this is an important subject, but the people that are growing animals that eventually want to be meat, there's only one way to go through. So that being the case, it's a very, it's a very tenuous relationship, right? Right. So, if you're buying local and you're buying super local from this island, oh my God, you're making an incredible sacrifice and we are grateful because it's huge. It's huge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And other islands have different things and everybody has different issues. Right, right, right. Exactly. So the cool thing is that here we have a challenge that'll make us different from Kauai, from Big Island, and so, and they have theirs that'll make them different from us and they all thrive because of it. So that's a really, really big deal. Can you talk to me a little bit about or, you know, give some thoughts on the sort of like the meat producer community? Do you feel like it's collaborative, it's getting more collaborative, it's sort of every man for himself, I mean, you know, like we don't have to discuss in detail, but you know, like how is it working amongst other meat producers or retailers or wholesalers? Again, we live in a super, super small community and I'm so, so grateful for that because of the camaraderie and there are no names that everybody doesn't know if they're in the industry. So it's a cool thing and, you know, I have a couple uncles that have saved my life a couple times here that have made things happen that are just miraculous and most of those things are things that they've been doing for a hundred years here, way before I got here. So the truth of the matter is I'm not the best person to ask about how it's doing. I can tell you I'm super grateful for where it is. Super grateful. The amount of producers that are coming to market now, off Island but in state, that's a big deal because, you know, what we can't do, I mean, we're limited space here. That's a big program. Do you really want to do grass-fed beef all over the whole island? You know, it's just you have to be realistic. Do you want animals to eat less? Take up less space? Do you want, you know, they eat differently? So yeah, it's a neat dynamic that we have for livestock in the state of Hawaii. That's the thing. It's a really colorful, creative dynamic that gives us great opportunities. That is a perfect way, I think, to explain. Actually, you know, a lot of the industry that is in Hawaii, but definitely the food and farming communities, really the tapestry is growing so much. I mean, there's so many new players. And like you were saying, changing, sort of like also changing of the guard, there's a lot of passing of the torch and not just via age, just, you know, it's via people. Absolutely. And it's not just groups, it's not just one group, it's not just one farming community and people support local farming in unique ways. So it's really nice to see places that are, you know, I'm a meat guy, right? But if I don't know the whole community of what everybody's eating, then I'm kind of out of it, pretty bad. So I can tell you that the amount of people that are growing produce and the amount of things that are happening value-edit, which is to me is much more important because once we get this stuff grown, not everybody wants everything all the time, not everybody wants all the parts of it. So what's going on in the value-edit community, the producers, the after-grower producers is incredibly inspiring right now. From, you know, fermented, from, you know, whether it be a kombucha to just a dehydrated product, Hawaii is really, really killing it for Maiden Hawaii right now. I couldn't agree with you more. I feel like even with working with farmers and working with producers, the value-edit component is really opening eyes and doors to be colorful and creative. Are there, do you folks make value-edit products now? Are you looking to go into that? What is your, what avenues are you picking? So yeah, that's it. Okay, so I guess you have to say with meat, with livestock, with pork, you're always looking for an out because, what do you write? So once you're dealing, we want to keep our product to be a fresh product as opposed to a fresh frozen or a frozen because once we freeze our product, which you can do, you can batch slaughter, like 30 pigs, pack everything, freeze it and it'll look like Costco. It'll look like everything will be, you know, the thing is then you're immediately competing with Costco and we don't want to do that. We don't want to, that's like, that's your LCD, right? So we don't want to, we don't want to lowest, what we want to do is be antibiotic-free, hormone-free, locally grown so that people can see the full value of that and that's what we're shooting for. So our value added is truly, yeah, everything that we're shooting for is trying to add as much value, starting with intrinsically something that's clean, healthy and Hawaii. Right, something specialized, something that you can only get from this, from this source. Yes, exactly. Yeah, yeah, and I think that a lot of businesses are, especially small businesses in Hawaii, are going in that direction. Yeah, so we, yeah, we'll do down the line, you know, right now I have like any, you know, certain things like, say, ground pork. I can go right to a USDA sausage maker who turns my stuff, my recipes into my sausage based on my pork, but it's a USDA stamp because I don't have a facility to do that. So somebody does that for me, but it's a local family. Yeah. So we're able, again, so, you know, we're keeping, we're not shipping it to, you know, wherever to get it done, it stays here. So that's, you know, the value added thing to us is ultimately we try to build it here, and sure, if we can get it off Island, that would be great. If we can, if we can go international with it, that would be great. But really, you know, from the Island for the Island is kind of a, you know, from the Island for the Island, another great hashtag. You're full of hashtags. You're full of something, yes. What about, where can, where can people find you? I know you've been doing restaurants. I know that you're going to start going into the retail, retail direction. But is there, I know you mentioned, having a connection with restaurants. Is it, have you found like direct business? Yeah, so. The route to go? It is, for us primarily wholesale, chefs right now, they just bit into the pork. They just, it really meant a lot to them in the fact that I think maybe the fact that there's like, you know, a butcher behind it has meant a lot to them too. So, so really we have a great niche. We bring a very, very unique product to that niche. So, we love it, but we also would love to have retail as much, as much torture as it is. We would love to have that outlet because not everything sells all the time to everybody. And you always have to, if you're trying to constantly be growing, you always have to be looking, always, you know, looking for those outlets. Retail is an awesome outlet, margin wise, it is. So, you know, we're going to, we're going to. So the answer is, Kakua market starting about next week. Wow. Wow. How timely is this? Thank you. Yes. Okay. Kakua market next week. And then a variety of restaurants that are, that are around Oahu now, is it only Oahu right now? Yeah. It is primarily Oahu right now. Yeah. We try to, yeah, keep it on this island. It's, yeah. Right. And it is the, I think you mentioned earlier that it is your dream to keep it small. I feel like that's a, that's a growing, I mean, I want to say like a growing trend, but I also recommend that to people that are going into business, like try to do small first and be awesome at that and get good at that. And is that kind of the direction you want? Well, we would, yeah, we would like, getting awesome small is really important. It really, no, it really is because the truth is, it's a system for us. It's really, it's, it's, it's pigs. It just is. It just cuts it at certain things and it's, and so really it's, it's a thing that you can manipulate and you can kind of do a lot with it. So yeah, we would like to keep it small. The program itself has a lot to do with food security, has a lot to do with the, the, the, the, the sustainability and all that kind of stuff. So no, we want it, we want everybody to be doing what we're doing. We want it to be huge. I don't necessarily want to be doing all that, but I want, you know, Korean natural farming. Yeah. It's, it's an end also. So we are, we are supporting all, all types of small business and, and we want to do small business and we want other people to do small business. Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for this little adventure that we have today at Hawaii Food and Farmers Series. If you want to find Bob on social media, his Instagram is at Quinoa Pork H.I. H.I. H.I. So you can see all of his cool pork pictures and he will be at Kukua Market. Yeah. Um, we should be in there. We should be in there in a week. And then I'll have my number out there so you can call me for a special order. Go on the Instagram because you'll probably be posting something that he's there. There you go. Yeah. All right. Thanks for joining us, everyone. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Aloha.