{"id":177486,"date":"2023-05-11T14:49:07","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T00:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=177486"},"modified":"2023-05-11T14:53:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T00:53:26","slug":"food-entrepreneurs-leeward-cc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/05\/11\/food-entrepreneurs-leeward-cc\/","title":{"rendered":"Food entrepreneurs innovate, grow through Leeward CC<\/abbr> program"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"People
ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke cohort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every Monday and Wednesday evening through mid-July, springroll entrepreneur Philip Nguyen, owner of The Corner Rolls<\/a>, will log onto Zoom classes to learn about a wide array of subjects ranging from self-care, time management and sleep to using commercial kitchens, packaging, recipe costs and food safety. He\u2019ll be joined by 13 other food entrepreneurs who comprise the second cohort in Leeward Community College<\/a>\u2019s ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

Nguyen\u2019s company has been serving up spring rolls with innovative flavors for two years.<\/p>\n

“We currently have one van, one set of equipment and can only manage one market or one festival at a time,” Nguyen said. “I enrolled in the ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke program to incubate my small business, to accelerate the growth of my business. I expect to gain knowledge, make meaningful connections and find guidance towards success.”<\/p>\n

Nguyen\u2019s short-term goal is to double the company\u2019s equipment in order to manage two markets at the same time.<\/p>\n

“My long-term hope for the business is to eventually have a brick and mortar where we serve flights of spring rolls paired with flights of beer,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Person
ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke Product Showcase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to workshop sessions, participants have private sessions with a business advisor coach and with other entrepreneurs over 12 weeks. In the fall, they\u2019ll be able to continue—and significantly ramp up—their trajectory at the new Wahiaw\u0101 Value-Added Product Development Center (WVAPDC<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

A project of the State of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and Leeward CC<\/abbr>, the 33,327-square-foot, $22-million, state-of-the-art facility will be used by established and budding food entrepreneurs to create value-added products, such as pickles, sauces, vinegars and more, from local agricultural products, many of which would otherwise likely become waste.<\/p>\n

First cohort<\/h2>\n

The first ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke cohort comprised 15 companies that ran the gamut, including Sakata Sweets, Haleʻiwa<\/span> Salt Co., Barrio Caf\u00e9 808 and The Disco Farmer. They held a successful, well-attended showcase in April, where buyers, grocers and media influencers learned about and sampled their products.<\/p>\n

“The course has been designed to help entrepreneurs develop a deep understanding of the food industry and equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the competitive food market,” said Instructor Christiane Bolosan-Yee. “I\u2019m confident that the entrepreneurs who have completed our course are well-positioned to succeed. They\u2019ve demonstrated a deep commitment to quality, innovation and sustainability, and are dedicated to creating products that not only taste great but also make a positive impact in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> and, hopefully, beyond our shores.”<\/p>\n

\"Vinegar
Poni and Brandon Askew at the ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke Product Showcase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of those first cohort entrepreneurs, Poni Askew, is a well-known name in Oʻahu<\/span>\u2019s culinary and agriculture communities. She and her husband Brandon are champions of Honolulu\u2019s local economy and since 2010 have created platforms—Makers & Tasters, Street Grindz, Eat the Street and Honolulu Night Market—that have supported hundreds of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

In 2018, they established the Hawaiian Vinegar & Spice Company<\/a> and recently opened a small shop with a tasting room in Wahiaw\u0101. The focus of their business, and the main reason they enrolled in ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke, is a vinegar-based syrup called a shrub. Hawaiian Vinegar\u2019s shrubs are infused with local herbs, fruits, vegetables and spices, with flavors such as guava lime, basil ginger and M\u0101noa honey. Shrubs are used to craft both cocktails and mocktails. They also give dressings, marinades, pickles and sauces a great twist of flavor. The Askews are currently creating new vinegars and shrubs made with malt vinegar from Lani Kai Brewery, dragon fruit from Kualoa Ranch, and banana vinegar using fruit from farms in Haleʻiwa<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Learning to scale<\/h2>\n
\"Man
ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke Product Showcase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“A food manufacturing business is different from a service-based business,” Askew said. “There\u2019s distribution, food science, food testing, lots of components we didn\u2019t know about. And there\u2019s going to be a point where, in order to scale, we\u2019re going to have to finance our enterprise. Basically, we\u2019re starting as new entrepreneurs.”<\/p>\n

WVAPDC<\/abbr> Manager Chris Bailey said the mission is to support and advance value-added entrepreneurs, students and local agriculture.<\/p>\n

“The facility will have every imaginable piece of food manufacturing equipment,” Bailey said. “Twelve thousand square feet of the facility is a production floor. We\u2019ll have the only high pressure processing machine in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>. It\u2019s an alternative to pasteurization and a game changer in terms of product stabilization and extending shelf-life. We have a media kitchen, even an industrial bagel slicer.”<\/p>\n

The Askews believe WVAPDC<\/abbr> will be huge for their ability to scale. “We want to be there on day one,” they said.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit https:\/\/www.leeward.hawaii.edu\/wvapdc\/<\/a> or contact Bailey at crbailey@hawaii.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"People
ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke Product Showcase<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From springrolls to shrubs, food entrepreneurs plan to expand through Leeward CC<\/abbr>\u2019s ʻ\u0100ina to M\u0101keke program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[222,498,184,734,951,65,71],"class_list":["post-177486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-agriculture","tag-business","tag-culinary","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-food","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-uh-community-colleges","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177486"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177520,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177486\/revisions\/177520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}