The 32nd Annual Made in Hawaiʻi Festival closed on Sunday, August 23, after four days at the Hawaiʻi Convention Center. This year’s festival was the largest yet, spanning nearly 300,000 square feet with more than 800 vendor booths of locally made food, apparel, art, and craft.
Hawaii Foodservice Alliance was proud to be there alongside six of the brands we represent. Each one built something worth showing off, and the festival floor gave thousands of shoppers the chance to meet the people behind the products they consume each and every day.
Celebrating the Brands We Represented
La Tour Bakehouse. What began as a single Chinatown sandwich shop in 1984 is now one of Hawaiʻi’s most recognized bakeries, turning out artisan breads, viennoiserie, and pastries from its Nimitz Highway bakehouse. Mahalo to Thanh Lam, Brandon, and the whole La Tour team.
Sinaloa. Hawaiʻi’s tortilleria, made fresh daily in Honolulu. The Macias family has spent three decades proving that tortillas and chips made here beats anything shipped in from the mainland.
Koko Kai. Chef Aline Steiner’s coconut yogurt is plant-based, made in Honolulu with no added sugar and no fillers, packed in reusable glass jars. Mahalo for showing the islands what clean, locally made non-dairy can taste like.
LuLu Asian Kitchen. A family business since 2002, built by Jenny Lu and her daughter Julia Li, now serving customers across eight states from central kitchens in Oakland and San Rafael. Their dumplings, entrees, and ready-to-eat meals are fully cooked home recipes, and we are grateful to bring them to Hawaiʻi shoppers.
Hawaii Farming. Nestled between the hills of Waimea and the slopes of Mauna Kea, Hawaii Farming grows Keiki Cukes and specialty greens across 12 acres of hydroponic greenhouses using 90 percent less water than field-grown production, with GFSI and FSMA food safety certifications behind every harvest. More than 70 team members make that happen.
Hawaiian Chip Company. Jimmy Chan has been building this brand customer by customer for more than two decades, from a small shop on North King Street to a thriving operation on Republican Street. Taro and Okinawan sweet potato, grown here and cooked here.
Connecting Makers to Every Shelf in the Islands
Festivals are where makers meet their customers face to face. The rest of the year, that connection runs through our Distribution Platform. HFA represents more than 90 local manufacturers and moves local and mainland products alike to every retailer, club, and grocer on every island, every day — by truck, by ocean freight, and by air.
That consolidation removes well over 1,000 trucks per week from Hawaiʻi’s roadways, and it lets a single-island producer reach a statewide market without building a distribution operation of their own. Our partners focus on making great products. We handle everything from farm to shelf.
Mahalo Nui Loa
To La Tour Bakehouse, Sinaloa, Koko Kai, LuLu Asian Kitchen, Hawaii Farming, and Hawaiian Chip Company: mahalo for the long weekend, the samples, the conversations, and the years of partnership behind them. And mahalo to the Hawaii Food Industry Association and everyone who walked the convention center floor to buy local.
Are you a producer looking to reach all islands? Contact our team to learn how HFA’s Distribution Platform can grow your business statewide.
