Jim Delano, president of Lion Coffee, works on coffee packages
with employees Gloria Sumbad, far left, and Ellen Lee yesterday.
The company wants to sell its headquarters so it can
consolidate office and roasting operations.
By Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin

The company, in Kakaako since 1988, has put its historic, two-story office building for sale at $795,000 and plans to relocate its coffee roasting plant from its current Queen Street location, said Jim Delano, company president.

Delano said that the company is eyeing several properties, including Dole Cannery. Lion plans to relocate 60 of its 80 employees to its new headquarters, he said.

Delano said the company wants to streamline its operations by putting its business office and roasting plant under one roof. Currently, the company's offices, coffee roasters and parking lot are in three different buildings.

"It's a reflection of the increase in the volume of our business," he said. "We need to consolidate operations."

The move, which will likely occur in the next six months, isn't in response to increased competition in Hawaii's coffee business, Delano said. Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee Co. recently announced plans to open 30 new coffee shops and retail stores in Hawaii over the next few years.

Lion Coffee acquired its current office building, the 80-year-old Yee-Kobayashi Building at 894 Queen St., in 1988 for about $200,000. The company since then spent more than $300,000 to renovate the yellow, wooden structure, which is listed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places.

The building housed a grocery store when it was built by Yee See Kang in 1916. In 1939, Shigenori and Tora Kobayashi acquired it and operated a grocery store on the first floor until 1953. It remained a grocery store, operated by Grace Kobayashi Kimura and her husband, until 1976, when George and Annette Shipman bought the building and ran a ceramics business until 1988.

Lion Coffee currently leases its coffee roasting plant and retail shop at 831 Queen St. Delano said the company may expand the retail operations once it relocates its roasting equipment.