Drive-in franchisers
By Russ Lynch
win isle SBA award
Star-BulletinEddie Flores Jr. and Kwock Yum "Johnson" Kam, owners of L&L Franchise Inc., are the winners of this year's Hawaii "Small Business Person of the Year" award, sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The Liliha Street company supervises the operation of 32 L&L Drive-Inn restaurants, many of which are run by franchisees.
Flores gave some of the credit for the company's growth, achieved in less than 10 years, to Hawaii National Bank, not only for its financial support but also for its support of small business in general.
The bank nominated Flores and Kam for the award.
The SBA this year is honoring winners in 14 categories at the state level as well as winners in several categories in each of the four counties.
Hawaii's SBA Young Entrepreneur for 1998 is Charles Wesley Fortner of Island Page Inc. Clifford Laughton of Columbia Communications Corp., was recognized for entrepreneurial success.
Other statewide winners are Warren K.K. Luke, Hawaii National Bank, financial services advocate of the year; You Soukaseum, Soukaseum Farm, minority small business advocate; Theodore T. Yamanaka, Ted Yamanaka & Associates, veteran small business advocate; and Kenneth Simon, Menehune Water Co., small business exporter of the year.
Also, Nancy Evans Tudor, accountant advocate; S. Randy Brandt, KGMB-TV, media advocate; Dawn Krause, Calico General Store, women in business advocate; and Patricia Windrath of Windy's Unlimited, Craig Parkin of Team Clean Inc. and Tin Myaing Thein of the Immigrant Center, in the Welfare to Work category.
The SBA also is giving Michael Faye of Wrangler's Restaurant its Phoenix Award for disaster recovery. County Small Business Persons of the Year are William P. Allen, Hawaii Care & Cleaning Inc., Kauai; Herbert M. Hirota, Hirota Painting Co., Honolulu; Jeffrey Leonard and Dale Webster, Image Station Inc., Maui; and Roland and Gary Kaneshiro, T. Kaneshiro Store, Big Island.
The winners will be recognized at the annual Small Business Awards luncheon May 21 at the Ilikai Hotel Nikko in Waikiki.
