TheBuzz
TheBuzz
FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kelvin Ro is the owner of The Market at Diamond Head Market and Grill on Monsarrat Avenue.
Kahala Moon chef
rises to new opportunitiesKelvin Ro is not reinventing himself. Instead, with a generations-long legacy of family entrepreneurship and lessons learned during his own career, the long-time restaurateur is realizing "the culmination of all of my experience," he said.
Saturday's grand opening of The Market at Diamond Head Market and Grill will follow a Friday blessing. The gourmet shop will offer fresh ready-to-eat, heat-and-eat and ready-to-grill foods, locally grown produce, baked goods and other specialty items next to his The Grill take-out restaurant at Monsarrat and Campbell Avenues.
He plans to hire about 10 more clerks to add to his restaurant and market staff of 30.
"I didn't want to do fast food," he said, but the landmark Burgerland and SunRay Market location became available and The Grill opened in August.
The restaurant exceeded projections within three months, which bodes well for the long-term lease he signed. Ro has a 20-year ground lease with an option for another 20. There is no seating for The Grill in order to maintain turnover and reduce congestion in the small parking lot, he said.
The plate lunch shop and market represent an investment of between $400,000 and $500,000, as well as a dream in the making since his graduation from college.
Mail order is another one, which he will begin via e-commerce down the line.
This is perhaps not the best time to start a new venture, he said, but Ro believes the market will fill a niche.
"In spite of impending war, the dock lockout ... just the unrest and the economy being sluggish, he still says, 'Let's go,'" said Kelvin's sister Sharan Ro.
It's community-based economic development, she said. "Let's not just talk about how good it can be, let's just really implement it, even if it's 'fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants' in the beginning," she said.
Kelvin graduated from Waipahu High School, received a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Hawaii, then launched his own business in 1985. His family is full of shopkeepers and professionals dating to plantation-era Hawaii. Grandfather Harry Chu was the first Asian-American in the United States to own a radio station, the old KAHU-AM 940 in Waipahu, Sharan said.
Kelvin sold Absolutely Catering in 1989 so he could open Lehua's Bay City Bar & Grill in Hilo's bayfront area, which ran for seven years with his role growing from consultant to partner.
Ro's outside consulting work continued and brought him to projects such as the reopening of Hilo's Nani Mau Gardens and The Willows restaurant.
His cousin, chef and restaurateur Glenn Chu, wanted to transition Hajibaba's restaurant in Kahala but later opened Indigo downtown, paving the way for Ro to open his own eatery in the Kahala location. Kahala Moon was awarded Honolulu Magazine's Hale 'Aina award as the best new restaurant of 1994. However, fire had wiped out the popular restaurant a month earlier. It reopened six months later and eventually closed in 1998.
His catering business has also continued over the years, including special events for Gov. Ben Cayetano and a stint as the governor's interim chef.
"Kelvin Ro is an outstanding chef," the governor said. "He is creative, takes great pride in his work and cooks up some delicious cuisine."
His catering clients also include members of his extended family, such as the C.S. Wo clan.
The store's opening was pushed back so Ro could cater the Wos' annual holiday party last weekend when over two days more than 1,000 guests were fed at Furniture Square.
The family ties work both ways. Grand-aunt Betty Wo, related to Ro through his mother's side, supports his fund-raising and development work for the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College.
Support from Wo and Joanne Sullivan, widow of Foodland founder Maurice Sullivan, has helped raise some $400,000 through the annual "Ho'okipa" benefit dinner staged by KCC culinary and hospitality students.
"They believe that the hospitality and culinary industries are the backbone of tourism, fueling Hawaii's leading industry," Ro said.
Ro is officially on vacation from his KCC job in order to open the store, but maintains his development work for the school.
Ro and Conrad Nonaka, acting director of the institute, are among those working toward establishment of a four-year program for advanced culinary arts students. The highlight of the vision is to reopen the Cannon Club, where students will present the fruits of their labors, said Carol Hoshiko, dean of business, hospitality, community and college relations at KCC.
It will be "beneficial for the students as well as economic development for the state, positioning Hawaii as a focal point for advanced culinary training," she said.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com
