TheBuzz
TheBuzz
Food, fans, phones
prove lucrativePhones started ringing off the hook for three Hawaii businesses Thursday after LuauKing.com, Maui Jelly Factory and Atebara's Potato Chips Co. Inc. were featured on the Food Network's "Food Finds" show, hosted by Sandra Pinckney.
The episode was produced and originally aired in 2000 and it has run a few times since then.
"Usually they tell us they're going to run it again, so we can prepare," said LuauKing General Manager Kimo Miller.
They didn't this time, but with the deluge of phone calls and Web site hits, it didn't take long to figure it out.
Maui Jelly Factory President Mike Kilinski returned from lunch to reports from his employees that the show had aired again.
"I grabbed a stack of order sheets and started writing," he said with an audible smile. "It is fantastic, I have only great praise for Food Network," Kilinski said.
From the time the show ended to Friday afternoon, Maui Jelly Factory had received 100 mail orders and requests for up to 300 brochures.
"We get calls from most every state in the union," including Hawaii, Kilinski said.
One caller inquiring about Maui Onion Mustard got the spiel about the 3-jar package and which credit cards the company accepts. The caller asked where the factory was and indicated he'd probably just drive down because he was calling from Wailuku, Kilinski chuckled.
A caller from the Big Island was directed to KTA Super Stores for her desired Maui Jelly Factory products.
Since the show was produced, Kilinski has added products and services such as candies and fudges, corporate gifts and gift baskets, and private labeling for companies; including custom work for chefs and hotels.
Had he not been "downsized" from Woolworth's after 16 years' employment, he might not have been offered a sales position by company founder Richard Tuell. Then he wouldn't be able to compare himself to Victor Kiam, who "liked the product so much I bought the company (Remington, maker of electric razors)."
The Web site at www.luauking.com offers Hawaiian-style parties in a box, or boxes, depending on the number of guests to be served. One is called the "Food Finds Sampler Luau," at $34.95.
The founder of Rabbit Transit in Honolulu in 1980, LuauKing's Miller eventually moved to the Big Island, where he found himself ono for Hawaiian food. He started the Kimo's Ono Hawaiian Food take-out restaurant, thinking he could also do mail-order business.
"It takes a lot of work," he said, as if re-living an aching back.
He sold the restaurant in 1997 and in 1999 launched the e-commerce site. Shipping is facilitated by a packaging and mailing business purchased by his father, Ralph Miller. Kimo Miller contracts out for the food products.
The unfortunate note, which also came as sort of a relief, was that callers who dialed the number for Atebara's Potato Chips got a recording indicating the number had been changed or disconnected.
"I wish we knew, but we're just not ready to fill those orders," said Clyde Oshiro. He and son-in-law Nimr Tamimi acquired Atebara's late last year, after former company President Walter Atebara decided he wanted to get out of the second-generation family business.
The company, founded in 1936, wasn't shut down, but the equipment and rights to use the name were acquired by Tamosh LLC, comprised of Oshiro, a CPA; and Tamimi, an engineer.
"We're still struggling along to get back into the stores," Oshiro said. Tamosh has four employees, while at its height Atebara had 12 to 15 employees, including a distribution force.
Hawaii's newest addition to Food Network programming will be April 12 when chef and restaurateur Sam Choy will appear on "Emeril's Aloha Challenge." Lagasse and Choy, friends for years, will duke it out with duck, pork chops and poke.
PHOTO COURTESY FOOD NETWORK
Local chef Sam Choy will appear on Emeril Lagasse's television show next month.
Dishes will include Duck Chow Mein and Oriental Duck Salad, Hoisin Pork Chops and Macadamia Nut Stuffed Pork Chops, Hawaiian Style Poke and Poke in a Nest. The always-on-the-go Choy was unavailable for comment as he was appearing as a celebrity chef aboard the Crystal Symphony cruise ship en route from Valparaiso, Chile, to Auckland, New Zealand.
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
