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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Kaya’s and the Shrimp Shack
cook up a happy marriageYOU can't help but notice that there are a lot of shrimp-selling trucks dotting Windward Oahu.
The most noticeable may be the screaming yellow Shrimp Shack truck parked next to Kaya's Store in Punaluu.
The truck has been featured on nationwide television, in dining and travel guides, cookbooks and a Bank of Hawaii small business checking brochure, according to owner Irene Theofanis.
Kaya's doesn't get such publicity, but it doesn't matter to Vice President Beverly Hashimoto, because business is up.
"It was my husband's idea, thinking that you know, we don't get a lot of tourist traffic -- a lot of them don't stop. But with the Shrimp Shack, whether they buy shrimp or not, it's attracting tourists and they're stopping."
The relationship started last fall, after an August fire destroyed the Punaluu Art Gallery, where the Shrimp Shack truck used to park.
Hashimoto said, "We were renovating the store and right at that time, (her husband Vern Hashimoto) asked me if I thought it would be a good idea to ask her if she's interested in staying here."
"(Theofanis) was very open to it and happy about it and brought her truck down. We landscaped around her truck." Covered tables were added to accommodate the diners that the Shrimp Shack sends into the store for drinks.
On their way to the potables, visitors and kamaaina pass the store's souvenirs, beach gear and T-shirts Theofanis designed or helped to design. One is for the Shrimp Shack, the other pays homage to the summertime run of Oama, a popular fish.
"The majority of (customers) buy more than drinks and chips and things ... it has helped our business," Hashimoto said.
The store was established 58 years ago by her father, William Kaya, and it was your basic country general store, where if it didn't carry something, you could probably get along without it. From animal feed to hardware to crack seed, Kaya's carried it.
The opening of Ace Hardware in Laie in the late 1990s almost caused Kaya's to close, because the business was hard hit. The hardware lines were eliminated, the feed was brought into the store from out back and that helped.
Theofanis' pan-fried and boiled shrimp, mussels and other seafood selections have helped even more, especially with national cable TV exposure on Food Network, the Travel Channel and other channels.
"I thought being in the country I'd be very low-key. Now it's getting to be world-famous. I wasn't even in the phone book when I started," Theofanis said.
Oh, the lady who calls out your name when your order is ready? Her name is Vi. "It's short for vivacious, she says," joked Theofanis.
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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