Plans for first Zippy’s on Maui delayed

Answer: Zippy's marketing manager Jeanine Mamiya-Kalahiki said the restaurant chain still is planning to establish a location on Maui.

In 2003 the company announced plans to build a restaurant at the Kahului Business Park that was supposed to have opened last year.

But Mamiya-Kalahiki said Zippy's officials are focusing on the development of its newest addition at 91-1669 Fort Weaver Road in Ewa Beach.

The opening for the Ewa Beach location, near a 7-Eleven store, is scheduled for May or June, she said.

Mamiya-Kalahiki said the plan is to build the Zippy's on Maui sometime next year.

"We're coming. We're coming soon," she said.

The future Zippy's on Maui, to be in Kahului on the corner of Hookele Street and Puunene Avenue, will include a 24-hour fast-food drive-in, a sit-down restaurant and Napoleon's Bakery, she said.

Mamiya-Kalahiki said one of the reasons for establishing a restaurant on the Valley Isle is the interest of people on the island.

"They keep on asking when we're going to have a restaurant on Maui," she said.

The Maui location will be the first Zippy's on a neighbor island in a long time.

Zippy's did establish a restaurant on Kauai but closed it shortly after Hurricane Iniki in 1992, she said.

Zippy's, with 24 locations on Oahu, was founded on Oct. 17, 1966, by Charlie Higa and his late brother Francis at the McCully location. One of the restaurant's big sellers remains the chili.

Mamiya-Kalahiki said the business sells at least 110 tons of chili a month.

Besides its purchase at its restaurants and drive-ins, Zippy's chili is used by groups for fundraising.