People have joined the growing Eat Local movement for myriad reasons, including reducing their carbon footprint, supporting Hawaii businesses and keeping agricultural lands in agriculture. Grocery stores and restaurants tout their local-food credentials, and more farmers markets keep popping up…
Small and medium businesses are not the only local organizations that are outsourcing their human-resource tasks. More and more nonprofits, such as Aloha United Way and Kalihi-Palama Health Center, have also made the jump and realized significant savings. AUW president…
For companies looking to buy heavy equipment, it is important to get up close to the big machines, see them in action and look under the hood. The Hawaii division of Hawthorne CAT lets its clients do all that, but…
If Eric Rose appears serious, it’s probably because he’s thinking. Born in Chicago, Rose worked in the food industry in Oregon for more than 20 years before moving to Hawaii, where he loved the surf. He opened Morning Glass in…
Company harvests some trees sustainably to help pay for other permanent forest. Hawaiian Legacy Hardwoods is challenging the view that the only way to make money after planting a tree is by cutting it down. Founded in December 2008 by…
SpeediShuttle is on the move, expanding its Oahu service, transferring its headquarters from Maui to Honolulu, adding a frequent-rider program and persuading many people to change their travel habits on the four main islands. One of those people is Bill…
When military families and retirees arrive in Hawaii, they often lack the local knowledge and connections that are so important to finding the right job. The Navy has tried to remedy that situation with the Joint Employment Management System, one…
The state says it now cashes excise tax payments much faster than it did a year earlier. In 2010, tens of thousands of GET checks from local businesses would remain uncashed by the government for a month or longer, but…
Cynthia Arnold, second from left, sits between Nellie and Herbert Lum, who needed help moving out of the home they had lived in for 40 years. Arnold and Dan and Julie Ihara, at right, operate Senior Move Managers to help…
Millions of people visit Hawaii every year from all over the world and many speak little or no English. Many local companies offer foreign-language tours for those visitors, usually focusing on travelers from the big Asian markets of Japan, Korea…
You can see from his face that Miles Hashimoto loves working, whether it's assembling mobile-phone kits or shredding documents. Both jobs are at Goodwill Industries, and Hashimoto is no ordinary worker. Like an estimated 1.8 percent of Hawaii's population – about 24,500…
With Christmas only three months away, many Hawaii residents are starting to plan their winter vacations in snow country. “Skiing and snowboarding are the flip side of water activities for people in Hawaii,” says John DeFreitas, product development manager for…
Local businesses have responded quickly and generously to help the victims of Japan's tsunami disaster. In fact, every one of the dozens of companies contacted by Hawaii Business says it has either launched its own fundraising effort or contributed to…
Sherri Loo and her Hawaiian Electric Co. coworkers have found an easy way to clean out their closets and help other women. For two years, Loo, environmental services manager at HECO, has coordinated a suit drive to benefit Dress for…
Angel Keene, who trains aircraft mechanics for Aloha Air Cargo, is used to people’s surprise when they first meet her. Blonde and 5-foot-2, Keene is often told she doesn’t look like a mechanic, but she keeps her sense of humor.…
In its first few months, Haleiwa-based greenteaHawaii has generated a buzz. The October issue of “Life & Style” magazine mentioned that “Dancing with the Stars” contestant Bristol Palin (Sarah’s daughter) drinks its green tea for energy and weight loss. Ryan…
Who would have thought that a company started in the middle of a recession could succeed so quickly? Hawaii Human Resources, or HiHR, has been growing steadily since its start in early 2009. A provider of human resource needs ranging…
When Sandra Fowler was laid off in 2009 from the buying office of a local clothing company, she looked high and low for a job in a similar field. Pickings were slim and salaries seemed meager, “But I thought (my…
Tom Park, founder and owner of Leather Soul, which carries exclusive men’s shoes, can’t believe his success in following a dream. “I’ve always loved shoes, from when I was in kindergarten,” he says. In March, his flagship Waikiki store moved…
Teddy’s Bigger Burgers does well in a good economy and better in a bad one, says co-CEO Ted Tsakiris. That’s one reason Teddy’s opened its fourth restaurant on Oahu in May, at 2424 S. Beretania St., near University Avenue. In…
Ever go to the beach and wish you had somewhere to stash your keys, ID and a few dollars? Cameron Olson has created the solution: Sandaloha surf slippers with a heel compartment secured invisibly with Velcro. “The Sandaloha is one…
Online competitors were killing off bricks-and-mortar music stores when Peter Dods bought Honolulu’s Easy Music Center from Servco Pacific in 2005. Since then, Dods has opened a second store and, with the two locations, has tripled sales and quintupled profits,…
Kealoha, a retired Air Force brigadier general, has been with Hawaii’s Better Business Bureau since 2006. This year, the Hawaii BBB marks its 65th anniversary and Kealoha says it is strong and healthy. “Who’s getting old?” he asks. Not the BBB, which…
Most pet owners would agree that if there’s something wrong with Fido or Fluffy, it’s hard to wait for an answer. That’s why VCA Family Animal Hospital in Pearl City is open around the clock, with a veterinarian onsite. “Our…
Three years ago, after the Big Island was rocked by a 6.6 magnitude earthquake and power failed across the state, Judi Steinman and her husband, Shaul Baruch Janes, watched movies on their flat-screen TV and drank cold beverages from the…
A little book has important advice for some of the Islands' big-business leaders Growing up, Wesley Park aspired to be ordinary. He ended up being extraordinary. When he was 4 years old, Park was stricken with polio. The debilitating disease…
Thirty-year-old developer Adam Wong has an intoxicating vision for a vibrant — and affordable — Honolulu. Thirty-three-year-old James Koshiba dreams of a new generation of socially-conscious businesses that do as much for the community as they do their bottom lines.…
