Steve Jordan says sharks are often misunderstood. “Sharks are not the big, mean monsters they’re made out to be,” says Jordan, the owner and CEO of Hawaii Shark Encounters. His company’s two-hour tours teach customers about shark species and ecosystems,…
While describing the values that have carried KTA Super Stores to its 100th year as a family-owned business, president and COO Toby Taniguchi brings up traditional Japanese concepts. “The organization has been able to survive because our focus is not…
“It’s really like walking into someone’s home that you’ve been going to for a long time. Not like some other places where they just stare at you,” says Lester Peetz, a customer of The Pillbox Pharmacy for 24 years. “It’s…
Friday, 7:30 pm Oahu Transit Services, Inc. Middle Street Photo by Mathew Ursua It takes about five fluid ounces of soap and four gallons of recycled city water to wash one of Honolulu’s 540 city buses, says Oahu Transit Services,…
Meredith Mawhar says she settled on her new career because she was excited by the Research Challenge, a prestigious competition for college students sponsored by the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. Mawhar is a student at UH Manoa’s Shidler College of…
Brian Kajiyama, an instructor in UH’s Department of Special Education, who has cerebral palsy, has an undeniable need for his trained service dog, Zeus. Such dogs get years of training so they can help their human partners, and Zeus can…
Native plant restoration is an ongoing process at the Kaupulehu Dryland Forest in North Kona – one of more than a dozen projects by the nonprofit Hawaii Forest Institute. “Not all (Hawaii) forests are native forests,” notes Rob Pacheco, who…
I’m hearing a lot of buzz about cause marketing. How do I get my small business started on it? Cause marketing aligns a brand with a cause in the community, such as sustainability, helping children or homelessness. When executed strategically,…
We may buy that clamshell of beautiful, ripe strawberries with the best of intentions – pancakes! cobbler! fruit salad! – but when the end of the week comes and they’re getting soft and fuzzy in the back of the produce drawer,…
It’s an economical and eco-friendly way to eliminate overgrowth on land, and the workers are cute and quiet. Chris Wilcox, then a boat captain for a fish-farming operation on Hawaii Island, switched gears in 2013 and started Big Island Goat…
There are a million stories in the white-collar gig economy. Let me introduce you to one. Alison Chock has two jobs: One is in retail, where she works nights at a boutique. Her other job is more unpredictable. The work…
How a public-private program called Creative Lab accelerates entrepreneurs in six creative areas: screenwriting, broadband, interactive media, fashion, producing and music While Hawaii is known worldwide for its rainbows, aloha spirit and beautiful weather, Georja Skinner hopes to add “creative…
Danny Meyer, one of New York’s most respected restaurateurs, plans to eliminate tipping and raise menu prices by a commensurate amount in his 13 restaurants. This news, along with Hawaii’s gradually increasing minimum wage, which is now $8.50 an hour…