Hawaii Business Magazine - July 2012

Much More than a Lemonade Stand

This summer, hundreds of children in Honolulu and seven mainland cities will compete to create the best lemonade stand. But don’t expect watered-down concoctions and makeshift tables: These kids mean business. The contest, Lemonade Alley, requires participants from kindergarten through…

Growing Gardeners

When Taiji Terasaki needs fresh herbs for a pot of stew or the ingredients for an organic salad, he’ll send his 7-year-old son, Kenta, and 4-year-old daughter, Miya, out to the family’s kitchen garden. There’s quite a selection in the…

Make Your Site Web-Friendly

People have expectations for your website based on what they have seen and done at other sites. By following conventions that people have grown to trust on the Web, you will help provide a consistently good experience to your visitors.…

Coconut Island

The assessed value of Coconut Island – also known as Moku o Loe – is $2,666,500. The details, though, are more complicated. In the 1930s, Christian Holmes II, heir to the Fleischmann Yeast fortune, bought the island from Bishop Estate…

Bit of Sugar

Gummy-bear keychains, Pop-Tart necklaces and shave-ice rings. The art of “deco sweet” or miniature food jewelry is all the rage in Japan. Local business Bit of Sugar is taking the trendy, handmade treasures to new heights this summer. Co-owner Lei…

Ride in Style

“You know, it’s a massage seat, too.” The chauffeur, Philippe Deprez, pointed to the control panel on the door of the custom-built 2012 Rolls-Royce Ghost EWB, the only one in Hawaii. “Go ahead,” he says, “press that button.” Talk about…

My Job: Professional Cupid

Misconceptions: With TV shows like “The Millionnaire Matchmaker” creating false impressions, it’s easy to misunderstand what professional matchmakers do. At Matchmaking Introductions Hawaii, owner and president Reiko Keifert says singles don’t come to her because they can’t find partners on…

Ask SmallBiz: Leadership

Q: Why do some leaders fail? A: During the past 30 years, working side by side with hundreds of leaders, I’ve had a “front-row seat” observing the practice of leadership. I’ve seen many factors that resulted in failure, including arrogance, incompetence, dishonesty, abusiveness…

5 Steps to a successful business meeting

Your next business meeting will go more smoothly with proper planning. Plaza Club GM Dan Bower offers five ways to ensure that you succeed and everyone who attends is impressed. 1. Have a clear vision. Before you start planning your meeting, it is…

Lessons Learned: Huggo's in Kailua-Kona

Huggo’s, on the water at the south end of Kailua Bay, is one of Kona’s oldest and most popular restaurants. Executive chef Ken Schloss and butcher Urs Hartmann talk about fish, the mainstay of Huggo’s menu. Where do you get…

Buying a Family Business

It’s not easy taking over a family-run business that’s been operating successfully for nearly six decades. And, if loyal customers notice any changes, even necessary changes, they’re quick to criticize the new owner. All that wasn’t lost on Honolulu entrepreneur…

Parting Shot: La Tour Bakehouse

  2:49 pm, Friday Nimitz Highway Photographer: David Croxford >> Jie Na Liu of La Tour Bakehouse places a cookie on top of cream to create macaroons (known as macarons in French and at La Tour). They will age for a…

Innovation: Electronic Shark Defense System repels sharks

Creator:  Wilson Vinano Jr., avid surfer and owner of Z to A Innovations, has been inventing things for years and wanted to make the ocean safer for people. With the help of two local engineering and development companies, Vinano says,…

Talk Story with Bill Brizee

Brizee joined AHL in 1995 as a project architect and manager, and was promoted to principal in 2004 and CEO in 2010. He shares his views on rail and the importance of the LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)…

Changing Communities in Hawaii

Today’s tourists are not willing to just stay close to their hotels or only take tours to the standard attractions. They want to experience out-of-the-way beaches, trails and neighborhoods that locals have had mostly to themselves for decades. Those incursions…

Hawaii's Best Company Vehicles

Best "Green" Vehicle Sunetric retrofitted this Honda Element with three 230-watt Sunpower modules and 12 killowatt hours of battery storage. The mobile solar power station, named Watt Wheels, provides free electricity at community, charitable and educational events. Best Classic Delivery…

Inside the Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning project

SOURCES: HSWAC AND HAWAII BUSINESS RESEARCH Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning is scheduled to break ground this year on its cooling system for buildings in downtown Honolulu, says the vice chairman of HSWAC’s board, Bill Mahlum. Here’s a look at the system:…

Kailua seeks balance

It’s a hot Thursday and state Rep. Chris Lee is sitting in traffic trying to get out of Lanikai, his home neighborhood in Kailua. It’s 2:30 p.m., and Kailua and Lanikai beaches are still full of people, but cars trying…

Negotiating Haleiwa's Future

The line of customers outside Matsumoto Grocery Store is 15 deep. Visitors and locals alike wait patiently to place their orders, huddling under the eaves of the ramshackle old building to avoid the noon sun. In the dusty gravel parking…