Hawai‘i Commercial Foods: Expands Production and Distribution to Maui Lani Village Center

Maui-based Hawaiʻi Commercial Foods has purchased what will be its new processing and distribution facility at the Maui Lani Village Center – that will double the family-owned company’s production space and improve operating efficiencies.

Founded in a 50-square-foot commercial kitchen in Kīhei, Hawaiʻi Commercial Foods has been manufacturing and selling its salads for well over two decades. Its product line has grown from one item – kim chee – to now 46 products including such favorites as pickled onion, namasu, pasta salad, grab-and-go ready-to-eat salads, mac-potato salad, wakame salad and takuan.

For the past 13 years, the company has operated from a 2,400-square-foot facility in Wailuku, but with growing customer demand, President Joyce Harris said they’ve been “busting at the seams – adding new products and working seven days a week, both day and night shifts. We definitely needed a bigger place.”

An opportunity arose to purchase a unit at Commercial Row, a fee simple commercial warehouse condominium located at the Maui Lani Village Center. “It was perfect, almost doubles the size of our current operations, and the warehouse is already erected. All we have to do is make the interior improvements,” she said. “It’s a dream come true.”

Hawaiʻi Commercial Foods is targeting to begin operations at the Maui Lani Village Center in early 2021.

“It’s terrific to see a mom-and-pop endeavor like Hawaiʻi Commercial Foods work hard, be successful and invest in their future,” said Grant Howe, CCIM R(B) of Commercial Properties of Maui.

As a mixed-use project, Maui Lani Village Center offers a flexible range of products to suit varying business needs, including turnkey units for small businesses, medical firms and professional offices, as well as commercial warehouse units that come with such built-in features as a container loading zone, high cube free span, roll-up and personnel door options, storage mezzanine and parking stalls.

Additionally, the Maui Lani Village Center offers finished commercial lots with standard 5/8” water meter and utility hookups, said Ben Walin, CCIM R(B) of Commercial Properties of Maui. “These ready-to-build lots are good prospects for businesses interested in designing facilities that suit their unique needs, especially given the Village Center’s convenient location and easy access to ports and regional roadways to the rest of the island.”