Cool Cat Cafe thrives in Kīhei, but still misses historic Lahaina town

The Kukui Mall parking lot was overflowing recently, spilling onto busy traffic on South Kīhei Road on a sultry summer night.

A closer look revealed the reason: patrons crowding into Cool Cat Cafe, relocated last month to South Maui after wildfire destroyed its longtime Wharf Cinema Center location, across from the famed Banyan Tree in historic Lahaina town.

“We are pretty settled in, still making some small adjustments and adjusting to the new location,” said owner Sean Corpuel.

Cool Cat’s team is “100 strong,” he said. Twenty-seven employees shifted from Cool Cats and Captain Jacks, and “they are very happy to have the new location. Over half our staff lost their homes and belongings. We lost one member of our team to the fire, Jeannie Eliason.”

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The move from Lahaina to Kīhei is not without some difficulty for employees and customers accustomed to being located off Front Street in historic Lahaina.

“They definitely miss Lahaina, the view down Front Street,” Corpuel said. “We miss our view of the Banyan Tree and the harbor. Sunsets over the Pioneer Inn. We miss our quaint little Lahaina Town. Our customers are so happy we are open, our faithful Lahaina people are making the drive to Kīhei on a regular basis. The people in Kīhei are sad that we lost our location, but happy we decided to open in Kīhei. The response, Islandwide, has been an outpouring of gratitude and appreciation for the fact that we have reopened. Myself and the crew are very humbled at the outpouring of appreciation.”

One of the August 2023 wildfire casualties was Cool Cat’s “Betty-Boop-style, 1950s memorabilia. Corpuel said he’s on the lookout for memorabilia for the walls of the new location.

“We had lost items brought in by customers,” he said. “I miss the old movie posters.”

Corpuel said the decision to relocate to Kīhei wasn’t easy.

“Initially I was overly optimistic that Lahaina would be back in three to four years,” he said. “As reality set in, and our team started asking me what we were going to do, I decided we should start looking for a new location.”

“We have an amazing team,” he said. “I have worked with many of them for the last 20 years.  They wanted to rebuild. My family wanted to rebuild. And, by the response we have received for our loyal following, they wanted us to rebuild as well. So, when the opportunity to open in Kukui Mall in Kīhei presented itself, we took it.”

Corpuel said the Cool Cats’ business philosophy has always been about taking care of people.

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“Whether it’s our customers or our staff, we look out for each other,” he said. “The first time I saw the word ‘Pono,’ I was standing at the teller window at the bank, and I thought this is where I belong. They have a word for how I try to live my life.”

The mantra of taking care of customers extends to Cool Cats’ food.

“Everything we do is fresh,” Corpuel said. “We use fresh ground beef we hand patty every day. Buns baked fresh daily from a local bakery. All of our sauces and dressings are made in-house. We slow cook our baby back ribs, cover them in an old family recipe BBQ sauce. We buy fresh from local fishermen. Our milkshakes are hand spun, the old fashioned way. We try to keep our prices affordable and have offered 20% kamaʻaina (discounts) since the day we opened 21 years ago.”

Regarding busy times for seating at Cool Cats, Corpuel said there are no reservations; so it’s first-come, first-served. However, his advice: “Weekdays are the least busy at the moment,” he said. “Nights and weekends have been very busy since we opened. We do have a few areas we will soon have available for private parties of 20 to 150 people.”