Maui Business

The Hawaiʻi Bankers Association welcomes Linda Ezuka as Executive Director. She fills the vacancy left by Neal Okabayashi, who is retiring after serving as HBA’s Executive Director since June 2017.

In Kahului, the average price of $4.76 is five cents lower than last week, the same as last month and 30 cents lower than a year ago.

The Round Table Pizza franchise announced a $100,000 donation to Maui United Way to aid its ongoing recovery efforts in the wake of the catastrophic fires that swept through the island in August. The donation is the collective effort of Round Table Pizza and its franchisees, in addition to parent company FAT Brands’ charitable organization.

Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. announced the appointment of two new Independent Directors to its Board, effective Jan. 1, 2024: Catherine Ngo, a seasoned leader at the intersection of finance, technology, and law; and Maui native Ken Ota, a successful local entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the construction industry and water infrastructure. 

Central Pacific Financial Corp., the parent company of Central Pacific Bank, has appointed Robert Nobriga, effective Jan. 1, as a member of its board of directors for both companies.

Resort chick retailer, Lilly Pulitzer is now open at The Shops at Wailea. A Hawaiian blessing ceremony took place on Dec. 8 with team members and guests. 

The Hawai‘i Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Division of Financial Institutions has earned reaccreditation status for bank and mortgage supervision from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

Hana Hou Hospitality announced its Māla Ocean Tavern is set to reopen in February of 2024. The restaurant is one of five West Maui establishments run by the group, two of which were destroyed by the Aug. 8, 2023 wildfire in Lahaina.

Celebrated chef and TV personality Guy Fieri teamed up with the Hawaiʻi Restaurant Association, American Savings Bank and Fiserv, Inc., to distribute $600 prepaid debit cards to Lahaina restaurant workers who lost their job when their workplace was destroyed in the tragic wildfires on Aug. 8.

“The impact of the Maui wildfires continues to be felt in November’s figures, but with most of West Maui now reopened to tourism, there is a concerted effort to reinvigorate job opportunities and facilitate the economic recovery of Maui,” said DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka.

A collection of Aloha Airline uniforms were donated to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) Fashion and Design Merchandising (FDM) program. The uniforms will be used for research and to preserve the history of the airlines, which served in Hawaiʻi between 1946 and 2008.

In a recent Pau Hana celebration at the Kīhei Charter School, 10 graduates of the Maui Tradewinds Vocational Training and Education Program moved on to the next step in their potential Maui-based engineering careers.

The state’s minimum wage will increase to $14 per hour beginning on Jan. 1, 2024. Act 114 incrementally increases the minimum wage to $16 per hour Jan. 1, 2026, and to $18 per hour Jan. 1, 2028.

On Nov. 1, 2023, the final phases of reopening West Maui (except Lahaina) after the Aug. 8 wildfires started, resulting in increased unit night supply and unit night demand in Kā‘anapali, Nāpili and Kapalua when compared to the previous month.

Aloha Petroleum has launched a “Free Gas for a Year” sweepstakes. Now through December 31, 2023, Hawaiʻi residents can enter to win the grand prize, valued at $3,000, via the My Aloha Rewards App on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi and Maui. 

Under terms of the partnership, Meet Hawai‘i will enter in a yearlong partnership with HIS Japan, targeting HIS corporate clients to promote Hawaiʻi as a premier destination for corporate meetings, conventions and incentive travel, boosting citywide and single property bookings.

Hawaiian Telcom and its employees set a new record for their annual United Way fundraising campaign in the company’s 140 anniversary year, raising more than $210,000 for Hawai‘i’s four United Way organizations: Kaua‘i United Way, Aloha United Way on O‘ahu, Maui United Way and Hawai‘i Island United Way.  Of the total, nearly $40,000 was designated for Maui relief efforts.

For the 10th year in what has become an annual tradition, Jim Falk’s Valley Isle Motors hosted more than 200 children and their families on Wednesday and presented each child with a new bicycle and helmet as an early Christmas present. 

From a sustainable waste management system to a mental health app for parents and kids to stay in touch, over 100 teams submitted game-changing ideas, developed valuable business skills and received a chance to win up to $25,000 for their school.

Gas prices in most of Hawaiʻi dropped again over the past week and were overall lower for 2023 than last year, according to the AAA Hawaii Weekend Gas Watch.