Maui Business

The aftermath of a kona low storm in December had extended impacts on Maui where Pacific Media Group operates a network of radio stations and other digital media products.  

The Hawaiʻi State Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Business Registration Division reminds businesses to file their annual business reports. 

The new Hula Badger IPA will be available at Koholā Brewery and select retailers on Maui throughout the tournament, and the week following, until supplies last. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Maui United Way and their 39 partner agencies. The 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions gets underway on Thursday, Jan. 5.

Naomi Cooper will assist the Maui Hotel & Lodging Association with its communication and education efforts to its membership and the Maui County community.

For the new two-year term, the Maui County Farm Bureau retained eight directors and elected two new directors including Ethan Romanchak and Theresa Thompson. Warren K. Watanabe is the executive director.

Werner, Moreno and hundreds of other Maui Health System frontline health care workers and supporters rallied for better pay during an event Thursday evening along Kaʻahumanu Avenue in Kahului. The informational rally continues from 4 to 6 p.m. today fronting old Kahului Shopping Center.

The recently passed $1.7 trillion Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations bill includes several initiatives to strengthen Hawaiʻi’s dominant tourism and small business economies and assist Hawai’i workers with their retirements.

“While we may experience a slowdown in the US visitors coming into 2023, we hope that more international visitors will be coming in the new year and our tourism recovery continues in 2023. We expect full tourism recovery in 2025,” said DBEDT Director Chris J. Sadayasu.

The first Core Four Business Planning series of 2023, offered by Maui Economic Opportunity’s Business Development Center, begins Tuesday, Jan. 3, at MEO.

The Kahului drive-in, founded by Maui’s Yoshizawa family in the early 1960s, put breaded teriyaki on the map. More than a half century later, Cupies is still known for that sweet-and-savory plate lunch, along with its crinkle-cut fries, burgers, shakes and other old-school local favorites. 

A panel of local business leaders selected Steenberg’s Mālama Speech Therapy Services, LLC, plan for the top grant out of 37 submissions in the contest run by MEO’s Business Development Center. 

Maui County hotels led the state in November 2022 with revenue per available room of $351 and average daily rate at $538, but lagged in occupancy at 65.2%.

The Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center has four new tenants featuring local and sports apparel in time for the holidays.

The Maui Innovation Summit was specifically for entrepreneurs looking for research and development funding vehicles for their technology-based ideas.

Hawaiian Electric recently donated $15,500 to Ke Kula ‘O Pi‘ilani to support the school’s innovative program that integrates modern science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with traditional Hawaiian knowledge and ‘āina-based learning. 

Honolulu County remains the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 3.8%, with the Big Island at 4.1% and Kaua’i at 4.4%.

Fukushima Store owner George Fukushima, whose parents started the store more than a half century ago in Haʻikū, said he is not doing media interviews. He reluctantly agreed to a brief statement. “On Dec. 23, we will close for the holidays,” Fukushima told Maui Now on Tuesday. “We will decide after that.”

The Westin Maui Resort & Spa, Kā‘anapali has launched “When the Shadows Fall,” celebrating the Polynesian medicinal plant known in Hawai‘i as ‘awa.

Lance Parker is a 28-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry.

Starting Tuesday, Dec. 13 and ending on Christmas Eve, guests can enter for a chance to win prizes from several retailers and restaurants. The Shops will select and announce one winner each day.