Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 11, 1 November 2000 — ʻAunty Nonaʻs' is a busy kitchen on Hawaiian homelands on Molokaʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ʻAunty Nonaʻs' is a busy kitchen on Hawaiian homelands on Molokaʻi

By Caitriona Kearns BACK IN the 1940s on Moloka'i on a Hawaiian homelands farm lot, nine daughters born to Edwin Ka'awa's grandmother were quick to leave home in fear that they would be put to work in the fields. Today, Edwin's wife, Nona Ka'awa, is mnning a snack food and catering business from the family homestead, satisfying the appetite of many locals who savor her

carefully chosen recipes. She hopes her business ventures will help bring people back to Moloka'i by improving the economy.

rive years ago, Ka'awa originally conceived the idea to start a catering business. She tumed a hobby into a viable business doing what

sne tiKes to ao ana does well. "For almost 30 years, I enjoyed cooking, creating things, and participating in community food sales and fairs. I could see around here that we have a community of farmers with a lot of produce. You ean only eat so mueh. I thought I'd go into business fo help use some of the fmits and vegetables that are around us," she said. "Moloka'i is so aloha, you eome home and there's

bananas or cucumbers in the garage. You never know who its from. I piekle, and thought maybe I could do this as a business and still get produce from the farms and market them." Ka'awa says starting a business was challenging. "So many of us just give up because there is so mueh paperwork. You deal with the Department of Hawaiian Homelands, the Department of Heahh and Maui County. That's so mueh red tape but it was not going to stop me. When I first started I had this idea. Yet I

didn't know where to begin. I called the Department of Eeo- % nomie Development.

They were very good to me, sent me all kinds of pamnh1pts anH hrnphnrpc that T

read up on — things that were necessary. Whenever I had a question, I would eall their 1-800 number. That's where my

beginning was." Getting started and getting an $18,000 loan from OHA was a long process but she says it was worth it. "Where ean you get a 3 percent loan?" she asked. "To me, pahenee pays off." Luckily Ka'awa's husband is handy and was able to build her certified kitchen, whieh left more of the loan for cash-flow when she opened the business.

"The bottom line is you have to have capital when you start. My loan was for $18,000 to renovate and buy equipment. Of the total loan I put away $5,000 for capital to buy my supplies that kept me going. I also was very careful to replenish my fiinds." Aunty Nona's has been operating for over three years. In the beginning she marketed the food service to every business on Moloka'i, but when she started getting orders from all over the island, she could not keep up with it, and had to lower her expectations by cutting back on the operation. Today, she gets catering orders from the hospital, businesses, community meetings and school

reunions. "I don't do any marketing anymore, they just eall. I have to turn down work and generally refer it to others in the community. I know my limit," Ka'awa said. Everyday she prepares snack food for the convenience store at the Rawlins Chevron station and Tuesdays for the Kualapu'u Market. She gets up at 4 a.m. and works a minimum of six hours a day between preparation and cooking. In July, August and September, she catered two to three events a week putting many more hours into her business. Ka'awa's advice to others thinking of starting their own business: "you just have to stick to your guns and do it." ■

Winona Ka'awa with her husband, Edwin, at her certified kitchen in Ho'olehua.

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