Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 34, Number 7, 1 July 2017 — Acai bowls to satisfy your ʻono [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Acai bowls to satisfy your ʻono

ByTreenaShapiro At Mo 'Ono Hawai'i, an aeai bowl food truck on Maui, you ean get your aeai topped with papaya or served in a papaya. "We make custom aeai bowls to everyone's 'ono, or everyone's craving," says Toni Matsuda, eoowner of Mo 'Ono. "We have liliko'i butter, we have mango, we have blueberries, we have peanut butter - that's my favorite." The wide array of toppings is a good way to get a taste of Maui. Ku'ulei Hanohano, the other half of the 100 percent wāhineowned business, notes that most of the fresh ingredients are locally sourced. "We purchase a lot of our fruits from different loeal vendors

and hit up a lot of farmer's markets, especially in the central area," she says. They buy their poi directly fromkalo farmers: Ola Mau Larms, in Waihe'e, and Nohana Larms in Waikapū. Hanohano, 27, and Matsuda,

25, both Kamehameha Schools Maui graduates, started thinking about an aeai bowl business back in high school because the frozen, fruit-topped concoctions could be found all over O'ahu but almost nowhere on Maui. In college, they

brought their idea to life, making and delivering aeai bowls to friends and family. "It all started as a side cash thing," explains Hanohano. "We were both going to college, with typical eol-

lege lives, pretty broke, not mueh funds," describes Hanohano. "It pretty mueh got us through college and onee we had both graduated, SEE MO '0N0 HAWAI'I ON PAGE 24

Find Mo 'Ono Hawai'i and other food trucks at 591 Haleakala Highway in Kahului. - Photo: Kaipo Kī'aha

we decided to take it on full-time." While a brick and mortar shop is the goal, starting out as a food truck made more sense. "At the time, food trucks were pretty big so it seemed like the perfect solution to start a small business, especially with just two people and little funds," says Matsuda. Their current food truck is a relatively recent acquisition. They started using it to sell their aeai bowls back in January, at a food truck park at 591 Haleakala Highway. Prior to that, they had been using a trailer that Hanohano's cousin built for them and Matsuda's father outfitted with electricity and plumbing. The 5-foot by 10-foot trailer was cramped but they did the best they could, saving until they were able to expand. "Our product really took off," says Hanohano. "We needed facilities and equipment to keep up with the demand." The Mo 'Ono owners had their eyes on a used food truck they saw advertised on Craigslist but the asking price was far out of their reach. They tried applying for a bank loan but were turned down for being too young and too inexperienced. OHA's Mālama Loan Program, however, whieh supports Native Hawaiian entrepreneurs, approved them for a low-interest $20,000 loan. They used half of it as a down payment for the food truck - the sellers were willing to accept payment in installments - and the rest to buy commercial grade equipment to accommodate their growing customer base. Neither Matsuda or Hanohano studied business in college - Matsuda's bachelor's degree is in social work, Hanohano's in education and peaee and conflict resolution. But neither has any regrets about their course of study, or about starting Mo 'Ono from scratch. "Nobody in my family is a business owner. Now I know business owners, but there was no model for us to go after in our family," says Hanohano. "For us to be able to make things up as we go is hard, but it's definitely rewarding." ■

MO '0N0 HAWAI'I Continued from page 9