Keanuenue Kekaula’s recipe for entrepreneurial success is simple: Combine six cups of innovation, eight cups of ingenuity, a half-gallon of grit and a four rounded cups of resilience and steep in Hawaiian values.
Over the past 14 years, the owner of Pomai Kūlolo LLC used this recipe to parlay a roadside kūlolo stand into a thriving business that sells its kalo products – including kūlolo, poi and “haulolo” (a combination of haupia and kūlolo) – at farmers markets and supermarkets statewide!
“We started off making a batch of kūlolo and selling it over the weekend,” Kekaula said. “Now we’re producing somewhere around 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of kūlolo a week and another 1,000 pounds of haupia products a week. I think at our peak we were producing about 13,000 pounds of poi a week!”
Pomai Kūlolo is named after Kekaula’s brother Pomai whose kūlolo recipe served as the catalyst for the flourishing enterprise. The family business has grown to include Kekaula siblings Keanue, Rose and Ashlin.
The Kekaulas credit their mother for teaching them how to cook. The former latchkey kids would come home from school to find dinner ingredients on the kitchen counter. Over the phone, their mother would walk them through the food prep. Eventually, they were able to make simple dishes like chili, goulash and spaghetti.
The Kekaulas not only prepare food to nourish their ‘ohana, but the lāhui as well. Over the years, they have cultivated relationships with nine local kalo farmers helping their businesses blossom.
“The most fulfilling part of being a business owner is knowing that we’re doing our part to perpetuate our Hawaiian culture by feeding our people poi… I think that the future for kalo is very bright. I don’t know if there are many who share my sentiment, but I believe that we can get it back to where it once was where kalo filled everywhere! We can grow a real industry and take it global. And so my vision for the future is basically ‘Poi to the World!’
“Although we come from a small isolated rock in the middle of the ocean I think that our ancestors would want us to contribute to the world and to show that Hawaiians are a powerhouse; that we are a people that are forward-thinking. We have a lot to contribute to the world – not just ‘ukulele, not just surfing, not just hula – but we have so much more to share as a people than the world really knows.”
