Latest / Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation / Giving Back to Hawaii One Box of Chocolate At A Time - The Story of Hawaiian Host With CEO Keith Sakamoto

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Giving Back to Hawaii One Box of Chocolate At A Time - The Story of Hawaiian Host With CEO Keith Sakamoto · Hawaii Travel Podcast by Hawaii’s Best: Plan a Better Hawaii Vacation

• 0:01
  Keith Sakamoto: Little kicking back. Yeah, everything is gonna be
• 0:03
  Bryan Murphy: okay. Yeah, everything's gonna be okay. Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I think I think that that goes back to the legacy of the brands and you know, the the chocolate that we use is still the White House is one of the most iconic Hawaiian brands, at least that I can think of. When you think of Hawaii and you bring something back from Hawaii, chances are, you're bringing back a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. And Keith Sakamoto is the CEO of Hawaiian hosts. And this was an on location conversation that I got to have with Keith, at their corporate office in Honolulu, and we talked about leadership entrepreneurialship and obviously we talked about Hawaiian hosts and chocolate covered macadamia nuts and all about all their amazing products. What was also cool about this conversation was I got to learn more about how Hawaiian host is supporting the local people of Hawaii and across Off the islands. So, this is one you're not gonna want to miss. Stay tuned. Let's cue the
• 1:08
  Hawaii's Best: Aloha. Welcome to Hawaii's Best podcast. Learn the stories behind Hawaii's Best experiences, influencers and businesses. Discover everything that makes Hawaii the Aloha state. And now your host, Brian Murphy.
• 1:24
  Bryan Murphy: Aloha and welcome back to another episode of Hawaii's Best you got episode eight. And today we are talking with Keith Sakamoto from Hawaiian hosts, and I can't wait for you to hear the rest of that conversation that I got to have with him in Honolulu and Hawaii's Best We exist to simply share the best from Hawaii and we get to hear from people like Keith and other local businesses who are making an impact globally. And also we get to hear the story and the people behind some of these brands. This conversation with Hawaiian hosts was so much fun. I can't wait for you hear the rest of it. Before we do that, I want to ask you to hit this subscribe button. Drop a comment below, leave a review, let us know what you think of the show. And that just helps other people be able to find Hawaii's Best on iTunes on Spotify or whatever, to be able to find the show just like you have. So thanks for considering to do that. And right now we're going to head on over and talk story with Keith Sakamoto from Hawaii knows.
• 2:36
  Keith Sakamoto: First of all, I just want to say aloha Brian, it's great to have you here visiting with us in Hawaii and host Yeah, in our in our plant in office. And yeah, I'm happy to be talking with you. I'm My name is Keith, and I'm the CEO of the company, and I've been in the seat for the CRC for let's see, it's been since 2011. so special. years. Okay, but I've been with the company going back to 1994 Oh, so almost 25 years. Yeah. Which is quite amazing to me because it's just really blown by. Yeah. But it's been a great experience for me. And, you know, I call myself when people actually asked me what my title is I joke about it. I see I'm the person with the thicker skin. So the CEO has to be Yeah, but um, but no, it's it's a great company to work for. You know, we have such tremendous heritage and legacy going back. You know, we trace our roots all the way back to 1927. And, you know, it was a, it actually, the story starts with a small story in downtown Honolulu, going back to 1927 called Ellen di candies. Eventually that story moves to kind of key to ninth Avenue and wildlife and continues on until into the sixth In the meantime, in the 50s, on Maui, the tacky tiny family starts to develop chocolate macadamias. And they had a whole business, very entrepreneurial family, a real diversified conglomerate, and I can tell you more about that. But the family started doing this as another part of its business. Then part of the family one of the next generation brought the company to Honolulu. And then found that acquired Ellen di, oh, and this is in 1960. Okay, actually, coincidentally, Ella and I had our really been dipping chocolate macadamias going back a number of years but from Maui they've had their formula and they created the name Hawaiian host on it and and then started out with the product started selling to tourists. And then there's this is that The beginning of the jet age and it just kind of I mean, took off. Yeah. But it took off and, you know, with the tourism in Hawaii and, and the product took off and, you know, Memorial Kitani was this next generation Teton, you brought it to Honolulu. He was into figuring out business and automation. You know, the expanding the brand name expanding markets and eventually built up the company significantly, and to what, you know, Hawaiian hosts has become in terms of a very well known brand today. Yeah, yeah. So that's kind of the short story.
• 5:46
  Bryan Murphy: legacy and our roots. I love to go back just maybe briefly back in 94. You came on with the company and love to hear from your perspective, maybe some of the roles that you came on for and then what is it In your experience now CEO but working, obviously, there's, there's a lot of loyalty and you're still here. So what was what has been your experience working with Hawaiian Host?
• 6:11
  Keith Sakamoto: Yes, I feel I feel very, very fortunate and blessed to have joined this company. I didn't think I would be someplace for 25 years. But yes, it's worked out that way and very happily for me. Originally, my background is in finance. And I actually started as a CPA, I went to the univer. Going, going back further. Yeah, I went to the University of Hawaii, as an undergrad got on in accounting. Got my CPA work for a public accounting firm. It used to be called Coopers and Lybrand. And today, it's called PwC, you know, after mergers, and so forth. After five years, I figured out that wasn't my life's calling. So then that's why I went to grad school and then tried to change my course. Got into finance and investment stayed in the financial area, found the job got connected with someone back in Hawaii and found a job became a CFO for that company kind of entrepreneurial in a technology, innovation type companies stayed there for five years, and then this opportunity came up, but because of what this opportunity offered, is what really interested me because I could get out of the financial area, okay. And it offered me the opportunity to learn about operations, sales and marketing, and you know, all the other things in business that I was actually interested in broadening You know, my background. And, you know, after getting into it, I was able to rotate in different areas and learn a lot about the different areas of the company and got familiar with it and, you know, next thing that led to the next right, yeah, just kind of kept progressing in the company. So very, very fortunate with that. And you know, the other the other great thing is that we operate internationally So, I had a lot of opportunities to actually broaden in that sense to, not just to learn about business, but to learn about a larger part of the world that was kind of beyond Hawaii. And, you know, meeting and seeing and experiencing consumers and, you know, selling of our product in these different markets and learned a lot from that, too. Yeah.
• 8:25
  Bryan Murphy: A lot. We might digress here a little bit. But as you're talking, I was thinking about this leadership, and that's huge on my heart and some of my background, who are some influencers in your life that you look up to? And because I'm sure, coming from the financial world, to this really leadership, heavy role? Mm hmm. Who are some people that you look up to and maybe aspire to and leadership?
• 8:49
  Keith Sakamoto: Yeah, I think the way I would put it is I learned from, you know, all the all the managers that I had worked with, I learned something from each and every One of them along the way. So, you know, when I started in the accounting firm, we had a, just a fantastic managing partner and who I'm still in touch with today. And he's in his mid to late 80s. And he was, he was a great mentor. His philosophy was, you know, to kind of develop people as individuals and to help them along in their careers. So it wasn't necessarily about hey, I'm just recruiting for a firm and I want you to do this enough for my firm. It is truly interested in you. Yeah. And I think that was something I picked up from him. You know, in in, when I lived in the when I went away to school, after I finished for my graduate degree, found a job in New York City and worked for at&t, okay, and was in the pension fund area. Investments, kind of a fun job, but the boss that I had there was was also terrific and I from him, kind of I learned about how to how to deal with others in a tactical way.
• 10:07
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah. And and he
• 10:08
  Keith Sakamoto: had a really good style about him and very engaging. But yeah, very good with working with people. I picked that up from him, came back to Hawaii work for an entrepreneur that, you know, is really exciting. And we're still very good friends to this day. But he was into technology learned about kind of how to how to start up businesses and pursue new ideas, all the kind of challenges Yeah, and opportunities that come up with startup experiences. Yeah. And then and then coming to Hawaii and host you know, work for a couple of CEOs here before I stepped into the seat and, you know, from each of them, I learned I learned a lot too. And, you know, they, what those CEOs did to was to take this company through certain periods of change and kind of learn about, you know, the need for Change and and and, you know really the need to open up the next chapter in the book or the history of a company and to take it to the next place because companies cannot cannot stay the same, you know they have they have to grow to sustain and to thrive. Yeah.
• 11:18
  Bryan Murphy: Speaking of change and kind of coming back to the Hawaiian host a little bit, as I'm looking at some amazing boxes of chocolates here and chocolate covered macadamia nuts, all different assortments and that is probably one type of change, product development and testing and all that. In addition to that, what are some other changes, you know, Hawaiian host has maybe ventured towards or maybe is looking towards currently,
• 11:45
  Keith Sakamoto: I think you know, that the business, your business strategy kind of drives a lot and drives change, you know, in terms of the markets you go after, and the products that you develop and development of the brand and so forth. But underlying that you need a group of people to execute the strategy and to make these things happen, right. And, to me that that's one of the more fulfilling things to me to work in and with an organization, and to go to the things that we have to do to develop as a group. So, um, you know, it's great, when we have new people coming in, and then, you know, you see people develop, and you see them contributing. And, you know, and and I think the other thing that's exciting about change with people, I mean, it's always challenges but it's such great opportunity to form a team and a kind of a high functioning team is always the goal, right? That you want to strive for. And to me that, that that's exciting and fulfilling. And it sounds like what you've already kind of mentioned, as you listen and you're constantly learning, you know, that's super important for leadership. How many people are currently employed by Hawaiian host? In the overall company? We have about 400? Wow. Yeah, that's that's mostly in Hawaii. Yeah. But we have a group in Los Angeles and then we also have a smaller group in Tokyo as well. Okay. And within Hawaii, we're on different islands as well. Okay. As far as distribution and or factories. Yes. Both that Oh, yeah. But the the biggest things in terms of employees are we have a factory here in Honolulu, right, which is our candy factory for homeboy and host chocolates. And then on the Big Island, we have the mana law company that produces the mana law products. We also have distributors on islands that we work with. Yeah. Also, in Honolulu, we have a separate location where we have our sales in district bution operation basically. Okay, you mentioned
• 14:03
  Bryan Murphy: Manohla. Mm hmm. And that was acquired in
• 14:06
  Keith Sakamoto: 2015 in February 2015. Okay, right.
• 14:10
  Bryan Murphy: And how has that been in cuz both Hawaiian has mo have such a strong brand. Mm hmm. Just walking into any ABC store and you see, boom, right there, you know, front end.
• 14:21
  Keith Sakamoto: Both. Yeah, it's been a tremendous opportunity for us. And it's been a lot of hard work, I'm sure to put everything together but it's, it's well worthwhile. You know, I think that the biggest thing for the board of directors and the executive team of the company was to bring two brands that were born in Hawaii, back to Hawaii ownership. So Hawaii host has always been under Hawaii ownership. But for mana law, it left Hawaii ownership for a period of between 1994 until 2015. Cuz they they started in like 40 Yeah, it goes back to 1946 or so. Yeah. And it was started by a company called castle and Cooke, who coincidentally my dad worked for small world, what goes around comes around. But they were kathlyn cook was acquired by Well, the the macademia portion was acquired by another local company called C Brewer, which held the macadamia nut operation for a long time. They changed the brand name to mana law, okay. And, you know, went on that way. Then, in the late 1990s. They sold two or maybe around 2000. These sold to a Venture Capital Group, which held it for three or four years, which then turned around and sold it to Hershey. Oh, the Hershey Company, okay. And Hawaiian hosted an opportunity to acquire model from Hershey from Hershey. And we'll bring it back to Yeah, like ownership. Yeah, yeah. And then you know, At some point too, I can tell you more about the ownership of 4 million homes because that is tied in to our legacy and the connection of Amman law, wine hosts and our deep roots in boy, maybe you can speak into Okay, yeah, yeah. So I can dive into that. Yeah. So the the tacky, tiny family and and the next generation that brought it to Honolulu did not have that Taki tiny family did not have any children. Okay, so what they decided to do is to basically transfer give the ownership to a trust, which would endure in perpetuity. And the beneficiary of that trust is a foundation that they also established to benefit Hawaii kids in the area of education, okay. And so that's what we're tied to, to this day. You know, we're we're a company with We operate a business, but it's owned by a trust and for the benefit of the nation. It's just a fantastic thing. Yeah. Because, you know, it ties. I mean, our brands are born in Hawaii. You know, we share, we share the experience of our brands around the world. But the benefits of that come back to the community. And then that community is part of our brand is part of a nice cycle, right, of sustainability and its own way. Yeah,
• 17:29
  Bryan Murphy: maybe we can even dive in a little bit further. And that just about supporting local and what are some ways Hawaiian hosts does that I know, through this partnership, obviously is huge, but what are some other ways,
• 17:41
  Keith Sakamoto: the other ways, which it happens is that we of course, employ right a lot of people in Hawaii right. The other part of it is that we purchase our main ingredient in Hawaii, so we actually buy macadamias on the Big Island and we purchase from About 400 farmers Wow, we have two processing plants on each one on each side of the island. So one corner and one in Hilo, and basically most, if not all of the commercial macadamias grown on the Big Island, and that's in Hawaii. And so we have these two receiving and processing plants. And you know, and we feel part of that kind of community as well in terms of extending into the farmers and working with them. Because we know that that that's part of what we do. I love that.
• 18:34
  Bryan Murphy: Maybe going back to the product a little bit chocolate covered macadamia nuts. And for me personally, someone would come back from the islands and you know, you'd be in the break room and there'd be this box of chocolate covered now you must you know been in Hawaii. You know hearing the story behind the brand is so important for people to know it's more than amazing. An amazing product was Just so important, but what would you say? In your maybe in your research in your kind of marketing? What do people love most about Hawaiian host?
• 19:09
  Keith Sakamoto: Well, I think that people when they when they experience Hawaiian hosts, they have this connection back to Hawaii. Yeah. And many of them have experienced Hawaii. And so what I think it brings back to them, is this kind of this rich indulgence and kind of a calming effect. You know, when you think about Hawaii, and you know, you talk about the wall factor, but I think it's more than our you know, yeah, factor where it's kind of a kind of brings us back Yeah, man. And I think it gives you a sense of, you know, a little kicking back. Yeah. And everything's gonna be
• 19:49
  Bryan Murphy: okay. Yeah, everything's gonna be okay. Exactly. Exactly.
• 19:53
  Keith Sakamoto: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, I think I think that that goes back to the legacy of the brands and You know, the the chocolate that we use is still the original recipe. Okay, that goes back to the 1950s Yeah. And we have you know that that original legacy going back so many years and then we also have a great group of employees who have just a lot of charity You know, that's the other kid in ingredient. I think you know, this. I think all of that is connected to and to that, that ultimate feeling that right, that we hope consumers have Yeah, when they experience the product.
• 20:32
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah. What's your favorite?
• 20:36
  Keith Sakamoto: My favorite, I have to say is still the original. The chocolate Yeah, yeah. Covered roasted macadamia and I'm, I'm I like dark chocolate. I still have a sweet tooth. And so I like I like the you know, slightly more sweetness of the milk chocolate and I like the creaminess and our our milk chocolate blend. The one that is our original goal. back to the original recipe, and it's special because of the quality of what we use. So the beans I selected Of course, but one of the secrets is that we use milk crumb in the product. So many milk chocolates today use powdered milk, okay, and so but we use fresh wholemeal that's reduced to a kind of a cottage cheese like consistency and then dried down further and that is what gets mixed in gets mixed into the milk chocolate catch formulation. Then it goes through a heavy crunching period, which is basically the refining where the chocolate formula gets pressed between large rollers and just really reduces the graininess into fine microns. And if you eat our chocolate, it's very a very fine experience. It's it's kind of that that very smooth and creamy mouthfeel which I think makes a makes a big difference. That's why that's why Yeah, this is still my favorite formula. But we of course have a lot of variations on that.
• 22:07
  Bryan Murphy: Yeah. What's maybe the the newest product that you guys maybe are looking towards or released?
• 22:14
  Keith Sakamoto: Well, what what we recently did is we we relaunched the original product as what we call the founders collection. Okay. Yeah. So what this does, this is our, this is the anchor to our premium line of chocolate. Sure. And what it does is it calls out our legacy. So it's named the you know, the memorial tukey Tawny founders collection. And this is basically this mill chocolate product is our original formulation that's put in this new package to highlight the legacy. And then along with this, you know, the rest of our premium line has this same founders collection theme, runs through Yeah, so there's the milk chocolate original milk chocolate product. We also have a dark chocolate. We have a honey glazed nut. That's chocolate covered as well. This one is also one of my favorite. Yeah, we have a white chocolate Yeah. We have a matcha covered macadamia nut chocolate product in the founders collection line also. And this one is this one would be the newest one in the product line and this one has actually taken off very well. Yeah, so these are the founders collection product, their premium because of the not only the chocolate that we use in the formulation, but also these always will have at least one home that in the product. Okay, yeah. So the original the original milk chocolate product has a hole and a half so you get a half not bonus got that kind of gives it to bite experience but the other products are one one not chocolate covered. But what that does is it gives you the right combination of not to change Talk the ratio. Okay, so you can taste a lot of nut but it's not, you know, with a chocolate, it's the perfect kind of re blend. Have you seen in different regions where there's a product that does better? Like maybe say for Japan? Is there one in Japan that or is it mainly the original milk chocolate? is pretty much across the board? No Sure. Um, I think the anchor product is is has has a general popularity across markets, and and is quite well known across many markets. But having said that there is variation between taste and appeal of other products in markets. So you know, you take the March, for example, we actually kicked that off several years ago, probably like about five or seven years ago. And of course the place to launch it is going to be in Japan, because that's where much originated and it did well there. And we tried to do introduce it here but it's a bit early, but when we launched it in the last The year and a half or so we started with a two piece offering in kind of a candy bar size. Yeah, that that did well, so we figured Okay, is a good time to launch the box product. Gotcha. And the box product came out as the founders collection.
• 25:14
  Bryan Murphy: So sometimes you'll release a bar. Mm hmm. Before you do like a box.
• 25:20
  Keith Sakamoto: Yeah, there are different ways of trialing products. So that that that's one of them. But there's also you know, things that may work in one market but may work in another market in this case, it's a nice bridging that came for Japan to the Hawaii market. Yeah. And then now matcha is becoming a known ingredient in North America as well. Yes, I think more and more people know about the, the ingredients that come from Asia and actually find it quite appealing. I mean, you talk about sushi. You know, all the Japanese food are getting known and other Asian foods throughout the country Korean food, you know, Chinese says Chinese food has always been around But yeah, there's a growing awareness. Yeah, well of Asian tastes, which is why I think the timing has been right for that kind of macho product.
• 26:09
  Bryan Murphy: I think you can correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the secret ingredients is doing this amazing business through the spirit of Aloha. Mm hmm.
• 26:20
  Keith Sakamoto: You've already spoke so much into that maybe, but maybe directly speaking to, how do you personally run this company through that spirit of Aloha, the word has kind of a broad meaning. But I think that our core, the core meaning of it is kind of the kind of a divine breath you know, it's that's why I think, you know, for the real traditional Hawaiian greeting, people will connect their faces and they almost like Touch, touch, noses and forehead, and their share, share that breath and and that breath has to do with love and affection and compassion. And I think that's, that's rooted in our In our culture here, where I think it extends into the business of the company, is in terms of the way we collaborate and work together, right? And, and strive for an openness where we're trying to all collectively do the right thing for, you know, making coin hosts successful and in turn benefiting the community as well.
• 27:23
  Bryan Murphy: Without that, if someone's coming to the islands, maybe for the first time or visit it, obviously you're gonna want to buy a box of White House that naturally. But in addition to that, what are some things in your experience because you've obviously you were born here, raised here, but you've had some experience on the mainland and now back here for many years. In your experience, what are some things that people ought to maybe be aware of coming to the islands for visit, maybe some etiquette or just like some friendly reminders or so Some tips,
• 28:01
  Keith Sakamoto: I would say, kind of be be ready to slow yourself down. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's kind of it's always difficult to explain. Because in business are pieces not slower and all of that, but I think when we were in the community and we're, you know, we're working with each other and you're interacting with others here, there's a certain kind of cordiality that you want to have and respect for, for the people. And I think I think, versus if you're coming from see a bigger, more dense urban environment where there's no time for that, right. Yeah. And that's why that's what I mean, by by the time to just kind of slow down a bit. And, and to, to kind of interact with people in a cordial way, you know, yeah. And, and if you do that the people here are very friendly. Yeah. And they'll go out of their way to help you and to go Have you experienced that today?
• 29:58
  Bryan Murphy: Just that extension of a law from you? So just thank you so much. No, not at all. Maybe if there's anything else that you would love to add on to Hawaii house, maybe what's next or? Or how people can find you?
• 30:11
  Keith Sakamoto: Yeah, well, we have we have a website. Okay. So we you can find this@www.hyken.com Yeah. So that's an easy way to find us. We do have an Instagram address. And so you can kind of follow us there. And we try to not only really emphasize our products, but also emphasize about the Hawaii experience. Just like what Hawaii's Best is, right. So the more the merrier, right? Yeah, um, yeah, so you can learn about it that way. And if you come to Hawaii, you can't help you bumped into it. But in other markets, you'll find this as well. So you can find this in if you're traveling to Japan or at many of the airports throughout Asia. We're trying to expand it to travel Retail. that's a that's a big area for us in North America where our products are seasonally in the box chocolates seasonally in certain retailers, and then we also have some everyday product mostly on the West Coast that that you should find. Okay. Yeah, perfect. If you want me to names of retailers, I could do that. But yeah,
• 31:21
  Bryan Murphy: yeah. Well, I just want to read your mission. Just before we go. I think it's just great. And I think it really kind of sums up what we talked about here and Hawaiian host. Your mission is to share the experience of aloha around the world, through our exceptional macadamia chocolate, and snack products draw from our proud heritage to demonstrate our commitment to our consumers, employees, communities and support of education and Hawaii.
• 31:48
  Keith Sakamoto: Love that. Mm hmm. And that's kind of the cycle that I was talking about. Yeah, the about having Kevin these brands And, you know, communicating those brands through the sharing that experience right through on products and in our communications with with the consumers, and then bringing all of that back to our community and sharing that benefit. Yeah, you know, with our community through through supporting education, and then tying that community back to the root of our brands. So, you know, that, that that connection with the community is a big thing for us, because it gives us a sense of purpose. So, you know, we talk about it as employees. So, you know, SLP typically men's means standard operating procedure, you know, that's the acronym, but our SLP is sense of purpose. And that sense of purpose. You know, we we talk about how what we do benefits the community and the kids in Hawaii. So there's wonderful work that the foundation is doing the Taki Tawny foundation to help Kids who may not have an opportunity otherwise, yeah, so to help kids, for example, with college camp kind of does support a college camp program that would expose kids to the university life in the University of boy Hmm. Okay. what college is like, how to apply for college? Yeah, you know, and so one of those life skills Exactly. Love that. Exactly. And so those are the kind of wonderful stories that we have. And they also have a legacy scholarship program that gives money to high performing academic kids who are in need financial aid, in order to go to college. And there's lots of wonderful stories about that to kids who could never afford to go to school, otherwise, and especially to some of these really great schools. Yeah. But the ones with broad reach are like to the community college level and, you know, he's kind of at risk. They also support at risk youth and try to push them in the direction of striving or obtaining, right, that higher level of education and that's how I think we bootstrap the whole community. And in in Hawaii, we have a lot of very low unemployment right now. It's like 2% Oh, and so is difficult to find qualified people and talent, and you know, so it all kind of ties in, you know, if we can help to provide more with if the fall through the foundation to provide more education opportunities for kids, and they can bring that back and help our community. And you know, they can fulfill a lot of the employment needs that we have going forward and create better lives for themselves. I love that passion and purpose. I'm sure for you that probably fuels a lot of what you do. Yeah, for sure. For sure. And I think for a lot of our employees, too, yeah, absolutely. I mean, we all we all have to work for a living and
• 34:51
  Bryan Murphy: yeah, and we all have to feed ourselves and our family and all of that, but there's You know, I think we all strive for a higher sense of purpose. Beyond that, and that's what I think this this kind of this kind of link to the fall through the foundation to the community provides. I love that and I think kind of circling back. Maybe Maybe next time you see a box of wine hosts sitting on your office table or your breakroom or whatever. It's important to know that that box of chocolate goes to support the local communities here, huh?
• 35:27
  Keith Sakamoto: Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, we we say something about the on the the bottom of our box. There's a story, okay, on the on the underside of the box. But it's not it's not shouted out. But I think that you know, like you. I'd like to call your consumers attention to that because that's exactly what we were talking. Yeah,
• 35:48
  Bryan Murphy: yeah. Well, great. Well, Keith, thank you so much for your time and for being on today's show. This was great. I really appreciate your time. And I know that our time is very valuable. And I appreciate that.
• 36:02
  Keith Sakamoto: Well, hello Nui to you, Brian is when, and thanks for being here. Thanks very much. Thank you. Hello,
• 36:07
  Bryan Murphy: Lola. I just want to thank Keith again for his time and just his hospitality, hearing more about the story behind Hawaiian hosts. And my biggest takeaway from my conversation was learning more about how Hawaiian hosts is involved in the local community, and is giving back in that way. And I had no idea about that. So I'm very familiar with their products, and then chocolate covered macadamia nuts. But learning more about the heart behind the brand was just really great for me, and I hope it was eye opening for you as well. So the next time you see that box of chocolates, maybe at the break room table, you can know that a portion of that purchase went to support the local communities in Hawaii. Thanks again for joining us. You're in Hawaii's Best and to stay up to date on future episodes, hit that subscribe button. And until next time be well. Aloha.
• 37:06
  Hawaii's Best: Thanks for listening to Hawaii's Best podcast. Stay up to date on future episodes be sure to hit the subscribe button and follow us on Instagram at Hawaii dot fast