Hawaii Island Business Report 2018
The Old Ways of Strategic Partnership
KTA Express Kealakekua and Mixed Plate Reunite Waiakea High School Classmates
One of the joys of doing business on Hawaii Island is the small town connection. While it’s the largest isle in the Hawaiian archipelago – and it’s still growing – the people of this place are all connected in one way or the other. The story of KTA Super Stores President and Chief Operating Officer Toby Taniguchi and L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Chief Operating Officer Bryan Andaya is a perfect example of this.
In April, KTA Express Kealakekua opened its doors, KTA’s first new location in 28 years. According to Taniguchi, the 13,000-square foot grocery store at 81-6602 Mamalahoa Highway was a win-win-win situation for the tenant, landlord and Kealakekua community. It all stems from the relationship between KTA Super Stores CEO Barry Taniguchi (Toby’s father) and Maui Varieties Ltd. CEO Wayne Kamitaki, who is the owner of the property.
“The key to this deal was that it was a win-win-win situation where I think the landowner, or Wayne, as well as us, the tenant, and the community could win,” explains Toby Taniguchi. “They gave us a good deal, a fair deal, and in turn we partnered with L&L, or Bryan guys, and we feel it’s a win-win situation or arrangement as well.”
Waiakea High Class of 1989 grads Toby Taniguchi, left, and Bryan Andaya. | Photography by Josh Fletcher
KTA Express Kealakekua features Mixed Plate, a new concept from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. This strategic partnership between L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and KTA Super Stores is a direct result of Taniguchi and Andaya’s friendship. The two business leaders were friends for many years, graduating from Waiakea High School in 1989.
“Well obviously, Bryan and I grew up together, went to high school together, graduated together, I knew Bryan for many years,” says Taniguchi. “I knew he was over at L&L and following their growth and development over the past several of years it seemed like it would be a great partnership for him to have a homecoming of sorts in a sense and for two local or island style brands to work together toward servicing the community.”
According to Andaya, Mixed Plate is the next iteration of the L&L Hawaiian Barbecue concept and it was created to allow customers to have choices in building a custom plate lunch. The menu is comprised of L&L favorites, but it’s being served in a similar way to a Panda Express. There is another Mixed Plate located in the Honolulu International Airport.
“So these days, time is very precious to people, especially in this segment, quick service, fast-casual segment of the restaurant industry, and so that five minutes of dead time that you basically have waiting for your plate lunch now is no longer,” says Andaya. “And the trick to all of this is to make sure that we’re not sacrificing quality, because we’ve always prided ourselves with quality and really the difference between L&L and other local food or plate lunch places is that ours is really cooked fresh, in-house, made from scratch.”
KTA Express Kealakekua is the first new KTA location in 28 years. | Photography by Josh Fletcher
The collaboration of these two local brands in KTA Express Kealakekua is a great example of the value that a strategic partnership brings to the table. Having Mixed Plate in KTA allows both companies to utilize their core competencies and each other’s strengths for a mutual benefit. According to Taniguchi, this strategic partnership started with a conversation and handshake with Andaya. And, this kind of modern partnership is an old way of doing business that harkens back to yesteryears.
“Well certainly, none of us can be experts in everything, right? And so we all bring to the table talents and different types of knowledge,” says Taniguchi of the strategic partnership with L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. “Like in days long ago, when we all rely on each other, you have some that are experts in this and I have (expertise) in something else, and when we partner together it’s synergy. It’s one plus one equals three.”
For Andaya this strategic partnership is a great honor and nostalgic because his first job was as a KTA bag boy. He thought he would be working at KTA his whole life, but he eventually went to college, law school and worked his way up to help run L&L Hawaiian Barbecue as the chief operating officer. Yet, the KTA Express Kealakekua and Mixed Plate strategic partnership is both a homecoming and dream come true for him.
“When I worked at KTA when I was 16, I thought that was it, I thought that was my career. I actually did pretty well too. I got promoted after three months to cashier and I thought I was all that,” says Andaya. “I mean, to go back and to look at where I started, it’s just an incredible feeling, and you can talk about a local boy’s dream or the American dream, but (this partnership) is definitely a dream come true.”
