Cafe founder passing the torch

Cafe Laufer founder Cyrus Goo is giving longtime employee Melvin Avecilla a once-in-a-lifetime gift: ownership of the restaurant.

“He has been my right hand person for over 15 years, and we worked proudly together,” Goo said.

He chose to turn over Cafe Laufer to Avecilla rather than sell to recoup his investment. “Sometimes,” he said, “money is not everything.”

The cafe was named for Goo’s original business partner, whom he later bought out. “Cafe Goo doesn’t sound very European,” he said. Avecilla will keep the name going.

Goo had grown weary of working 14-hour days, seven days a week. He said his grown children sat him down to tell him to ease up and spend time with the grandchildren. He hasn’t retired, though, instead taking a job as sous-chef at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani hotel, where he worked some 30 years ago.

When Avecilla started at the restaurant, Goo’s policy was that everyone be cross-trained on how to make pastries, entrees, salads and more, so that if an item needed preparing, “nobody could say, ‘It’s not my job.” Avecilla did everything, Goo said.

The soon-to-be-new owner is understandably grateful, and is glad the restaurant will continue serving its client base. Ninety-percent of the customers are regulars and have built relationships with the staff over the years. “They’re like family and friends,” Avecilla said.

Avecilla graduated from the culinary program at Leeward Community College, then worked at Alan Wong’s Hawaii Regional Marketplace at the old Liberty House at Ala Moana Center before joining Cafe Laufer.

Since Goo returned to the Princess Kaiulani in January, Avecilla has been heading up day-to-day operations at Cafe Laufer.

He plans some changes, though some dishes will never leave the menu, such as the popular Chinese chicken salad and some of the sandwiches. “And the signature desserts that we came up with, like the banana Oreo cake, those aren’t going anywhere,” Avecilla said.

“Once the transition comes along, I plan on putting some new breakfast items, like omelets and probably hotcakes and stuff,” and as such, he plans on opening a little earlier.

He’s already there early every day, making bread, pastries, muffins, Danishes, scones, cakes and more.

He also plans as many as 10 lunch specials and 10 dinner specials each day, “because many of my repeat customers come every day, and I try to keep it fresh for them, every day, something different, something new.”

Newly hired or promoted kitchen staff will continue to be cross-trained, maintaining Goo’s philosophy of having many hands to make for light work.

“Right now I’m training a guy who started out as my dishwasher. He wants to learn pastry, and he’s helping me with sandwiches and salads,” Avecilla said. “That’s why I tell entry-level (hires) this is the perfect place, because you can cross-train so you learn the best of both worlds.”

Cafe Laufer accepts culinary interns from high schools and colleges, “and if they work out, I offer them a job,” Avecilla said.

“People helped me out when I first started, and I want to give back.”

Goo said the business is in the last phase of the changeover. Meanwhile he still works long days, assisting the executive sous-chef with the hotel’s food and beverage operations. But his workdays of 10 to 12 hours are shorter than they were at Cafe Laufer, and he gets two days off every week.

He spends one of those off days at Cafe Laufer, though, to give Avecilla a chance to sleep in.

“When he comes in I take a little break,” said Avecilla, who still maintains a seven-day-a-week schedule, the same as his predecessor.