Permanent shutdown of Waialua kitchen foils farmers

Two decades after Waialua Sugar Co. closed, its old mill building on Oahu’s North Shore still bustles —with small businesses such as surfboard shapers, food producers and craft makers. But one government-­backed venture established there to help support former plantation workers isn’t so fortunate.

Waialua Community Kitchen was forced to shut down in June over what some thought was a correctable permit problem.

But now there are no concrete plans to reopen the facility that helped area farmers turn crops into higher-value products and served as an incubator that produced bigger companies, though some former tenants are holding out hope for a resurrection.

“This has all been a big surprise and disruption to our small businesses,” Jeanne Vana, a Waialua tomato farmer and one of about 70 full- or part-time users of the commercial kitchen, said in an email to a nonprofit that had been operating the facility. The nonprofit, Empower Oahu, recently decided it wasn’t feasible to correct the problem and keep the kitchen open.

The problem is use of a cesspool on the property that the state Department of Health said was never approved for use by the kitchen, which opened in 2003 in a former office building at the mill complex.

DOH issued a citation to landlord and former Waialua Sugar owner Castle & Cooke in May, informing the company that the kitchen, which was established with state and federal assistance, never got clearance to dispose of wastewater in the cesspool.

The citation also said food trucks were discharging wastewater into the kitchen’s cesspool and another old mill cesspool serving Haleiwa Service auto shop without DOH approval.

Castle & Cooke advised Empower Oahu in June that using the cesspool further would violate state law.

“Please be advised that the commercial kitchen should not be utilized under any circumstance, and must remain closed, until you can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Department of Health Wastewater Branch that wastewater treatment and/or disposal is in compliance with (the law),” Castle & Cooke said in a letter.

Janice Okubo, a spokeswoman for DOH, explained that it was the property owner’s responsibility to upgrade the wastewater system when the intended use of the cesspool changed from office to food service.

“The current wastewater system is not built to accommodate food service establishment activities,” she said.

Empower Oahu, which took over management of the kitchen three years ago from another nonprofit that started it, Friends for Waialua Town, looked into installing a septic system but determined the investment wasn’t feasible because Castle & Cooke wasn’t willing to offer more than month-to-month lease terms.

“It doesn’t make sense,” said Jeffrey Alameida, Empower Oahu’s executive director. “It’s unfortunate. There is such a need for a commercial kitchen.”

Alameida said a septic system would cost $30,000 to $40,000 and could be a wasted investment if Castle & Cooke or a future owner of the property decided they no longer wanted the kitchen as a tenant.

John Hirota, the kitchen’s manager, said the operation was financially marginal, sometimes breaking even and sometimes losing money.

“We operate on a shoestring budget,” he said. “It’s not sustainable.”

The kitchen was established as a community resource at an affordable cost that is now around $400 a month for full-time users. Hourly rates also were available.

Hirota said there were only about 10 full-time users, mainly food trucks and caterers, and that users found alternate kitchen facilities.

But Vana, who operates North Shore Farms and made items including green tomato pies, pesto and mozzarella cheese in the kitchen, said alternate facilities aren’t ideal and are only temporary. She also said the kitchen in Waialua is needed to support farmers in the area, which was the primary purpose when the area’s largest employer, Waialua Sugar, shut down in 1996.

“We are all extremely concerned over the potential economic threat and further demise to our farming community and food establishments,” she said.

Added Edith Ramiscal, a director of the Waialua Farmers Co-op, which runs a farmers market at the mill, “(The) kitchen is an important part of developing new products from produce grown by Waialua farmers. They are hoping the situation will be resolved.”

Vana is hopeful that some entity is willing to invest in a septic system and that perhaps another nonprofit would manage the facility even if Castle & Cooke only offers a month-to-month lease. She’s more concerned, however, that reopening the kitchen will be harder if Empower Oahu follows through on plans to get rid of all the equipment, much of which was acquired using a $100,000 federal grant.

Alameida said most of the equipment is leased and will be returned to its lessor. He added that Empower Oahu is going to be dissolved in the next few months.