Hawaii’s first P.F. Chang’s China Bistro restaurant will shut down after 11 p.m. Dec. 9.
Near Ward Centre at the base of the Hokua tower, the restaurant’s 68 employees have been offered employment at the Waikiki restaurant, at Royal Hawaiian Center.
So far, "55 people already confirmed" that they will stay with the company, said Sherri Rigg, marketing director for PFC Hawaii LLC, a Hawaii-based company and a joint venture with P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc. The number includes full-time managers and other employees who are part time, such as servers and kitchen staff.
PFC Hawaii characterizes the move as a consolidation, as the locations are less than three miles apart.
"The timing of the closure was based on staffing needs at P.F. Chang’s Waikiki during the holiday season, providing us the ability to offer relocation opportunities to our entire Hokua staff," Greg Meier, president, said in a statement. "We believe this business decision is in the best interest of the company, our employees and guests."
Customers dining at the Hokua restaurant between Saturday and Dec. 9 will receive a discount card for 20 percent off and preferred seating at P.F. Chang’s Waikiki throughout 2013.
P.F. Chang’s gift cards, locally issued gift certificates and unexpired coupons will be honored at the Waikiki location, Rigg said.
P.F. Chang’s at Hokua opened Sept. 12, 2006, and the Waikiki location opened March 31, 2008, on the Ewa end of Royal Hawaiian Center. Restaurants planned for Kapolei and Kona never materialized.
"The day we opened (Waikiki), that was the day Aloha Airlines announced they were going out of business," Rigg said.
The airline’s demise was a key event in Hawaii’s protracted economic downturn.
The company decided to "just focus on growing the business at the Hokua and Waikiki restaurants," Rigg said.
Four years hence the Waikiki store is "doing very well and is one of the strongest in the system. By consolidating the two, our goal is to make it not just one of the strongest, but the strongest-performing P.F. Chang’s."
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro was formed in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1993 by partners Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang, who combined and simplified their names to brand the four original restaurants that later multiplied. The Americanized Chinese food restaurant now is owned by private investment firm Centerbridge Partners LP, with offices in New York and London.
CRABBY IS COOL
Honolulu’s newest crab and seafood restaurant may have a claw up on its predecessors, given its legendary location adjacent to The Willows at 901 Hausten St.
Karai Crab (karai means "spicy" in Japanese) will open its doors Tuesday with a grand opening planned for Sept. 21.
"We’ve been planning since March of this year," said General Manager Garret Kamei. He and executive chef Miles Miyamoto, formerly in that position at The Willows, came up with the idea while traveling the West Coast, finding themselves wondering why there were no such eateries in Honolulu.
"That’s when we started our planning … and during this process all these locations started opening up," Kamei said. Three were reviewed by this publication in mid-August, f’rinstance, not to mention food trucks also serving up crustacean delights.
"It would have been nice to be one of the first," Kamei said, but the great response and good reviews from the public show there is a market for such a restaurant concept.
Diners will pick a seafood, a sauce choice and a spice level, which will range from mild to medium (think cayenne) to spicy (habanero-hot) to extra spicy, for which Ghost Peppers (aka Bhut Jolokia, the world’s hottest pepper), will be used.
Another way Karai Crab will work to differentiate itself is by offering more sauce varieties, vegetarian options, the option to order anything on the menu for takeout a la plate lunch, and by minimizing landfill-filling waste.
During their travels Kamei and Miyamoto were struck by the landfill impact of the huge bundles of butcher paper, plastic bags and styrofoam containers servers would clear from the tables and throw in Dumpsters.
Seafood served at Karai Crab will arrive in compostable bags or washable bamboo bowls; beverages will be served in glassware; and takeout containers will be biodegradable.
"Over 90 percent" of the nonfood items will be "green," biodegradable or otherwise environmentally conscious.
Karai Crab will operate from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily except for major holidays, given how busy The Willows’ kitchen is on those days, Kamei said.
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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
