David Paul’s Island Grill in Lahaina has closed permanently, leaving about 25 employees looking for work and chef-owner David Paul Johnson location-shopping.
"We had an end-of-summer beach bash" on Sept. 1, said Johnson. "We were going to try and reopen on the 10th with a new menu concept," he said.
It didn’t happen.
The restaurant’s operating costs, for "everything" including food, insurance, electricity and rent, "increased from 17 to 25 percent in the last three years," he said.
Shareholders approached for more operating capital decided that looking for a smaller, more vibrant location was the way to go.
"Lahaina has really lost a lot of its clientele" to Wailea, he said, given the area’s newer resort and restaurant scene. As it is, September "is a really rough month in Lahaina." He was unable to go into detail about the lease for his restaurant as "we’re in negotiations" on termination terms.
The restaurant occupied nearly 8,000 square feet in Lahaina Center at 900 Front St., where its neighbors included Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Hard Rock Cafe and Hilo Hattie, among others.
The David Paul’s space was previously occupied by Red Lobster and several other restaurants, said center neighbor Randy Schoch.
Meanwhile, Schoch signed another 10-year lease for his space within the last couple of years, he said. Schoch operates five Ruth’s Chris Steak House restaurants and two Romano’s Macaroni Grill restaurants in Hawaii, and two Asian-themed restaurants on the mainland.
Restaurant competition is far from waning on Front Street, where a couple of blocks away from Lahaina Center, rock drummer and Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood opened a 10,000-square-foot restaurant named Fleetwood’s this summer.
From Johnson’s first culinary industry job in a Utah pizza parlor in the 1970s, he got hired on by Hyatt Corp. and cooked for restaurants and banquets at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki before striking out on his own and starting David Paul’s Gourmet Catering in 1980.
He opened the first David Paul’s Lahaina Grill in February of 1990 and racked up positive reviews and awards.
He then opened David Paul’s Diamond Head Grill in the Colony Surf Hotel in March 1998 to more positive reviews and culinary accolades.
A year later Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide did not renew his management contract for the Waikiki restaurant.
Johnson returned to the original David Paul’s Lahaina Grill to regroup, according to a Star-Bulletin report in September 1999.
Within months Johnson and his partner, Crazy Shirts founder Rick Ralston, sold Lahaina Grill to a Maui businessman.
After about nine years on Hawaii island, Johnson opened the new David Paul’s Island Grill 31⁄2 years ago.
"I had a really wonderful opportunity at the new Lahaina location and did relatively well," he said. "I’ve got nothing negative to say" about his experience with the restaurant. "I wish the economy had kicked in."
The new space he’d like to find is between 2,500 and 3,000 square feet, in which "I’d like to be able to do more refined yet simple bistro-style food."
His location shopping has him eyeing spots in Wailea, Honolulu and California’s Napa or Sonoma valley, where he’s long had a desire to start a business.
