Makana, a new local business, has launched with its first subscription-based care package mailing.
This month’s goodies included the debut Kupa‘aina CD, a bottle of Broke Da Face brand chili pepper water and a bag of dried apple banana slices from Kahala Fresh LLC.
Think a subscription-based Harry and David service, only local style.
Makana included a trifold leaflet to explain the products and the companies that make them to recipients who have longed for the taste and sound of home.
Co-founders Wei Fang and Kina Mahi didn’t grow up together, but had many similar life experiences, each intertwined with Hawaii.
Each of them going away for graduate school was another commonality that had them "always really cherishing when we got a care package from here. Even if it was just a little package of kaki mochi, it was super-special," Fang said.
Subscriptions start at $27 a month for 12 months prepaid, $29 for six prepaid months and $30 a month for a pay-as-you-go plan. Prices include tax and shipping.
That way, stuff you buy doesn’t languish in your car until you get the melted mac nut chocolates to the post office.
Fang would not disclose subscriber numbers, but said "about 70 percent of the purchasers are actually here in the islands, and about 75 percent of the subscriptions are being shipped to the mainland." The company also will ship to international and APO or FPO addresses.
In a couple of weeks Makana will add an $89-for-three-months option for the holidays. "We’re also going to be introducing seasonal boxes," said Fang, to include New Year’s, Mother’s Day, dads and grads, and the like.
Subscribers can always expect that of the three to five items in the box, half will be food items. "There are really great food products being produced here with ingredients grown here," Fang said. "Kina and I spend time vetting items so that you’ll never find something in the box that was simply packaged here but made elsewhere." Perishable items cannot be included "and we can’t do alcohol either," she said.
Fang and Mahi have the next few months’ boxes’ contents planned out, but as far as new vendors, "we’re always looking," she said. Vendors solicit them and send a link to their website, "and we’ll follow up with a call."
The partners’ goal is to have a balanced mix of contents in the boxes from month to month.
Customization of boxes also is in development, for, say, "boxes for men or boxes for women," Fang said. Hawaii apparel is hugely popular with expats, so "later on, hopefully the level of customization needed for shirt-size selection will be added," she said.
FUN WITH FLOWERS
A free event to promote use of local flowers and foliage is coming up from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 4 in Pearl City.
The "Buy Local for the Holidays" event is part of the state Department of Agriculture’s "Buy Local, It Matters" campaign, and will feature professional floral designers creating holiday arrangements but also will include a chance for you to create a free make-and-take arrangement. If you’re up for a local wreath-making contest, that will unfold from 11:30 a.m. Hawaii nurseries will have plants for sale, and 200 lucky folks will win a local potted plant to take home.
The floriculture frivolity unfolds at the Pearl City Cultural Center and adjacent Pearl City High School multipurpose room at 2100 Hookiekie St.
———
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
