Y. Hata starts restaurant supply business
The ChefZone, a restaurant supply store, will open Wednesday with a 9 a.m. blessing.
The store is the creation of Russell Hata, chairman and CEO of 101-year-old, three-generation Hawaii wholesale company Y. Hata & Co.
“We created ChefZone because Hawaii did not have a service specifically targeted at a growing segment of our food industry such as independent restaurants, pop-ups, caterers and food trucks,” he said in a statement.
The 45,000 square-foot facility at 2888 Ualena St., in the airport area, stocks more than 6,000 products, from fresh meats and produce to tableware and kitchen equipment.
ChefZone’s hours of operation will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays.
Membership is free to anyone with a General Excise Tax license and federal tax ID number, and sign-ups can be completed at the store, or online at www.chefzone.com/apply.
Utility to widen demand response program
Hawaiian Electric Co. said it is looking for companies to help expand its demand response program, by which customers grant the utility limited control to temporarily reduce electricity use in homes or businesses in exchange for lower-priced electricity or cash incentives.
Interested companies should provide data on their level of interest, expertise and experience in executing demand response programs. The deadline for interested companies to respond is December 15.
CORRECTION: The deadline for companies to respond to the demand response program is Dec. 15. An earlier version of this brief said the deadline was in December 2015.
Drop in euro’s value could stoke tourism
FRANKFURT, Germany >> If that creme brulee in a Paris cafe seems a bit cheaper for U.S. tourists next summer, they might have the European Central Bank to thank for it.
Economists are lowering their forecasts for the value of the euro on expectations that the ECB will make good on its promises to provide more support to the eurozone economy if it needs it. Central bank stimulus tends to weigh on a currency. Ultimately the euro’s drop itself could be the biggest boon to the economy as it helps exporters and encourages tourism.
Apple due in court for iPod antitrust suit
SAN FRANCISCO >> After nearly a decade in legal wrangling, a billion-dollar class-action lawsuit over Apple’s iPod music players heads to trial Tuesday in a California federal court. A key witness will be none other than the company’s legendary late founder Steve Jobs, who will be heard in a video deposition.
Attorneys for consumers and electronics retailers claim Apple Inc. used software in its iTunes store that forced would-be song buyers to use iPods instead of cheaper music players made by rivals. The software is no longer used, but the plaintiffs argue that it inflated the prices of millions of iPods sold between 2006 and 2009 — to the tune of $350 million. Under federal antitrust law, the tech giant could be ordered to pay three times that amount if the jury agrees with the estimate and finds the damages resulted from anti-competitive behavior.
Factories hummed more quietly last month
WASHINGTON >> U.S. factories were slightly less busy in November, as production and hiring slowed, though the level of activity remained strong.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Monday that its manufacturing index slipped to 58.7 last month from 59 in October. Any reading above 50 signals expansion. October’s figure matched a three-year high reached in August.
Manufacturing has been a key driver of growth this year in the U.S., even as it has fallen off overseas.
Factories in China, the world’s second-largest economy, are barely growing, according to a survey released Sunday by the bank HSBC Corp. And a European manufacturing index fell to 50.1 in November, the lowest in 17 months and just barely in expansion territory.
Hispanics recruited for Obamacare rolls
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. >> Between the avocado and grapefruit displays, Adolfo Briceno approaches customers in the bustling Hispanic supermarket to ask whether they have health insurance.
Turn left at the bucket of flower bouquets, he tells dozens of shoppers on a recent Saturday, to spot the table covered with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina logo and its Spanish-speaking agent.
A local Mexican music radio station is doing a live remote broadcast from outside the grocery and periodically mentioning Blue Cross, backing up a line of people curious about coverage in front of the harried agent.
Such atypical approaches to selling health insurance policies are playing out across the country since the second round of enrollment under the federal Affordable Care Act opened in November.
Insurance companies and some states are focusing heavily on signing up eligible Hispanics, a group that accounts for a large share of the nation’s uninsured.
ON THE MOVE
Hawaii Energy has announced the following new promotions:
» Joe Simpkins to program operations manager. He previously retired from the Navy after a 33-year career that brought him to far-off places such as Moscow and Baghdad.
» Michael Chang to chief innovations architect and technology director. He previously served as an account executive and commercial energy efficiency program manager for Hawaiian Electric Co. as well as a performance contracting account executive, service manager and Honolulu branch manager for Johnson Controls.
Porter McGuire Kiakona & Chow has announced that Kainui Smith has been hired as an associate attorney practicing law in the areas of construction and commercial litigation as well as community association. Prior to joining the firm, Smith was a judicial law clerk in Hilo.
Hawaiian Host has hired Jolanta Siwik as regulatory and innovation manager. She has 14 years of experience in the field of food safety and quality assurance, including previously serving as a food safety director for Adams & Brooks.
