Popular Kailua breakfast and lunch spot Moke’s Bread & Breakfast is scouting Kapolei for a second Hawaii location.

The tremendous growth of the area’s resident population as well as resorts including Aulani and the impending opening of a Four Seasons Resort are two of the reasons, said Keola Warren, son of Moke’s owners Moke and Teri Warren.

"There seems to be a lot of movement," Warren said.

In addition to all the local people and military members living and working in the general area, large numbers of visitors from Japan, Canada, Australia and other countries are choosing to stay in Ko Olina, "and that’s only going to increase once the Four Seasons opens … and there’s no mom-and-pops out there, only big boxes," Warren said.

"My mom has always instilled at the restaurant that it’s for everyone. Locals and visitors can bring their families and can be comfortable and relaxed. The whole restaurant looks like Grandma’s kitchen, soft blue colors, with knickknacks," he said.

The family-owned restaurant business is looking for a space that will seat about 80 to 85 customers, about the same size as the Kailua restaurant, which has itself expanded three times.

The difference could be in the hours of operation and, possibly, the menu. While Moke’s in Kailua is open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily except Tuesdays for breakfast and lunch, the Kapolei restaurant likely will be open longer. It likely will offer a more varied menu, but that’s still in the planning stages, Warren said. Prices "will stay in the affordable range. We want to stay accessible to everyone."

Breakfast at the Kailua Moke’s ranges from $8 to $12, he said.

Keola’s parents have always worked in food and beverage, and in fact met while working in the industry in Waikiki. Moke’s last job working for someone else in the industry prior to starting his bakery business was serving as the butcher at Halekulani for 15 years.

Originally just a bakery, Moke’s made bread for restaurants on the Windward side beginning in 1999.

When his father made deliveries early in the mornings, Keola said, "he’d see all these restaurants with lines out the door at breakfast places."

The timing was such that the bakery had reached its maximum potential, and Moke and Teri "saw the demand, and they were smart enough to see the idea for doing a breakfast concept."

So, Moke, Warren and his Uncle Geoff, a general contractor, renovated the bakery space to add restaurant equipment and seating for about two dozen customers.

"It was super small," Warren said, and it didn’t take long each morning for the waiting list for seating to fill up.

Within about a year of the launch of Moke’s restaurant operation, the man who owned the electronics repair shop next door "got a government job" and vacated his space. Moke’s got the go-ahead from the landlord to expand into the space, which increased its capacity to about 60 seats.

"That was year 11 or 10," Warren said, and then the owners of Pepino’s, the longtime Italian restaurant in the building, closed when the owners decided to retire. That was about a year and a half ago. "We were fortunate to get that final space in the building," taking the seating up to 85, "which is larger than we definitely had ever expected," Warren said.

Moke’s also has a franchised restaurant in Tokyo, through a licensing agreement. The restaurant will be 2 years old in August, and Warren leaves this week to go to Japan and see how operations are going.

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Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.