A year into its life as a new, wholesale membership store focused on the food service industry, ChefZone is bringing an oldie-but-goodie back to life: Executive Chef.
The beloved, 35-year-old cookware-and-more store at Ward Warehouse abruptly shut its doors in September, and later “we bought the Executive Chef name,” said Russell Hata, president of ChefZone.
The thought of keeping the name alive made Executive Chef founder Jim Russo happy, Hata said.
The company is a division of Y. Hata & Co., and Hata is chairman, president and CEO of the parent company, a multigenerational Hawaii business. Of the three largest food service distribution companies in Hawaii, “we’re the only local one,” Hata said.
Executive Chef’s fixtures, furniture and excess inventory also were part of the deal, and some of it already is up and in use, or for sale, at ChefZone.
Bereft Executive Chef shoppers will be able to find familiar brands of knives at ChefZone, for instance.
To be called “Executive Chef at ChefZone,” branding elements and signage will start going up and will be fully in place for a big special event March 3, the 102nd anniversary of the founding of Y. Hata.
ChefZone did not plan a first anniversary of its own December grand opening because “this is a busy time of year” for key clientele, Hata said.
In its first year, however, ChefZone has been well received by those clients.
“The reception has been really great. … All kinds of (chefs) are coming,” he said, rattling off highly recognizable names such as Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi, Russell Siu, George Mavrothalassitis and Michelle Karr-Ueoka. “They love it,” Hata said.
While counting culinary glitterati among its customers is cool, many unsung heroes make up the bulk of ChefZone clientele, from mom-and-pop restaurants to food service staffers of nonprofits and elder-care facilities, and more.
It is a membership store, and membership is free for “Ohana Members” who are not industry-connected, but late next year a nominal fee may be instituted, Hata said. Ohana Members generally are people who shopped at the Y. Hata location on Sand Island Access Road. While that facility remains, it is no longer open for walk-in business since ChefZone opened.
Industry purchases comprise 75 percent of ChefZone revenue, while the other 25 percent are from Ohana Members, Hata said.
Products in ChefZone are available individually or by the case, such as single bottles of Sriracha or cases thereof. Products also are available in large, food- service-sized quantities, such as a 1-pound, 8-ounce can of La Choy Chow Mein Noodles measuring 19 inches around, as opposed to the much smaller cans available at retail.
A huge range of disposable ware for restaurant takeout service, catering,and more is offered at ChefZone. Hata said he wants the store to be “king” in the category.
The ChillZone at ChefZone is a bit of a mind blower.
One of its walls has glass doors that shoppers in the main store can open to access shelving stocked with various types of frozen shrimp, frozen kilos of various fruit purees or hundreds of other items. However, there is much more inside the ChillZone, which truly lives up to its name, hence the heavy coats ChefZone offers its customers to don prior to passing through the automatic doors.
Socks are definitely a good idea here, lest your toes turn to ChillZone popsicles before you get all the way through.
Inside, to name just a few items, shoppers can find wheels of Grana Padano cheese, bags of cubed cheddar cheese, Italian pork products from capicola to sopressata, slabs of beef and other meats, produce — much of it local — and locally produced tofu and related food items.
Hata’s team is working to bring more local products into ChefZone, and the company just expanded its deal with La Tour Bakehouse, which already was selling various types of its breads there.
“We thought (ChefZone) sounded like a really great concept,” said Brandon Lam, executive vice president of La Tour Bakehouse. “We didn’t really have a strong retail presence, other than a supermarket partner” and their usual farmers market appearances. La Tour Bakehouse also was interested in transitioning its will-call operation from the bakery to ChefZone for clients whose orders aren’t large enough to be delivered.
“We’re more of a manufacturing operation than retail sales, so as far as customer service, it’s better for someone else to take care of that,” and ChefZone has air-conditioned space, he said.
“A lot of our will-call customers are going to Costco, ChefZone or Y. Hata anyway,” so it made sense for La Tour Bakehouse to funnel that business through ChefZone, Lam said.
“ChefZone has been an excellent partner, allowing us to focus on our core business of manufacturing and giving our customers a place to pick up our product at a time and location convenient for them, with great customer service,” said Trung Lam, Brandon’s brother and co-owner of La Tour Bakehouse.
They have had “positive feedback” from customers, and “we also see many new small businesses carry our products, now that they are available from a vendor where they buy many of the other goods and services they need.”
Another of the Lam brothers’ businesses, La Tour Cafe, is a customer of Y. Hata and ChefZone as well, and the bakery is a Y. Hata customer. “It’s a really great relationship,” Brandon Lam said.
ChefZone
Hours:
>> 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays
>> 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays
>> 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays
>> Closed on major holidays
Phone: 852-6700
On the Net:
>> chefzone.com
>> yhata.com
>> latourbakehouse.com
>> latourcafe.com
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
