Shaka Tea maker will speak at major trade show

In less than six months, Bella Hughes has gone from product launch to delivering the keynote speech at a national nutrition industry conference — and she is willing to share how she got there, to encourage others.

Hughes and her husband, Harrison Rice, launched Shaka Tea in March after more than a year spent developing their product for the commercial market. It is made from mamaki, a plant native to Hawaii whose leaves serve medicinal purposes.

Several Hawaii companies market mamaki tea, but most sell it in dried leaf form, for brewing. Shaka Tea is in the RTD, or ready-to-drink, category, and it is shelf-stable, meaning it requires no refrigeration and can last up to a year.

Hughes says it is the first RTD mamaki tea.

The product and the couple have received a great deal of coverage locally and in national trade publications, and now Hughes will join two other food-and-beverage entrepreneurs to discuss their innovations at next week’s Food Vision USA conference in Chicago.

“We’re a little shocked, pinching ourselves,” she said. The recognition is especially noteworthy, she said, for someone who is “an entrepreneur in an isolated … landmass to have the opportunity to speak at an industry event so early in the game.”

Shaka Tea is available at some 150 local stores on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii island and Kauai for $4 or less, and soon will be sold in the Pacific Northwest.

The iced tea is their second food product. With partners, Hughes and Rice established Lezzetli Ice Cream Co., which specializes in a type of chewy, taffylike ice cream popular in Turkey and “anywhere in the (former) Ottoman Empire,” she said. Based in New York, Lezzetli ice cream’s flavors include spiced date, chocolate-orange blossom, Chios vanilla and tart cherry.

Hughes and Rice developed Shaka Tea while living in the United Arab Emirates.

They regularly had mamaki shipped to them so they could make iced tea, often flavored with fruit — which spurred a light-bulb moment. “Maybe this would be a good business that would allow us to move home,” they thought. Research, development, more research, investment, and they returned to Hawaii in January, “right in time for our daughter’s first baby luau.” Son Koa is almost 4 now, and daughter Roya almost 2.

Shaka Tea is bottled in California, but the entrepreneurs are looking for a Hawaii facility to produce it in cans.

Hughes encourages other small Hawaii businesses to strive for the big time. She advises entrepreneurs to “read industry publications, be plugged in to the industry on a national scale, and whenever you see opportunities, apply, apply, apply.” Born and raised in Hawaii, she says the term “go for broke” is part of her mindset.

They took their product to the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas in June, for instance, and were part of the state-sponsored Hawaii pavilion at the 2016 Tokyo International Gift Show. Hughes also applied to be considered for a “Trailblazer” spot in Chicago, which won her that moment in the spotlight.

Among stores where Shaka Tea is sold is a new, high-end market in Waikiki. They spoke with the assistant general manager, who invited them to bring samples, and now Shaka Tea is on the shelves at Dean & DeLuca.

“We all gotta go for broke, right?” Hughes said.

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Restaurant update

The opening of TR Fire Grill in Waikiki is now set for Dec. 8, about three weeks later than mentioned in last week’s Buzz about WDI International’s planned Hawaii restaurants. Opening dates in the food industry can be somewhat fluid, given all sorts of variables.

Send restaurant news and notes to erika@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4303. Follow her on Twitter @eriKaengle