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Bibas Courtyard Grill was once on the Hale Koa Hotel’s potential closure list due to a steady stream of losses, but a committee of managers and union workers averted the crisis and realized the restaurant’s first profit.
Because of a hotel industry trend of closures involving restaurants, and food and beverage departments, some Unite Here Local 5 hotel contracts say that workers may work with managers to form food and beverage success committees. Local 5 inserted success committee language into the Hale Koa Hotel contract in 2013 after hearing from management in 2012 that Bibas had lost $703,000 and that the hotel wanted to close it.
Bibas workers knew a closure wasn’t an idle threat because in 2007 the hotel closed the Hale Koa Room, an underperforming fine-dining restaurant. All former Hale Koa Room workers were offered jobs at other departments, said Bibas General Manager Greg Lau.
However, Lau said there was a chance this time that other hotel venues would not have been able to absorb all of Bibas’ 60 union workers.
“The Hale Koa Hotel’s overall food and beverage was profitable, but Bibas was a lag on profitability,” said Kevin Dugan, Hale Koa food and beverage manager. “Bibas was losing money big time to the tune of three-quarters of a million a year.”
In June 2013, the Hale Koa’s success committee, comprising up to 14 union workers and managers, started meeting monthly under the oversight of the Federal Mediation &Conciliation Service.
“Basically, we had two ways to increase business other than cutting staff,” said Peter Gary, Hale Koa’s human resources director. “We could get more people to walk through the door or get those that do to spend more. The team did both.”
In 2014, the committee supported hiring executive chef Mark Tsuchiyama, a local celebrity chef with former ties to the Hualalai Resort. From October 2015 to February 2017, the committee determined how to invest $200,000 to improve the property’s indoor and outdoor experience. Committee members also made menu revisions, pushed for better marketing, increased customer service and sales training, and worked on improving morale.
“We learned that management and the union had to work together to make Bibas a success,” said Earlaina Samson, a union committee member who has worked at the Hale Koa for 43 years. “They listen to us. We listen to them.”
Bibas made its first profit in December 2015 and, thanks to ongoing committee efforts, has remained stable, Dugan said. The committee now wants to work on improving performance at Koko at Kalia and Warriors Lounge.
Jack Kapua, a committee member who transferred to Bibas after the Hale Koa Room closed, said the process has led to greater trust and smoother negotiations.
“We feel like we have more control over our fate,” said Michael Cervantes, a union committee member who has worked at the Hale Koa for three years.
That’s why union members are pushing to expand the program to three other hotel operations. They also are focused on sharing their story like they did in May when they participated in a federal webinar highlighting Bibas’ turnaround.
“We’re hoping that our story will help other hotels so that they can maintain jobs for their workers, too,” said Linda Nakagawara, a union committee member who has worked at the Hale Koa for 22 years.
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