Kelvin Ro’s donation helps keep Culinary Institute on track

For more than 20 years, chef Kelvin Ro has been a primary fundraiser for the Culinary Institute of the Pacific’s efforts to build a new campus and restaurant on the slopes of Diamond Head.

That’s a lot of time, a lot of toil devoted to asking other people to lay their money on the line.

This year, Ro said, he’s putting up some cash of his own — $1 million, part of it to be paid directly by him, the rest out of the profits of his business, Diamond Head Market & Grill.

“I felt it was important to put my money where my mouth is. I wanted to show my true commitment to completing this mission by putting in my own money.”

Ro, a part-time employee of the culinary institute and full-time owner of the Kapahulu market and restaurant, is to be recognized by the University of Hawaii system at a reception this afternoon on the new CIP campus.

Ro’s donation helps the program meet a contingency set by the Legislature when it appropriated $20 million to the project last year, said Conrad Nonaka, director of the culinary institute. The funds were set aside with the requirement that the school raise $10 million to bolster the project, Nonaka said.

Although other donors have given at the million-dollar level and above, to have such a large amount come from within the program makes a statement, he said.

“His contribution really demonstrates what he believes.”

The school plans to break ground on its long-awaited new restaurant in the fall, with completion in 2019. An auditorium and more classrooms will follow.

The CIP’s first phase was finished last year — classrooms and teaching kitchens — on the 7.8-acre site of the Army’s former Cannon Club.

Ro came to Kapiolani Community College’s culinary program as a teacher in 1999 after the closure of his restaurant, Kahala Moon. He almost immediately took over the program’s then-primary benefit, the Ho‘okipa dining gala.

He opened Diamond Head Market and Grill in 2002, not far from the KCC campus — and also close to CIP’s new digs up the mountain.

The program still has about $3 million to raise to meet the contingency, Ro said, and he hopes his pledge will set an example to other potential donors.

The school is giving Ro naming rights to the restaurant’s kitchen, and he says he’ll name it for himself and his business, to share recognition with his staff. The market and grill is closing at 4 p.m. today so the staff can attend the reception.

“I wouldn’t be able to make the donation if my business wasn’t successful and my business wouldn’t be successful if the community didn’t support me,” he said. “Really, this is to salute my staff and my family and friends who helped me build this business, and the community who supported it.”