Kualoa Ranch to lay off large number of workers

Kualoa Ranch Hawaii Inc., which employed some 370 workers pre-COVID-19, is permanently laying off a large number of its remaining employees due to a decline in business, its president confirmed Wednesday.

John Morgan, president of Kualoa Ranch, said the company furloughed more than 200 workers in April, and close to 150 are still working. Some will remain on furlough, while others will be laid off, but he declined to give the exact numbers.

“It’s a very tough situation, and we feel strongly about trying to do the right thing by our employees, but we need to do the right thing by our company,” he said. “We are grateful to those who have helped us, which is going to help weather the storm and will help us rebuild when the business comes back.”

Although Kualoa is a working ranch and the majority of the land is in diversified agriculture, 80% of its revenue pre-COVID-19 was from tourists who enjoyed recreational activities on its sprawling acreage that extends from the mountain to the sea.

“The lion’s share of revenues was on the tourist side of the company versus agriculture, stewardship and other things,” he said.

The ranch raises cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, fish, shrimp, fruit and vegetables.

Kualoa is “an integrated company, and the visitor activities are a huge part of the sustainability of the company,” Morgan said.

It offers everything from zip lines and horseback riding to electric mountain bike rides.

Of its four main tours, two were permanently canceled — the ocean voyage tour and the “Taste of Kualoa,” which toured the agriculture areas.

Kualoa sent a notice Aug. 10 to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations of its plan to furlough workers and/or reduce its workforce permanently. It said it employed 350 people, mostly full-time, in cattle ranching, diversified agriculture, landscape, environmental stewardship, youth education programs, construction, maintenance, food and beverage, retail, sales, reservations and outdoor recreation.

An attached schedule of job actions showed it would affect 205 employees, including 126 outdoor recreation/tour operations personnel, 25 in food and beverage operations, 20 in reservations, and smaller numbers from other areas in agriculture, education, construction/facilities maintenance, retail and administration.

Morgan said that the business was 100% down initially after the pandemic struck, came back a little, then was 80% down during Christmas, but was building back up.

“After Christmas it dropped significantly,” he said. “We just don’t know if it is going to rebound … We’ll prepare to rebuild. We don’t know what the future will bring. It’s an unfolding circumstance every day, every week, every month. It’s hard to predict.”

He said some predictions are gloomier than others, but the company is being more “conservative in adjusting our workforce to the demand.”