KAPA‘A — In two weeks, Brice and Raven Hohenberger will host a grand opening of their eatery, Island Craves Kaua‘i, on Kuhio Highway in front of the old Cost-U-Less warehouse in Kapa‘a.
The husband-and-wife business owners have been envisioning their community-minded venue since December of 2019, and have been coming to Kaua’i from Texas for over 20 years, to enjoy the island and visit family.
“I have family here, the Atkinsons,” Brice Hohenberger said. “They’ve been here for 20 years or so. We kept coming to Kaua‘i and then we moved here five years ago — we got married and I had some money saved, so we moved here. I wasn’t looking for a job. And then this idea just kind of came together because I do the audits on the gas station. I see how much doughnuts and pizza.”
Although the Hohenbergers had to wait a year to finally open their business because of COVID-19 restrictions, they are excited to provide healthy and non-healthy cravings to Kaua‘i residents and visitors.
“What almost started out as a joke at the dinner table, really grown into like finding what we’re passionate about and how to serve the community like as throughout the process,” Raven Hohenberger said. “So that’s why it doesn’t even make sense when you say ‘doughnuts and pizza.’ It’s a hodgepodge. What can we give the community that we don’t have? What can we give families? It’s all the stuff you crave that we generally can’t find.”
The Hohenbergers said their eatery will not only have the normal doughnuts, pizza, and soft ice-cream cravings, but also healthy, gluten-free cravings. And the couple will have a suggestion box where you can request something you crave.
“We want them to be delicious and all that stuff, too, but we also want to offer craves to the vegan community,” Raven Hohenberger said.
With the grand opening coming up, the couple is looking for new employees to join their team. Anyone looking for a job may follow them on Instagram.
“We do need to hire a few, like our last positions, and then the next week after that, we’ll kind of just see how we grow and how it goes and kind of fit those needs as they come, but definitely have positions open for like within the next week.”
At their opening, the couple said they are hoping to have someone play some music and have a traditional blessing.
“I went to one for my neighbor’s barn,” Raven Hohenberger said. “And that was one of the most beautiful experiences that I have ever been through — singing and just the tradition of it. So definitely want to have something like that for sure.”
In the future, the Hohenbergers want to connect with the community by displaying other local business products in their shops and have a community bulletin. And they will also have a mobile app that will provide delivery and info on all of their products and services. When things start to pick up, they will have a drive-thru window accessible too.
“Pizzas — I’m really sure to keep it under $20. Absolutely,” Brice Hohenberger said. “And for we’ll have specials all the time. With our app, you’ll be able to log on, we’ll see you. We got rewards. And then also we take care. You can pay through your phones directly and we send it, boom, like Dominos.”
According to Raven Hohenberger, her husband is the master behind all of the construction done in their 428-square-foot establishment during a time of uncertainty.
“Just seeing that we’re trying to open a food establishment, while the island was on shut down,” Raven Hohenberger said. “And we didn’t know if we could — folks were also losing their jobs and such. So I was concerned as we did open, should we go ahead and open?”
Raven Hohenberger said she picked the colors from her wedding and he put in the hard work during the pandemic, costing the couple approximately $300,000.
“Then we thought, ‘this is home — we’re invested long term.’”
The couple fell in love with each other when they were teens, and both experienced a loss on both sides of their families, and now that they are expecting their first child, they craved for the ‘ohana community that Kaua‘i provides.
“We knew we wanted to come out here, and this is where we wanted to settle down and raise our family. One on the way, so we knew when we got here that we were committed to staying and making this like our home,” Raven Hohenberger said. “We’re glad we found such a great niche opportunity that the community is really gonna love.”
Source: The Garden Island
Be First to Comment