We were lucky to catch up with Jesse Keoni recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jesse thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?
Hawaiian Hippy, was established and created to represent myself as an individual, represent my family and culture, and to represent my interpretation of the cooks and foods I grew up loving. I’m Hawaiian and Black and I’m proud to show the world who I am and how being different is ok and that it’s actually a beautiful thing. Inspiring kids or anyone to embrace who they are and shine for the world to see.
The Hawaiian in the name shares the Aloha spirit, my love for food, and appreciation to serve others with something special from my heart. Also not be so serious, just relax and enjoying the company of those who take the time to come eat my food.
The Hippy in the name shares the idea of freely representing my interpretation of good food that comes from my soul, accepting every cultural cuisine and spreading peace on a plate. Even if it’s just momentarily. Opening your mind to see the beauty in everyone and everything around you and being aware of how blessed we are to share food together.
I take that perspective and try to be as creative as possible with the food I make. Fusing and incorporating ingredients and flavors from different cuisines and cultures in the never ending journey of creating the perfect food experience.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jesse Keoni and I would call myself a Street Chef because I’ve never went to Culinary School and was self taught learning from family members growing up to experimenting on my own in the kitchen to learning and getting ideas from The Food Network. True story!
My business was started when the pandemic hit as I lost my income and work like a lot of people did around that horrible time. I’m a single parent of four kids so I needed to make money for us to keep our home and food on the table. I always wanted to start my own food truck or small diner or cafe and while having a conversation with God, I felt like it was worth stepping out on faith and giving this crazy dream a try.
I started by using money I really didn’t have. Purchasing a Blackstone griddle and some other cooking equipment at first then slowly adding things I would see useful or important to starting a cooking business. I would monitor OfferUp and Facebook Marketplace daily for deals on equipment or whatever I needed.
Eventually I had enough to try and do something so I put together a flyer for my first ever popup out that I did out of my garage. It was mainly family, friends and neighbors that came through but I was so grateful they loved the menu and food I made. Growing up I’ve always cooked and barbecued for family parties but when it came to people giving me money to cook for them, it really surprised and inspired me knowing I could do this and it wasn’t just all in my head anymore. I could be as creative as I wanted to be. I didn’t have to worry about a menu or recipes I didn’t care to prepare. I could make what I want…how I want! That feeling set a fire that grew into the blazing food ideas I started to create.
That popup motivated me to get all my permits and licenses in order so I could try and popup legitimately somewhere. Through word of mouth I got the opportunity to do a popup at a local bar which lead to another bar and eventually being invited to be apart of a huge popular food festival in Pasadena. I took the chance and although it was all new to me and definitely had some opportunities to learn, at the end of the day people still loved my food and the vision for Hawaiian Hippy and encouraged me to keep going.
From that day I tried to put myself and the Hawaiian Hippy Eats brand out there as much as I could. As tough as it got sometimes because I did this by myself a lot of the times I wouldn’t change anything because it’s made me adapt and grow in so many ways and I’m so grateful for that. There’s so much more I want to accomplish and goals to reach with Hawaiian Hippy Eats and I’m excited to see what the future holds before I embark on other food concepts I have in my head.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
To tell you the truth I didn’t really have a plan or strategy with my social media. It was more organic because I initially just had my personal social media accounts and I’d share food pics and videos of what I cooked. Once I started Hawaiian Hippy Eats, I just used the followers I had and started sharing my logo, popup dates and new menus gradually transitioning it into my business social media platforms. I believe it was good for me because I had real followers who most of them actually knew me personally so that connection and relationship was already established and it was great to have most of them supporting my vision and brand. I’d definitely encourage anyone starting any kind of business to start with your circle of family and friends. Although you’ll have your haters you’ll always be on top with the real ones who believe in you no matter what business or industry you’re in.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Starting your own hustle or business is scary in the sense of the unknown. Not knowing if you’ll make the money you need to support yourself and your family, having good days and bad days get discouraging, inflation of food costs and gas in the economy just to name a few. Because of all that I had to find another way to earn income to keep the dream alive.
I was working my day job from home, also a graveyard shift cleaning awnings all over Southern California and then doing my food popups on the weekends…on top of being a full-time Dad to my four kids. The pressure and exhaustion definitely had me doubting and second guessing if I should continue doing my food business. Hearing bad advice or discouraging conversations with people close to me really took a toll on my mental health because I felt I was giving my all and wasn’t being seen that way. When I needed help I would never ask for it because I didn’t want to look weak or incapable of running my food business and everything else on my plate and never wanted to feel like I was a bad Dad to my kids. Ultimately didn’t want the naysayers to be like “I told you so.” So I gave it to God! I had to make some serious decisions and regroup my intentions and focus, otherwise I’d lose it from not giving it everything I had. I decided to quit my graveyard shift and focus more on doing more popups and events to ensure I was whole heartedly invested in my vision no matter how tough it got. I had faith in God, I trusted my intuition and I was blessed to get more opportunities with Hawaiian Hippy Eats. Sometimes you have to listen to that voice in your head pushing you to achieve your full potential and just do it!
I appreciate you taking the time to hear a little bit about my story and look forward to cooking and or collaborating with you all.
Peace to the planet!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hawaiianhippy.com
- Instagram: @hawaiian.hippy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehawaiianhippy
- Other: TikTok: @chefjessekeoni