We recently connected with Robert Ahquin and have shared our conversation below.

Robert, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

This actually relates to how I started on this Culinary Journey.
I worked as a Mortgage Broker at a Bank daily and bartended at a friends restaurant on the weekends. At the bar, we always had one customer who would come in from a limousine with a security detail, always at the same food, drank the same drink. Didn’t talk much to staff, but enjoyed the Karaoke nights and the ladies there. This one particular night, our kitchen staff was gone and he wanted his meal. No one in the kitchen I was forced to make something. Not knowing how to make this specific cuisine, I dug into my Hawaii roots and made a simple fried rice and teriyaki steak. He ended up taking a few bites and left without paying. Show up to the mortgage job the next week to see him, my bank boss and my restaurant boss in the conference room waiting for me. Long story short, he wanted to pay for me to go to Culinary school and work at his Country Club as a cook, because that was the best steak he has ever had. I’ve been holding on to that feeling ever since and use that as motivation. That immediate gratification was such a feel good thing to me, I’ve been cooking ever since.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Kalama’s Kuisine started in Atlanta, GA around 15 years ago. Right place, right time, right plate of food led to a few local pop up festivals that were such a huge success, we had to grow and expand. The catering and pop up festivals was a side gig, as I worked full time as a Chef for a couple different Country Clubs. Before returning to Hawaii I was the Executive Chef for the CDC Atlanta Campus.
Prior to all this I was an Army Infantryman, and spent a majority of my years in Europe, returning stateside for my final duty station and attending University of Kansas before moving to Atlanta.
Returning to Hawaii was always the dream. Now that I had a lot of experience under my belt, it felt as Hawaii was the final place to show my background in many Kuisines. When I first moved home, most all of my business as a caterer was for friends and families parties – graduations, birthdays, even smaller weddings. Working at Aulani for a few years helped push me into opening my own business and going in full time on myself. At this time the Coronavirus Pandemic hit, but for Kalama’s Kuisine it was the best push to expand. First we were delivering small bentos to our families that didn’t want to leave their house. That lead to a lot of offices and businesses reaching out to have us cater their lunches. With all that going on, I invested in a food truck and started doing weekly events around the island. Once people heard we were mobile, business just started booming with catering, food truck events, weddings and even into Private Chef gigs. All this lead to me opening my own Mobile Support Kitchen to assist other vendors that need a commercial kitchen rental.

Have you ever had to pivot?

At the start of the pandemic all caterings and weddings halted. We were scared on what to do, will we be able to survive with no job? I had a lot of family members that were worried about their health and didn’t want to leave the house, 2 Aunties in particular. They asked if I could prepare some meals for them and deliver twice weekly. They told all their friends who told their friends and the buzz was created that Kalama’s Kuisine was delivering bentos at a price that you couldn’t beat, with no delivery fee. After posting a few menus, our business went full steam ahead doing about 250 bentos a day. this went on for a few months, then people were slowly called back to work. Sales took a small dive, and we had to figure something out to keep this momentum. Being a Food Truck Operator has been a dream of mine, and this is when that dream came true. Purchased a food truck and started popping up in front of businesses our friends we a part of and needed lunch. The food truck Pivot helped us reach more customers and grew the business by over 200%. With the change to the Food Truck, we were given opportunities to join different events and pop ups which helped us grow. A local news crew interviewed us on how we were able to Pivot and still be successful. Just very fortunate to have a great fan base and friends that support us.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My background in the Culinary world is all over the place. I learned to cook at an Art School in Atlanta, spent some time in New Orleans cooking Cajun and Creole Kuisine. While working as a cook in Atlanta, I’ve had a French Chef, American Chef, German Chef, Indian Chef and also an Armenian Chef to work under. All this experience helped groom my tastebuds. Bringing that versatility to Hawaii has been great as everyone here has a wide range of tastebuds. Being able to create menus with different Regional Cuisines, yet still utilizing Hawaii ingredients has been the greatest asset of mine. Now with that wide variety of Kuisines, I was able to create different menus and accommodating allergies. Here is where I really stuck out and created a reputation for going above and beyond for our guests. Being able to offer Hawaiian Regional Cuisine and turning that into a Vegan, Gluten Free, Shellfish Free and Peanut Allergy meal set us apart. These days a lot of guests have food allergies, we try to create a menu that is similar in flavor to what everyone else is eating, yet it accommodates that specific allergy. While offering these specialty meals, we don’t charge incredibly high rates. We feel like we charge what it takes to pay our staff and cost of food with a little over to be used on the next event or equipment etc. We’re not trying to make a million dollars off of one event, but want those guests to be able to send a million of their friends to use for their catering needs. And it’s worked, we do not advertise and really don’t need to. Almost 80% of our guests have been from referrals of folks that have either dined with us, booked us, tasted our food, or are our family and friends. Being flexible with menus and pricing is where we stand out in the Hawaii Food Truck/Catering Scene.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kalamaskuisine.com
• Instagram: @KalamasKuisine
• Facebook: Kalama’s Kuisine
• Yelp: Kalama’s Kuisine

Image Credits

Bobby Ahquin