Kealoha Domingo

“I had been looking at trying to gear myself towards a business scale up, and going to the next level with the catering. All of a sudden, boom! Every event I had on the books got canceled within two or three week’s time. My whole queue of work got canceled. Then, it was like, okay…now what?!”

Kealoha Domingo’s family-owned and operated catering business is called NuiKealoha. With a culturally grounded and value-aligned foundation, his current priority is simply to feed people. Born & raised on the mokupuni of O‘ahu, in the district of Ko‘olauloa and the ‘ahupua‘a of Ka’a’awa, Kealoha Domingo is a multi-generational Hawaiian practitioner with a genuine love for food. As chef/owner of his catering company and an active member of the Hawaiian community, he revels in feeding the multitudes with a foundation of traditional Hawaiian value, honoring the spiritual connection to the ‘āina (land), kānaka (humankind), and mea ‘ai (food) combined with a touch of contemporary style.

Kealoha’s genuine ALOHA for the ‘āina, & the community that he feeds culminated with his native Hawaiian perspectives have earned him praise and respect throughout the pae ‘āina Hawai‘i. We caught up with him via ZOOM on July 2, 2020, 4 months after Hawai’i’s first recorded case of COVID-19.

Can you share with us a little bit about who you are, your role in the local food system, and a little picture of what was happening in your world pre-COVID?

My name is Kealoha Domingo, and I have a catering company that I call NuiKealoha. I've been cooking for people all my life, increasingly over the past two decades. For 20 years, up until April of 2019, I had a full time job as an elevator mechanic, catering and cooking for community events was in my free time.

I thought about it for quite some time, wondering what life would be like, if I left my career to restart as a small business entrepreneur. Then I became faced with making the decision to try a full time career in catering. And that's what I did. It was a tough decision to make, but the stars aligned and it happened.

What changes have you made in your business/lifestyle/platform to adapt to our current situation?

I was fortunate to have been accepted into the Hawai’i Investment Ready 2019-2020 cohort. That program lasted about a year and ended with our final presentations in March of 2020. That was the last big event that I attended. There were around 150 or 200 people in attendance, and then news of this Pandemic and COVID-19 confirmed in Hawai‘i hit. I had been looking at trying to gear myself towards a business scale-up and going to the next level with the catering. All of a sudden, boom! Every event I had on the books got canceled within two or three week’s time. My whole queue of work got canceled. Then, it was like, okay…now what?!

I enjoyed the quiet time for a week or two, or three. Then I received a call from Kamehameha schools, asking if I'd be able to provide meals. That started out really small and it was like 35 meals a day. It wasn’t really a business transaction, but more of something that I could keep myself busy with and fill a need in the community with a little bit of income. As the demand for meals grew, a couple of days later, it was like, “Oh, can you raise that to 40? Can you raise that to 45? Can you raise it to 50?” The next thing you know, well, I'm doing a hundred meals a day. 500 meals a week. Kamehameha Schools initially funded me for 15 meals a day. Then I had a reach-out from Chef Hui who funded another 40 meals a day. Initially, I was just providing the additional meals out of pocket.

“What I've been building towards over the past 10 years is locally sourced, ‘ai pono, healthy, from farmers we know, non-GMO and all of that, then all of a sudden it's ‘What can I produce for $2 a meal? With no manpower.’ It became a reality check for me.”

Robert Kealoha Domingo by Ka’ohua Photography

That's similar to Auntie Mona’s story. At some point, she and her husband were paying for community meals out of their retirement funds.

It’s a tough one. “I don't want to say, sorry, money's out, no more food”. It's also an internal struggle because I just spent a year getting coaching about how to run a sustainable business.

This is my community that I'm feeding. I'm engaged with this community and I know a lot of these families. So it's a tough, tough balance. As I'm moving into July, it's still kind of up in the air because a lot of these funders, they're like, okay, you gotta start doing a sunset on this thing because the money's not going to last forever. So right now they're in a situation where they're re-evaluating what they're going to be able to provide. So as of right now, July 2nd [2020]. I'm still not 100% clear what I'll be doing for July.

“It boiled down to the necessity of having sustenance. It reminded me a lot of the plantation days when we just ate whatever we could get. Canned goods or whatever it was.”

**What food system vulnerabilities have been exposed for you during this crisis?**

The first thing that was really identified is how we were going back to the soup kitchen mentality, you know, just trying to provide a daily meal. For me, that's a hard thing because what I've been building towards over the past 10 years is locally sourced, ‘ai pono, healthy, from farmers we know, non-GMO and all of that and all of a sudden it's ‘what can I produce for $2 a meal?’ With no manpower. It became a reality check for me. I honestly, for a while, struggled with it, like, I donʻt know if I want to do this because I feel like what I'm able to put out isn't really up to standard. But at the same time, people gotta eat. It boiled down to that, the necessity of having sustenance. It reminded me a lot of the plantation days when we just ate whatever we could get. Canned goods or whatever it was.
Pictured: Claire “Kalaunuola” Domingo plating up May Day meals for kūpuna.
Photo credit: Kealoha Domingo

“It would be such a crapshoot, like ‘what's available today? Some days I would go in there and the shelves would be bare and I'm resorting to whatever dish I can come up with frozen meatballs.”

In order to keep your price point where you need it, where did you get the ingredients?

I just got to do the things like other small businesses do and go to Chef Zone or Costco or Sam's Club. I order whatever I can from my normal farmers, you know, I go and get ulu from Kako’o Oiwi or taro and lūau, whatever the case may be.. But the harsh reality is that it’s not always feasible on a small budget, especially if you're going to sustain it for four months.

It was a struggle and it was definitely a conflict in me. I kind of pushed back a little bit and said, Hey, listen, I want to provide something a little bit better. The USDA standard versus our local standard- we all know it's very different. Quantity over quality, it’s so different. At the same time, I'm putting my name on this food.

It was interesting, like I said, as a smaller operation going to somewhere like Chef's Zone, that is designed for a small business. They were limiting the purchases of basic things like hamburger and they weren't allowing me to purchase it in the quantity I needed. So it would be such a crapshoot, it would be like ‘what's available today? Some days I would go in there and the shelves would be bare and I'm resorting to whatever dish I can come up with frozen meatballs.

What I ended up doing in the interim was setting up accounts with bigger vendors, like Sysco they're not limiting anything. At the same time, I really feel like the silver lining of this thing is that people are planting their own food and understanding that we need food here now, not coming here on a barge.

“I really feel like the silver lining of this thing is that people are planting their own food and understanding that we need food here now, not coming here on a barge.”

ʻUlu on the fire photographed by Kealoha Domingo

“Farming is cool again, gardening is cool again. Now people are hoarding potting soil and seeds are flying off the shelves. I even went and bought a bunch of seeds myself. You know, just really turning back the hands of time to understand that we're capable of producing our own food.”

Which leads naturally into the next question: are there changes that you're witnessing during this period that you want to see remain in place?

Absolutely. Farming is cool again, gardening is cool again. People hoarding potting soil now and seeds are flying off the shelves. I even went and bought a bunch of seeds myself. You know, just really turning back the hands of time to understand that we're capable of producing our own food.

Like we're having this discussion right now. I mean, we're feeding people because they need food, but how long are we going to give them the prepared meals for? What if we can give them a grow bed and some seeds to start planning their own? At least to provide some diversification. Plant and harvest a little bit here a little bit there and supplement our diets.

“It all really pivots on how this reopening of the world is gonna go, to unveil if we're going to go back to the status quo and just go back to Costco, or are we actually gonna continue weeding those planter boxes that everyone rushed out to build?”

**What's your vision for the future? If we could look ahead five years from now, what do you want to see?**

I think people will start to see the fruits of their labor. I guess it all really pivots on how this reopening of the world is gonna go, to unveil if we're going to go back to the status quo and just go back to Costco, or are we actually gonna continue weeding those planter boxes that everyone rushed out to build?

I really hope that people get the confidence to see that it can be done. It's not as bad as it seems. I'm excited for the kids. I really hope that someday the kids look back at this experience and it helps to steer their decisions in life, realizing that anything can happen. Overall, I really feel like this has been a great lesson for us.
Kealoha Domingo photographed in the Nui Kealoha kitchen by Ka’ohua Photography

“Regardless of what the reason is, whether it be COVID or loss of employment, people should take this opportunity to readjust the way that we think, in terms of solutions. It's pretty obvious that we need to appreciate what we have.”

What can the community do to help?

You know how people have been stepping up to the plate and saying, ‘Hey, I don't, I don't necessarily need this. Someone else needs it more than I do’? I think if we can continue to build on that mindset, where it's not so much of the scarcity model, but instead, abundance. ‘Hey, I'm good, how can I help my neighbor?’

Regardless of what the reason is, whether it be COVID or loss of employment, people should take this opportunity to readjust the way that we think, in terms of solutions. It's pretty obvious that we need to appreciate what we have.

I'm really grateful that Kamehameha Schools and ChefHui stepped up to allow me to sustain my family for the past couple of months. I'm fortunate for that. I'm very thankful, but at the same time, I'm not sure what sustainable model I've developed out of this, it's still kind of yet to be seen. That was the purpose of the call I was on, just before this. Trying to help me figure out ‘where do I go next?’

It would definitely be great if people remember who we are, and maybe give us a call when they have a need for catering. To be willing to pay full value, to continue the cycle. Businesses and organizations can help small businesses like ours by keeping us in a circular economy, allowing us to help others in return.

It would definitely be great if people remember who we are, and maybe give us a call when they have a need for catering. To be willing to pay full value, to continue the cycle. Businesses and organizations can help small businesses like ours by keeping us in a circular economy, allowing us to help others in return.

Kealoha and Claire “Kalaunuola” Domingo photographed by Ka’ohua Photography

Where do you go next?

Maybe Iʻll go finish up those garden boxes that I got the lumber and seeds for…We need to make the pivot from providing meals to people to providing a sustainable means for them to get food. So why don't we go out there and figure out if we can help them out by getting them a food tree like an ʻulu or ʻohiaʻa ‘ai, anything to provide some kind of sustenance.

“There's a whole box full of bananas or whatever it may be. And I'm like, ‘What do you mean, that's no good? That's totally fine. That's probably the best one out of the batch right there!’ Because it's not all nice and yellow. It's not perfect. This is a big part of the problem here.”

Right now people feel a little bit more comfortable that they can leave the house. So now that people are a little bit more stabilized, maybe we can shift to more long-term goals, like how do we build resilience?

There’s another interesting phenomenon, that I guess we already knew but I witnessed at the food bank distributions. I volunteered at a handful of food bank distributions and saw the produce that got sent over to the Food Bank. And you know, some of it was like bananas that were overripe or tons and tons of food that was like not market grade, but ugly, ugly food. So I'm there, and the volunteers are going through it, “Oh, this is no good. This is not good. This is not good.” There's a whole box full of bananas or whatever it may be. And I'm like, ‘What do you mean, that's no good? That's totally fine. That's probably the best one out of the batch right there!’ Because it's not all nice and yellow. It's not perfect. This is a big part of the problem here.

I mean, that's huge. Give me a couple of days and we'll make some kimchi or some pickles out of this and you're going to eat it. You're going to eat it for four months. Knowing that even more people are really in need of food, my tolerance level for food waste has gotten that much lower. What's going on? Why are we throwing this out? No.

Give me a couple of days and we'll make some kimchi or some pickles out of this and you're going to eat it. You're going to eat it for four months. Knowing that even more people are really in need of food, my tolerance level for food waste has gotten that much lower. What's going on? Why are we throwing this out?

Who are your local food heroes; who’s been inspiring you in our local food system lately?

I've always looked up to our local farmers like the Reppun’s. Just for being so innovative and willing to do things out of the box. I mean, of course, the Bishop family, they're all farmers and fishermen. A good friend Dean Wilhelm and his family at Ho’okua‘aina. They've done some amazing work at bringing taro back to the local community. I’ve been watching them, Papahana Kuuloa, Kako’o’Oiwi, and Paepae o He’eia, not just grow food, but grow farmers. That's the important thing- bringing up new generations with the mentality and the skill set to hopefully someday take us to a place where we can sustain ourselves off of those methods. Being able to see that slow shift over the past 10, 15 years gives an old pup me a little bit of hope, because I'm from the tail end of the canned good generation.

That's the important thing- bringing up new generations with the mentality and the skill set to hopefully someday take us to a place where we can sustain ourselves off of those methods. Being able to see that slow shift over the past 10, 15 years gives an old pup me a little bit of hope, because I'm from the tail end of the canned good generation.

I definitely admire what Ma’o Farms has done with growing farmers. There's no way we're going to get to that point we need to be unless we start getting people to understand that farming is not as bad as it seems.

Those who know me know that one of my biggest heroes, who I speak of often, is Uncle Jerry Konanui. Though it was devastating to have lost him, before his time in 2017, his memory and teaching live on. I can still hear his voice citing some of his favorite sayings, “Mai ho‘okano! Eat what get!” In my perception that meant eat what this land can provide. “No blame the taro. It’s not the taro’s fault!” If there’s not enough food, it’s our fault for not growing it. “My favorite taro is the one on the dinner table in front of me” Be thankful for what we have. I hope this time has reminded us to be grateful for what we have, and the sanctity of food as sustenance, not just something to hold us over to the next meal.

“I hope this time has reminded us to be grateful for what we have, and the sanctity of food as sustenance, not just something to hold us over to the next meal.”- Kealoha Domingo