Macaroni Salad and Two Scoops Rice
You can’t be a “local” in Hawaii without loving plate lunches. A Hawaiian plate lunch recognizes just two food groups: meat and starch. Whatever the main dish — teriyaki beef, fried mahimahi or pork katsu (breaded pork cutlet) — it comes with macaroni salad AND two scoops of rice, with a nominal nod to vegetables by a bit of shredded cabbage, a lettuce leaf, or a few pieces of kim chee (Korean pickled vegetables).
This uniquely Hawaiian food expression is now gaining ground in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado — nine states in all. The mastermind is Honolulu’s Eddie Flores, who came to the United States as a 16-year-old Filipino immigrant and built a multi-million foodservice empire on a Hawaiian plate lunch franchise.
Starting with the purchase of the L&L Drive-In in 1976, Eddie used it as a springboard to create a vibrant franchise operation, L&L Drive-In and Hawaiian Barbecue, that last year was ranked #15 of 50 Top Growth Chains in the Nation by Restaurant Business magazine.
Today, as a board member of the Hawai’i Chamber of Commerce of Northern California, I sat down to lunch with Eddie at Rob Lam’s Butterfly. Eddie will be the guest speaker at a business social mixer tomorrow night at the San Francisco Manilatown Heritage Foundation, sponsored by the Hawai’i Chamber and various Filipino professional groups.
What is the appeal of the Hawaiian plate lunch on the Mainland, I wanted to know. “Twenty years ago, it couldn’t work,” considers Eddie. “Once sushi became popular, Caucasions started eating rice.” He also noted that the increase in the Asian population also helps his cause.
But Hawaiians are his secret weapon. “Hawaiians are my public relations agency,” Eddie says with a smile. “Hawaiians living on the Mainland are so proud of us they show us off to their friends. They bring people to our restaurants.” His restaurants also attract people who have visited Hawaii. In fact, these visitors have reinvigorated his business in Hawaii. Mainlanders who have been to an L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in California or Washington or any of the other Hawaiian Barbecue locations, seek out the chain when they visit the Islands.
When building the franchise, picking the right name for Eddie’s Mainland operation was key. Replicating the L&L Drive-In name suggested a hamburger operation. Also Eddie wanted to evoke the allure of Hawaii with his plate lunches.
Eddie understood the unique appeal of Hawaii first-hand. Stationed on the East Coast during the Vietnam War, Eddie couldn’t get New York girls to dance with him. So he stopped saying he was Asian and called himself Hawaiian and never had a problem getting a dance partner. “For the first time, I understood the magic of Hawaii,” he recalls.
Eddie toyed with “Hawaiian Grill” and “Hawaiian Barbecue.” The grill suggested elitist West Coast and healthy eating; barbecue was universal — “everybody knows what barbecue is,” Eddie says.
Unlike most franchises, consistency isn’t critical to Eddie’s success. Instead, he looks to individualize the operation to fit local needs and adjusts to local market tastes. “That’s why, unlike most chains, our failure reate is so low,” he says.
You can take the girl out of Hilo, but you can’t take Hilo out of the girl. I may love the haute cuisine of San Francisco’s amazing white tablecloth restaurants, but occasionally I ono (yearn) for the taste of my native Hawaii. Then it’s plate lunch time — two scoops of rice and macaroni salad included.
INSIGHT: With today’s interest in global cuisine and Americans’ willingness to experiment, there’s no type of cuisine that can’t be successful, given the proper environment. Entrepreneur Eddie Flores has found the magic formula that makes his Hawaiian plate lunches a rousing success.
