Welcome to the 5th episode of Shoots! where I highlight examples of 21st century entrepreneurialism in unexpected places and/or demonstrating principles of increasing future importance. In this episode, I am delighted to feature a business that has spent over a decade purposefully linking high-quality agricultural supply in the middle of the Pacific to consumer demand, benefitting everyone. You will read how Ola Brew and its sister company Hawaiian Ola:
- Are purposeful in its mission
- Aim to lift other businesses as it succeeds
- Maximize sustainability across its supply and demand chain
- Maintain their focus because its shareholders are aligned with its interests
Like all food establishments in Hawai’i, Ola Brew has been closed for on-premise business for several weeks. They are planning to re-opening for business June 6!
++++++++++++++++++
We are seeing disturbing images of farmers re-plowing crops into their fields and pouring out fresh milk despite millions of consumers going hungry. Demand has shifted from schools and restaurants to in-home, so fresh products can’t get to where they are sorely needed. The crisis is magnifying food supply inefficiencies and further taxing already-struggling farmers.
Brett Jacobson saw opportunity when he moved to Hawai’i over 10 years ago. He discovered that most fruit grown on Hawai’i Island hits the ground and rots. The island’s population cannot consume everything it produces locally. The island also lacks manufacturing capacity to convert produce to shelf-stable product for export and increased margins. In response, Brett launched Hawaiian Ola Company (“ola” is Hawaiian for “life”). Their first product was an organic wellness shot created out of noni juice, blends of other juices, and yerba mate or green tea. These well-intentioned efforts required compromise to maintain a certified organic label – the juice was shipped to an Arizona co-packer who sent finished product back to Hawai’i for sale.
In 2017 the Hawaiian Ola team created a sister company called Ola Brew, and undertook a fundraising effort to add scale and expand its mission of being a reliable buyer of local agricultural products. I stumbled upon Ola Brew IPA in a Honolulu store while on vacation and was delighted to learn I could invest in Ola Brew on Wefunder, a crowdfunded investing site. Hawaiian Ola and Ola Brew were able to raise investments exceeding $800 thousand from 800 investors through two campaigns on Wefunder.
The fundraising proceeds were used to build a production facility for both companies as well as a kitchen, taproom/restaurant and retail storefront in Kailua-Kona. When I visited in mid-February, chief operating officer and brewmaster Zachary Taffany took me on a tour of the efficient and flexible production facility, which cans its Hawaiian Ola tulsi berry and lemongrass mint Kona coffee leaf teas, as well as its Ola Brew products. The facility pivots between different brands and beverage types, with different production and regulatory requirements.
Ola Brew’s celebration of local suppliers is evident in its taproom, with colorful pictures of local farms and their fruit lining the perimeter. They have a two-stage juicer on site, which both grinds fruit and cold presses the juice. On a given day, the fruits range from rambutan, dragonfruit, starfruit, lychee, jabuticaba, tangelo and of course, pineapple.
The company is purposeful in what they produce and how to do so sustainably. Many beverages can only be produced in limited seasonal runs. For example, its immensely popular watermelon double IPA requires 450 gallons of watermelon juice per batch, so even if customers demand more, Ola Brew can’t produce it without additional local fruit and will not cut corners to do so. It its quest to be self-reliant on the carbon dioxide used for canning and taps, Ola Brew purchased a CO2 recapture system designed to harness gases naturally created during fermentation. Late in 2019, when a CO2 supplier on Oahu went down for a few weeks, Ola Brew’s production went virtually uninterrupted while other companies’ CO2-dependent operations were curtailed. In addition, Ola Brew also provides local farmers post-production yeast, hops, grain and fruit waste for fertilizer and livestock feed.
In pre-pandemic February, the Ola Brew facility was bustling with locals and visitors mingling, enjoying tasty, locally-produced food and beverages. I savored a lilikoi lime milkshake IPA and a dragonfruit lime saison, along with a delicious flatbread called Circle of Life (arugula, mushrooms and island-raised pork that raised on Ola Brew spent grain). I bought 4-packs of barrel aged porter and tangelo cider and made a second visit to pick up more before returning to Oahu. Little did I know that in a few short weeks the window would close for other visitors, even those from neighboring islands.
We all look forward to a day when we can sit there with a cold beer, cider or seltzer, enjoying a flatbread or tacos with friends. In the meantime, if you are fortunate enough to be on Hawai’i Island now or someday soon, they are open for takeout now and will reopen doors to the public on June 6!!! The efforts of Hawaiian Ola and Ola Brew represent the best of “benevolent capitalism.” The team identified a source of excess high-quality supply, created a range of differentiated world-class products and built a friendly, relaxed environment to enjoy them in. I congratulate them on the purity of their mission and progress to date, and I wish them the continued success they deserve.
Kyle Okimoto is the founder of Market Junctions, which helps transform the power of disruption into a force of positive change. He is the creator of the Resiliency Map, a process anyone can use to increase their resilience by drawing from their own experience and that of others. He is the Acting Chief Marketing Officer for Trade Exchange, a marketplace for investment ideas and an investor and advisor in startups ranging from Cadence (high yield short term alternative investments), AltoIRA (self-directed retirement accounts for alternative investments), ARIS Technology (robotic quality control laser scanning). Kyle is a small investor in both Ola Brew and Wefunder.
