Introduction

Kalia Cafe (formerly Cafe @ la Plage) is a Maui-based cafe that serves coffee, espresso, specialty sandwiches, bagels, and lemonades. Kalia Cafe serves 3000+ transactions a month and boasts a 4.5-star review on Yelp (as of Jan 2024).

I took over the business as the CEO and streamlined the operations by working with our food vendor to produce a new product line based on the MenuMaster oven, which was launched in March 2024 and reduced our labor by 25%. The business has cash-flowed positive since our second month of operation and sustained its profitability despite the Maui wildfire disasters in August 2023.

After stablizing the business, I took the place as an absentee owner of Kalia Cafe. The cafe is currently operated by my business partner, who is a Hawaiian local. She and I developed the new branding together from Cafe @ la Plage to Kalia Cafe -- the logo, merchandise, and culture.

New Menu Launch

On March 14, 2024, I launched the cafe's new menu using the new Menumaster machines, which improved our labor costs by 25%. Prior to this launch, the cafe was serving made-to-order specialty sandwiches, with an average wait time of 10 minutes per ticket, sometimes 15-20 minutes during busy hours. With the new menu, the average wait time decreased to 5 minutes per ticket, a significant reduction.

The new menu comprises of quiches, pot pies, french toasts, pancakes, specialty sandwiches, bubble waffles, and dessert pies such as cheesecakes and fruit pies. I reduced the number of items on our menu from 35 items to 17, easing the learning curve for new staff.

Tools Used

• Reciprofity for inventory management
• Square POS for POS system
• SquareSpace for website creation
• Gusto for payroll
• Yelp Business for reviews
• Google Business for reviews
• Canva for graphics
• Adobe Creative Suite for graphic creation (Id, Ai, Ps, Lr)
• Meta Business Suite for Facebook Ads, Pages, Event Manager, and Instagram Ads
• Quickbooks for bookkeeping

Gallery