Updated 2/9/21, 12 p.m.
The pandemic has been difficult for many local restaurants, but one restaurateur keeps fighting in the same spirit as his father.
The Aoki Group manages several restaurants on Oahu, including Doraku Sushi and Blue Tree Café. The company was also set to open 1938 Indochine and Qing Mu Noodles Company in Kakaako just as the pandemic hit last March. And while the restaurants have operated since then, the two Kakaako restaurants were burglarized in December.
"This pandemic, though it's kind of like an external situation that's happen which I have not too much control over it. I have control over what I can do within the restaurant" said Kevin Aoki, CEO of Aoki Group, and son of Rocky Aoki, founder of Benihana.
"I just took that fighting spirit that my dad instilled in me. Every chance that I could open, I opened. The governor says shut, I shut down. But I didn't stop. When I had to shut down, I brought a crew in to clean the restaurant up, with the idea of wowing the customer when we opened. And I did that for each of my operations."
Aoki Group also took over the management of Rocky Japanese Steak Teppan Restaurant, formerly known as Benihana of Tokyo at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki.
-- HPR's Jason Ubay
Where we stand
The state Department of Health reported 37 new cases and no new fatalies on Tuesday. As a result of updated information, health officials removed two cases from Maui, and four cases on O?ahu from the overall number of cases statewide.
According to the state's numbers, O?ahu had 22, Maui 3, Hawai?i Island 3, and Kaua?i, L?na?i and Moloka?i had no new cases. Three residents were diganosed out-of-state.
The latest state count brings the O?ahu total to 21,383, Hawai?i County 2,201, Maui 1,873, Kaua?i 179, L?na?i 109, and Moloka?i 25. The number of out-of-state cases totals 761.
Since the pandemic began, the state has tallied 26,531 cases. The death toll stands at 418.
New state agency awaits funding
In his State of the State Address, Governor David Ige highlighted the newly-created School Facilities Agency as integral to Hawaii's economic advancement.
But the SFA has yet to receive funding from the State Legislature.
The agency will be tasked with updating school buildings, and constructing affordable teacher housing and afterschool centers. It will also be able to lease out land deemed non-essential to schools for other community purposes.
Alan Oshima, navigator for the state's economic recovery, is a longtime proponent of the SFA. He says the state needs adaptive solutions to address each school's needs.
"A lot of the ideas on Oahu will not work on the neighbor islands," Oshima said.
"Years ago we visited Na?alehu. You know their needs? Broadband in the community. Because 100 yards off of the campus, there was no broadband. There's no ATM in that neighborhood at that time. Underthe SFA, could we lease a pad for a bank to install an ATM in that neighborhood? Could we authorize a neighborhood group to build an internet café using broadband available to the school?"
Oshima will sit on the board of the School Facilities Agency.
The state Senate has scheduled a public hearing for this Friday, February 12 on a bill that would create a special fund for the SFA.
