Tag: Case

February 26, 2011 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Chocolate lovers flock to Hawaii Chocolate Festival

It was a chocolate lovers dream come true Saturday the at Dole Cannery.

Chocolate of all kinds were featured at the Hawaii Chocolate Festival.

From chocolate fountains and candy, to the more unusual chocolate lotion and even vodka.

The Hawaii Chocolate Festival had it all.

“We’re the only state in the United States growing chocolate so we kind wanted to showcase all things great here that we have chocolate,” said event coordinator Amy Hammond. “We’re hoping that Hawaii chocolate can become one of the most friendly ambassadors of aloha.”

Event organizers are hopeful that the growing cacao business in Hawaii will be a boost for the economy as well.

Chocolate lovers flock to Hawaii Chocolate Festival | KHON2 Hawaii’s News Leader

February 16, 2010 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Case will chair Exclusive Resorts board – Pacific Business News

Exclusive Resorts announced Tuesday that AOL co-founder Steve Case has become chairman of its board of directors.

Case also will lead a $20 million round of new equity financing for the luxury destination club.

Case, who has served on Exclusive Resorts’ board since investing in the company in 2003, acquired majority ownership in 2004.

Exclusive Resorts has more than 3,000 members and a real estate portfolio valued at more than $1 billion. The Denver-based club was founded in 2002.

Case grew up in Honolulu and graduated from Punahou School. He is the majority shareholder of Maui Land & Pineapple Co. (NYSE: MLP) and serves on its board of directors.

Case also owns Grove Farm, one of Kauai’s largest private landowners, and is chairman and CEO of Revolution, a market investment firm.

Case will chair Exclusive Resorts board – Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

October 20, 2009 General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Hawaii Reporter: Hawaii Reporter

Jones Act Lawsuit Will Test Control of Hawaii’s Shipping Monopoly

By Malia Zimmerman, 10/20/2009 5:52:42 AM

Big Island small business owner Jim O’Keefe operated the O’Keefe & Sons Bread Bakers in Hilo, Hawaii for 13 years before shutting down his extensive operation in 2008. His popular bakery closure left 50 people out of work, retail customers searching for other restaurants to buy deli and baked goods from, and several area businesses, grocery stores and resorts scrambling for other local places to buy wholesale baked foods.

The cost of doing business in Hawaii was just too high for O’Keefe to continue operating. Through his own research, he discovered that a large part of his expenses were for shipping flour and other food ingredients to the island of Hawaii.

“I would buy a 50 pound bag of flour for $6 or $7 in the mainland, and by the time it landed in Hilo, it cost me $12.50 a bag,” O’Keefe says.

O’Keefe, like virtually every other business person in Hawaii, sees the cost of goods skyrocket by the time they reach Hawaiian shores because of the Jones Act, a federal law that says all products shipped between American ports must be shipped in American made vessels by a crew that is 75 percent American. That law limits competition from world shippers, and raises the cost of doing business here, in O’Keefe’s case, by six figures over the life of his business.

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