Kauai’s Esaki’s Produce prepares to serve as emergency food hub ahead of storm

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Esaki’s Produce wants to make sure schools, hotels, and hospitals have enough food for the storm.

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Earl Kashiwagi, general manager at Esaki’s Produce, is preparing the facility to serve as an emergency hub once again — a role the business has filled during past disasters.

He and his team’s preparedness starts well before the storm, something that he said is one of their hats as part of the island’s disaster recovery supply chain.

“When Kauai is impacted and normal transportation and distribution is disrupted, our responsibility is to help and keep the essential food supplies moving to the hospitals, the schools, the hotels, restaurants, and other organizations. So we prepare early,” Kashiwagi said.

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He added that they watch the storm and once it’s safe to operate, they “can go back to serving Kauai.”

“Since we’ve been through these before, you don’t panic,” Kashiwagi said. “You prepare, you make good decisions with the information you have, and we make sure we’re ready to help the island recover.”

Esaki’s Produce is offering its fridges and freezers for residents to store food if they lose power.

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Staff members will be standing by this Monday to assist the community.