HAWAI`I SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER NETWORK

1998 ANNUAL REPORT - O`AHU CENTER REPORT
[ Case Study ]

(Left to Right) Constance Cate, Winona Chin, Laura Noda

.......O`ahu is the major center of commerce for the state with large commercial and urban centers, military bases, universities, and resorts throughout the island's 597 square miles. Honolulu, the state's capitol, and its neighboring communities of Waipahu, Ewa, Kapolei, Kane`ohe, and Kailua house nearly three-quarters of the state's population with more than 850,000 residents and 26,700 businesses.

.......The O`ahu Center of the Hawai`i SBDC Network, located with the Business Information and Counseling Center (BICC), moved to a larger office in early 1998. Center Director Laura Noda, Business Development Specialist Constance Cate, and Secretary Winona Ching run a bustling office in the heart of downtown Honolulu.

.......In an intensely competitive small business training environment, the O`ahu Center has been able to carve out a niche by offering daytime seminars in the downtown office on topics of great interest to entrepreneurs. In the leeward and central O`ahu areas, the Hawai`i SBDC Network has been able to broaden its reach by co-sponsoring entrepreneurship seminars with Leeward Community College. In addition, the Hawai`i SBDC Network successfully co-sponsored numerous seminars during the year with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Outreach College of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, the Pacific District Export Council, and the YWCA.

.......In addition to its regular clientele of existing businesses and start-ups, the O`ahu Center also focused on two groups: recycling/remanufacturing companies and displaced workers. Through an agreement between the Hawai`i SBDC Network and the Clean Hawaii Center of the State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT), the O`ahu Center provided in-depth counseling to five O`ahu companies in the recycling and remanufacturing industries. These included a compost manufacturer, a hydromulch and oil change filter producer, and a wastewater treatment plant. The O`ahu Center was able to provide business research, resources, and business guidance to these recycling and remanufacturing companies. In conjunction with WorkHawai`i, the O`ahu Center also offered a comprehensive entrepreneurship training program for displaced workers. This unique program, which combined formal classroom sessions with individual counseling, assisted 50 entrepreneurs with developing business plans and launching their businesses. The program was so successful that the O`ahu Center is joining forces with the Women`s Financial Resource Center to offer the program again in 1999.

.......The O`ahu Center continues to offer services to a wide range of small business clients. While Noda and Cate provide general business advice, the O`ahu Center effectively utilizes several outside consultants to provide guidance in specific areas to its clients. These include a tax accountant to analyze the tax implications of different forms of organizations and business transactions; an attorney to review contracts, business agreements, and leases; an accountant to assist clients with their computerized accounting systems; EDI specialist to advise clients on bidding electronically and increasing their business with the government; and a marketing specialist to help clients develop strategies for reaching their target markets. These experts have provided invaluable advice to both growing and new companies, enabling the O`ahu Center to augment its resources and range of services.

.......In addition to managing client needs, Noda participated in the Hawai`i State Award of Excellence program as an examiner. This involved attending a three-day training session, and working over several months as part of a team that examined the quality of every aspect of an applicant's business, using well-defined criteria. The skills that Noda acquired as an examiner are invaluable for assisting clients in improving the quality of the processes and systems within their businesses.

.......An active member of the Financial Resources Committee of the Women in Business Committee for the past four years, Noda co-chaired the planning of the women's business conference held in October on Maui. The conference, co-sponsored by the Maui SBDC, attracted over 100 women entrepreneurs, and has spurred the formation of a women's business group on Maui.


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O`AHU CASE STUDY
Keith Cookies
Left to right: Rudy Loftis, Laura Noda, Keith Yamamoto
......Rudy Loftis had worked for a major retail store in downtown Honolulu for 37 years as its operations manager, but found himself without a job when the company closed its stores in Hawai`i. Unsure of what to do next, Loftis decided to sign up for an entrepreneurship training program sponsored by the Hawai`i SBDC Network in conjunction with WorkHawai`i. After going through ten classroom sessions on logistics, marketing, accounting and business plan development, Loftis and his partner, Keith Yamamoto, developed a business plan for a cookie manufacturing and wholesale business with the assistance of Laura Noda, O`ahu Center Director.

......Loftis and Yamamoto had known each other for a number of years through their experiences in retail sportswear and in a food catering service. Yamamoto, having a passion for baked goods, and Loftis for cooking, formed a partnership to combine their culinary skills. Yamamoto had developed a unique chocolate chip cookie recipe that could retain its crunchy texture for three months. Shaped like a half moon, the batter is scooped onto a cookie sheet with a small ice cream scoop. When Loftis and Yamamoto decided to go into the cookie business, Loftis created other recipes using Yamamoto's basic recipe.

.......After receiving positive feedback and researching their competition for higher end cookies on O`ahu and the neighbor islands, Loftis and Yamamoto located a leasehold space in Kalihi which had most of the necessary commercial kitchen equipment. Although the renovations were modest, they still ran into permitting and construction delays. Nevertheless, the cookie factory opened as scheduled in November, 1998.

.......Referrals from friends and neighbors spread quickly to key people in the media. Keith's Cookies was featured in two Pacific Business News articles, in the food column of the Honolulu Advertiser, and on the Channel 2 evening and morning television news. The cookies instantly became a household name. The telephone was flooded with calls. Dozens of people swarmed their counters, bought everything they had and forced Keith's Cookies to close their doors in order to bake more cookies and reopen later that same day. The demand outweighed their supply throughout the Christmas holidays. With only one oven and with the help of their families, the two partners baked cookies 18 hours per day, seven days per week.

.......After the "flour" settled following the holiday rush, Loftis and Yamamoto are now re-evaluating their business plan, even though the business was started less than a year ago. They are selling their cookies through five retailers, but would like to expand their retail business to include a large retail store.

.......Loftis and Yamamoto say that without the assistance of the Hawai`i SBDC Network and Noda, they would not have been able to start the business. "Having the technical support available is very important, especially for small businesses. It deletes any worry and enables you to focus on your business. The benefits are so clearly defined."


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