Oahu-based snack company Ulu Mana has opened its first brick-and-mortar store. The soft opening of the Ulu Chip Factory Store was June 1 at its 750-square-foot space located at 1933 Republican St. A grand opening is planned for early August, according to founder Loren Shoop.
Shoop will be selling not just Ulu Mana’s breadfruit chips and hummus, but also the products of his second business, Hawaiian Farmers Market, which aggregates value-added products including honey, chocolate, coffee and seasonings from other Hawaii-based small businesses. Both of his brands operate under parent company Ulu Mana, Inc.
The factory store is a tenant in Hawaii’s Snack and Gift Center, owned by Jimmy Chan, CEO of Hawaiian Chip Co., which makes taro and sweet potato chips.
“You would be able to shop with him and get fresh taro chips,” Shoop said. “And you can walk a few more steps and shop with me and get a bunch of local products, along with fresh ulu chips and Hawaiian Hummus. And then there's also Menehune Mac, ... a chocolate company, here. So you'd be able to get all of these local products in just one stop.”
Starting later in the year — likely August when breadfruit is in season — the store will offer fresh made-to-order chips that will be fried and flavored on the spot, he said.
For Shoop’s Hawaiian Farmers Market brand, 80% of sales come through retail partners and farmers markets, while the other 20% come from online purchases through the company’s website, he said. For Ulu Mana, 90% of sales are from wholesale purchases with the remaining 10% coming in from online purchases or retail partners.
Ulu Mana chips are currently sold by Farm Link, Oahu Fresh, Down to Earth, Foodland, Tamura’s Fine Wines & Liquors and the Dole Plantation, among other locations.
Ulu Mana's annual revenue is currently under $1 million, a figure that Shoop hopes to surpass with the expansion.
Ulu Mana and Hawaiian Farmers Market sell value-added products. Why are value-added products important? It really showcases what Hawaii can do, what we can grow and how good our produce is. I’m extremely biased — born and raised here on the Big Island — so I think Big Island produce tastes the best. We’re showing off what we can do, and we’re really adding value, right? So, let’s say you could sell a papaya for $1, but if you make a papaya hot sauce, now you could sell it for $6 or $10, or whatever. You can create a lot more value out of value-added products, rather than just selling fresh produce or something just right off the farm.
Who is the primary customer for Hawaiian Farmers Market? Mainly it's visitors. We've been doing farmers markets for 12 years now. ... Hopefully, they purchase our product at the farmers market, and then they go home and they're like, 'Oh, my gosh, that was so good. I hope I can reorder.' And then, they go on our website and they reorder. So that's kind of the general idea. Our second customer would be people that want to do gifts. They're going to the Mainland, or maybe they're going to Japan, and they want to bring gifts, so they would shop with us, get a bunch of gifts, and they know for a fact that it's all local.
Ulu Mana was part of the fourth cohort of Mana Up. How did being a part of that help grow your business? I’m good friends with Meli [James] and Brittany [Heyd], the founders. For me personally — and Ulu Mana — it helped us see who and what is out there to help us. So before, it was just me running around like an entrepreneur, just trying to figure it all out. But once I joined with them, it’s: ‘Oh, there’s state agencies that can help you with this. Oh, there’s Shopify programs that I can learn how to start an e-commerce business.’ There’s all this help out there that I wasn’t aware of until I joined with them. They also help with PR. They just help to get your name out there.
What are your goals for the future? Our goal right now is to really pin down a breadfruit supply chain ... so we can offer products all year round. ... And then, get this home base up and running.
We see ourselves more as a breadfruit company, so we make delicious snack products out of breadfruit. In the future, we probably will work with co-ops and small farms across the world. But as of right now, yes, everything we use is 100% grown in Hawaii, and our main focus is to work with small farms in Hawaii and make sure they’re taken care of before we go off into the world.
Ulu Mana, Inc.
Loren Shoop, founder
Ulu Chip Factory Store address: 1933 Republican St, Honolulu, HI 96819
Website: ulumanahawaii.com
Phone: (808) 987-1284
Email: loren@ulumanahawaii.com
