COVINGTON, Ky. — Over the previous few months, the Tri-State has seen a number of eating places shut their doorways as rising prices proceed to harm small companies.
Kealoha’s Kitchen, an genuine Hawaiian restaurant in downtown Covington, is not any completely different.
“If you are available our doorways, we kinda deal with you want what we name in Hawaii is ohana. We deal with you as household,” mentioned proprietor Val Abafo.
That feeling of ohana is throughout Kealoha’s Kitchen, with even the identify impressed by Abafo’s brother, who dreamed of opening a Hawaiian restaurant however handed earlier than he was in a position to.
“My brother’s identify is Rudolph Kealoha Abafo, so we named it Kealoha’s Kitchen to be able to take him alongside on the experience,” mentioned Abafo.
Hear the story of Kealoha’s Kitchen and the way the group supported them beneath:
Neighborhood members, Bengals participant present up for Covington household enterprise in want
Abafo grew up in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, and moved to the Tri-State again in 2005. In 2020, he and his household started Kealoha’s Kitchen as a meals truck.
“The thought was to carry our Hawaiian delicacies and aloha and share it with the folks of the Tri-State,” mentioned Abafo.
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On their first day open as a meals truck, they offered out in two hours. Abafo mentioned it was then he and his household knew that they had one thing particular.
Enterprise was booming and in 2023, they moved into their very own restaurant proper in downtown Covington.
However by the tip of 2024, they have been struggling.
“Gross sales have been happening for us and by the tip of December, we have been down 37%,” mentioned Abafo.
Determined to maintain their household restaurant open and pay the payments, Kealoha’s Kitchen took to social media.
“This previous January we put out on Fb and Instagram that we have been having a tough time and we reached out to the group and requested for his or her assist,” mentioned Abafo.
After that social media submit, Abafo and his household closed the restaurant for a bit as they returned to Hawaii for a couple of weeks. However the day they reopened their doorways, the group confirmed their aloha (which suggests love, along with hello and bye) for Kealoha’s.
“There was a line out the door, the eating room was crammed just about all night time,” mentioned Abafo.
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Abafo informed us they acquired a lot assist that the next weekend they ran out of meals.
A few of that group assist got here immediately from Bengals broad receiver Andrei Iosivas, who was additionally raised on Oahu, and a daily on the restaurant.
“He (Iosivas) mentioned, ‘Hey if you guys get again, let me know and I’ll submit one thing and hopefully assist you to guys out,’” mentioned Abafo.
The gang that got here to assist Kealoha’s was a mixture of previous clients and new faces from Iosivas’ submit, in keeping with Abafo.
We requested Abafo what it meant to him to see group assist like this.
“It was simply, overwhelming and simply joyful,” mentioned Abafo. “I imply it’s heartwarming you recognize to see the group care about us that a lot to come back out and wait, wait 20 minutes to get a meal. Nevertheless it actually was, introduced tears to my eyes.”
Kealoha’s Kitchen says the previous few weeks have been higher however they’ll proceed to wish the group assist to remain open. In addition they plan to take some recommendation they acquired on social media comparable to staying open later, hoping it would allow them to keep open in the long term.
Kealoha’s Kitchen is positioned at 529 Fundamental Road, Covington. They’re open Wednesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to three p.m.
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