"She's the chairman," joked Saegusa, who has overseen sales for the hotel's Asia/Pacific division for the past three years. "I work for her."

The hotel's food and beverage director Sabine Glissman admits that she'd be lost without Suzi Takamoto, her administrative assistant for the past three years.

"Who do you think translates the French menus into English?" she chuckled. "She's multi-talented and keeps this office running smoothly. So, I better treat her very well."

To celebrate Kodama and Takamoto, Saegusa and Glissman said they plan to treat their assistants to lunch at Orchids, where executive chef Darryl Fujita is featuring a special Administrative Professionals Week menu from Apr. 27 through 29.

"It's different from what the other restaurants offer," Glissman said. "Our prix-fixe menu includes a dessert buffet, which showcases all the little sweet treats that our team of pastry chefs prepares."

And one of them will also be manning a dessert action station.

"I think people like to see chefs in action, especially when they see them preparing fried mochi ice cream and tropical fruit wontons," Glissman said. "We try to spoil all our guests here."

This is a point that isn't lost to executive chef Darryl Fujita, who has indulged high muck-a-mucks with his bi-monthly "Executive Luncheon" for the past four years.

"But now it's time for them to treat their assistants to lunch here," quipped Fujita, a 20-year veteran at this world-renowned award-winning resort. "Hey, it's only fair."

For the occasion, Fujita has come up with another new "executive" menu, which starts with either a refreshing watermelon gazpacho topped with seared Hamachi ceviche and Ossetra caviar or steamed saffron shrimp couscous.

For the main entree, guests can choose from either the charbroiled lemon-marinated wild red salmon or the spinach fettuccine mixed with a shimeji mushroom ragout sauce.

In addition to the dessert action station (fried mochi ice cream on Wednesday, shaved ice on Thursday and fruit wontons on Friday), the buffet table will also feature such delectable items as Halekulani's famous coconut cake, chocolate mousse, espresso with cream, assorted cookies, biscotti and Big Island strawberries dipped in fresh whipped cream.

Cost is $23 for any two courses or $31 for all three.