A two-scoop challenge

By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer

It seems so easy.

Co-owner Cora Stevens serves up a plate lunch at the Simply 'Ono lunch wagon at Kewalo Basin. Stevens, who adds to her income by catering on weekends, says lunch wagons must comply with many regulations. There also are taxes, workers' comp and bills to handle. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Open up at 11 a.m., close down at 2 p.m. Your day is done.

Easy money, right?

But ask anyone with a lunch truck and they'll gladly enlighten you on the realities of small-business ownership in Hawai'i.

"This is a lot more difficult than most people think," said Troy Nitsche, owner of the landmark Giovanni's Original White Shrimp Truck in Kahuku, which sells $12 plates of shrimp. "It's a lot of work owning your own business — any business — and if you're looking for something easy, take a 9-to-5 job. That's a lot easier than running your own shop."

Running any business isn't easy. And in Hawai'i, it can be particularly difficult when you consider the cost of healthcare, workers' compensation, real estate and shipping. Not to mention the taxes and government regulations.

The state Department of Health's rules for food-establishment sanitation, including lunch wagons, runs 125 pages long.

"What's really tough ... is that they're (typically) mom-and-pop types of businesses, but they have got such a huge amount of regulatory requirements on them," said Bev Harbin, president of the Employers' Chamber of Commerce and former small-business owner. "They supply such a need to such a big part of our working community, but it's unfortunate what they have to go through. These people must love their jobs.

"Most people think that's gotta be the best job in the world," Harbin added. "Just jump in the truck, feed people, then go home. But it's just unbelievable ... It's a tough life."

Lunch wagons may seem like the smallest of small business, a restaurant on wheels with low overhead and limited hours of operation.

But serving prepared food from a truck requires hours of prep work and cooking beforehand — and dish-washing and bill-paying after. Workdays can be 10 hours or longer.

Orders at Simply 'Ono are simply taken down on paper. The popular lunch wagon was the first to offer brown rice and fresh-fish plates. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

On the up side, some owners make decent money, in some cases exceeding their earnings in their previous jobs. Often they supplement their income by catering or running company dining rooms.

Typically, lunch wagons gross $1,000 to $2,500 a day, depending on volume, prices and location, owners say.

After just 2 1/2 years in business, Marcos and Lendy Rebisis, who run Pu'uwainani's Lunch Wagon downtown and cater events, make more money now than they did when he was a restaurant line cook and she worked in sales at Verizon Hawai'i.

Then, they had a combined yearly income of about $67,000. The couple declined to say how much they clear from their food business, but they consider themselves successful.

"Maybe it's the combination of his cooking background and my sales background," said Lendy Rebisis, 29. "I'm constantly passing out our menus and talking about our wagon. His part is to keep the food consistent. And it works. Our customers, we know them by name, and they like that. And they like our food, so they tend to come back. The biggest compliment for my husband is when he sees somebody come back again. That just makes his day."

For some, the lunch wagon business proves to be financially challenging.

It was a struggle for much of the 27 years that Richard and Ellen Tangonan ran Sassy Kassy's lunch wagon at Campbell Industrial Park.

In the early 1990s, business plunged. Sales dropped 25 percent. Wholesalers were requiring them to pay on delivery.

"We just fell behind on everything," Richard Tangonan said. "We just couldn't pay (bills). It was a really bad time."

"I didn't realize how many hours you'd be putting in or how much it would cost," the 64-year-old said. "Between me and my wife, we'd work 160 hours (a week). It sounds like, 'How can that be?' But honest to God, at the end, the hours were just killing us."

Tangonan said he would get up at 2 a.m. six days a week and start prepping food for that day. He would cook about 140 cups of rice and start pots of beef stew and his signature beef teriyaki. Everything was loaded on the truck by 9:30 a.m. to reach Campbell Industrial Park by 10.

After serving about 200 plate lunches in three hours, the couple would return to their home in 'Ewa Beach, clean out the truck, wash dishes, pick up supplies and do payroll. They usually ate dinner at about 8 p.m., maybe watched the 10 o'clock news on TV and retired to bed. Just to get up at 2 a.m. and start it all over again.

In 27 years, the couple took just one vacation — to attend their daughter's wedding in California.

"It's unbelievable," Tangonan said. "There's always something to do."

The biggest challenges facing lunch wagon operators have less to do with cooking and prepping and more to do with taxes and insurance, say owners.

"The state of Hawai'i is generally not the most business-friendly place," said Nitsche. 33. "There are so many concerns people are not aware of, like employee benefits. It's costly to do business in this state. You have to do a volume of business to cover the extra costs."

Marcos Rebibis, co-owner of Pu'uwainani's Lunch Wagon who has created an imaginative menu with meals all priced between $5 and $6.75, serves a plate lunch to customer Duane Au. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Then there's the issue of rising costs, which can be especially tough when you're competing with other lunch wagons, fast-food restaurants and convenience stores.

In 27 years, the Tangonans were only able to raise prices to $4 a plate from $1.75.

"It's not that we wanted to keep (our prices) that low," Richard Tangonan said. "But other wagons were selling for that price. We couldn't go up."

Despite the high cost of doing business in the Islands, lunch wagons continue to be popular to operate. At present, there are 624 permitted lunch wagons in Hawai'i, according to the state Health Department, 571 on O'ahu.

One reason for their popularity is their relative affordability for budding restaurateurs who would face much higher costs operating full-scale restaurants.

That's why the Rebisises opened a lunch wagon.

A trained chef, Marcos Rebisis always had dreamed of opening his own restaurant. He even has his menu planned.

But the couple found that running a lunch wagon was a much more affordable option — and a good way to learn how to run a business in Hawai'i.

The Rebisises bought the 24-year-old truck, all the couple's equipment and even the location — in the parking lot at Halekauwila and South streets — for $15,000.

"We got a really good deal," said Lendy Rebisis, who is pregnant with their second child.

In addition, they found a vacant kitchen to cook in, which costs $550 a month in rent. They also pay $200 a month for the stall in the parking lot.

Marcos Rebisis quickly worked out a menu of lunches, the likes of which were seldom served out of trucks. Garlic 'ahi with sweet wasabi sauce. Furikake mahi in wasabi tartar sauce. Fried 'ahi poke. Pork adobo. All priced between $5 and $6.75. The menu made Pu'uwainani's Lunch Wagon a hit among downtown workers.

Lunch wagons have evolved over the decades, with more menus featuring healthy or gourmet food options.

The two Simply 'Ono wagons — one at Kewalo Basin, the other behind the Municipal Building downtown — were among the first to offer brown rice and fresh-fish plates. Both even have served a rack of lamb plate for $11 and lobster tails for $9.

"We didn't want to do what everybody else did," said co-owner Harris Sukita, 50, who opened the first Simply 'Ono wagon seven years ago on Kapi'olani Boulevard. "We wanted to be different, to find our own niche. Competition breeds competition. I figured all these other guys will have to chase us. Now there's a lot of (wagons) serving brown rice and fish, which they never did before."

Sukita and his partner, Cora Stevens, add to their income by catering on weekends.

Despite all the costs of running both a catering business and two lunch wagons — rent for the lunch wagon space alone costs them more than $1,000 a month — Sukita said this is a dream come true.

"I've always wanted to do this, ever since high school," he said. "I didn't want to be stuck in a kitchen or in an office. I couldn't see myself sitting behind a desk. I love cooking. I get to be outside and talking to people. That's what motivates me. We wanted to create something that was totally different, and change the image of the lunch wagon. ... I have no regrets. To me, this is so much fun."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8103.