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Moloka’i Estate Coffee: Perking Up Human Potential
By Jill Lee
Moloka’i residents like to say that theirs is the most Hawaiian island. It’s the fifth largest and least developed island in the chain--home to 7,000 with the highest percentage anywhere of native Hawaiians.
Tired of the glitzy, pink and blue
cement sand castles? Moloka’i has the State’s largest
white sand beach–and the world’s highest sea cliffs.
But for all its natural beauty, Molokai has an economic headache: the decline of its sugar and pineapple industries. The island has an unemployment rate of 16.8 percent, roughly quadruple the U.S. average.
But new crops are coming to Moloka’i. They can’t yet replace what was lost, but they are already making a difference. One of them is coffee.
A Man With a Mission
John H. Magoon, Jr., has been an entrepreneur in Hawaii for over 50 years. He is also a kamaina, meaning his family goes back to the early white settlers of Hawaii. In 1986, he leased 500 acres of farmland Moloka’i Ranch, Ltd. and planted coffee. In 1990, he purchased a processing plant and harvesting equipment.
Today his company, Coffees of Hawaii, Inc. employs 25 full-time workers and 40 seasonal workers during the 3- to 4-month harvesting period. Next year, the company expects to have more than $2 million in sales.
"Moloka’i is one of my favorite islands," said Magoon. "I did this as much to invest in the people of this beautiful place as I did to develop a new business venture."
Growing a Coffee Company
The U.S. mainland makes up 75 percent of the firm’s sales, which include private label stocks for some major department stores. A gift shop with locations at the Los Angeles airport and San Francisco International Airports is also a customer for 100 percent Moloka’i coffee. Twenty percent of the sales were in Hawaii.
Five percent of the firm’s coffees are currently exported, mainly to France and Japan with a little sold in Canada.
"We have three roasted coffee brands; Malulani which translates roughly into ‘heavenly aroma’, Muleskinner Dark Roast, with a kickback attitude, and Island Princess flavored with a Polynesian vanilla bean," said marketing expert Chela Lopez-Kuhn. "France was the first country we exported to via a roaster, Café Savor in Paris."
Café Savor buys green Malulani, roasts it at their plant in France and then packages it as Hawaiian Estate coffee.
Lopez-Kuhn credits international trade shows sponsored by the Western U. S. Agricultural Trade Association with helping her make the French connection; FAS’ Market Access Program (MAP) helps marketing experts like Lopez-Kuhn attend these shows.
"At the SIAL food and beverage show in Paris, I was impressed with the sophistication of the set-up. The organizers knew what they were doing," said Lopez-Kuhn. "Having a translator there to help us share our products with more of the importers–that really helped."
Of course, she noted, Coffees of Hawaii, Inc.’s Moloka’i coffee must make a niche for itself within the world’s specialty coffee market. Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the famous Kona coffees all mean competition.
"We strive for distinction with a rich, full and mildly acidic coffee. Someday, consumers worldwide will hopefully know our coffees like they know the fine wines of California," said Lopez-Khun.
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Jill Lee is a public affairs specialist with the FAS
Information Division, USDA, Washington, D.C. Tel.: (202)
720-7939; Fax: (202) 720-1727; e-mail: leejill@fas.usda.gov
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