Lanikeha Kitchen Changes Hands

MCSC News Release

After providing commercial kitchen space at the Lanikeha Center for more than a dozen years, the Molokai Community Service Council (MCSC) has turned the kitchen back over to Hawaiian Homes (DHHL). On Feb. 27, DHHL advised MCSC that they plan to transfer the kitchen license to the Homestead Farmers Alliance. The Hawaiian Homes Commission will be asked to approve this transfer at their April 21 meeting here on Molokai.

The kitchen began when community members decided to include it as a project in the 1998 federal Enterprise Community (EC) competition. After Molokai won an EC award, county, state, and federal agencies provided funding to help DHHL establish a kitchen in the newly-planned Lanikeha Center. MCSC was asked to run the kitchen, and we raised the funds needed to purchase additional equipment and to cover operational costs.

Over the years, the kitchen has incubated and supported numerous small businesses that produced poi, pesto, sea salt, honey, sweet potato chips, baked goods, and many other food products. And the kitchen has also helped to support many community events, providing a legal place to prepare food for fundraisers, holiday celebrations, and family parties.

The kitchen was never a revenue generator for MCSC, since the income had to cover costs like utilities, insurance, and repairs. But it was a privilege for MCSC to be able to serve the culinary needs of our Molokai community. Our sincere mahalo to everyone who helped to make it successful. We hope that the new managers will build an even better kitchen, and that they will continue MCSC’s legacy of service to our community.