Page 13 - MidWeek - April 6, 2022

13
“Thankfully, after the first couple months, things lev- eled off,” she explains. “Our stores and our franchisees
Now, the world is adjust- ing to a new normal and Flores is thankful that the
Many of the franchisees are operated by first- or sec- ond-generation immigrants from across Asia. Some decided to open L&L eat-
L&L Helps Franchisees Achieve Dream Of Business Ownership
FROM PAGE 12
“I’ m really proud that al- most everything we serve to customers we make from scratch in-house ... Every- thing is cooked fresh to or- der and because of that, the taste is on another level,” Flores emphasizes. “Beyond that, we give really, really big portions.
“My absolute favorite is our chicken katsu,” she adds, noting that “the crunchiness of the panko that we use and the tartness of the sauce” are what she most enjoys about the popular dish.
In 2014, Flores was named chief financial officer for L&L. Five years later, she was promoted to her current positions, succeeding her fa- ther who founded the iconic brand after purchasing the original restaurant on Liliha Street in 1976.
Although the 37-year-old Flores now holds a leading position at the company, her business life previously took her on quite a different path.
She graduated from Puna- hou School and earned her executive MBA from Uni- versity of California, Los Angeles, and her bachelor’s in finance from Universi- ty of Southern California. Flores also went to work for General Electric. For more than eight years, she served within the company’s fi- nance management program before assuming the role of corporate auditor, a position that allowed her to travel the world and perform auditing and consulting work across multiple GE firms. Eventu- ally, she was promoted to a senior finance manager po- sition, where she oversaw a portfolio of assets with annual revenue in excess of $750 million.
Yet even after she left Ha-
“The biggest transition coming back was I had a very corporate background, versus my dad who is super entrepreneurial. So, coming into the business and work- ing with him has been my greatest joy, but I will have to also say, it’s one of my biggest frustrations, in that we think about business in totally opposite ways,” Flores says.
about things, and he could share with me how he looked at things. And so, we would have a broader perspective on what the problem or issue was and come up to a better decision.”
are so fantastic and we really understood then how we had to operate in this COVID en- vironment. Once we got the hang of it, and we got the hang of it very quickly, the stores were able to bounce back and have good sales.
company has not just sur- vived, but thrived as well.
eries to control their own destinies in the wake of the pandemic.
“After that initial frustra- tion settled, I began to see that it was actually really wonderful because my dad and I work really well to- gether. So, even though we saw things from very dif- ferent viewpoints, we could talk about it. We could have conversations. I could share with him what I was looking at and how I was thinking
“We’re expanding into re- gions that we typically hav- en’t gone into. So, previous- ly we were heavily based on the West Coast and actually we have most of our stores in California, more than we do here in Hawai‘i,” says Flores. “But this year, we’ re expanding into South Caro- lina and into Georgia.”
“I feel so privileged to be part of a family business in Hawai‘i ... As kind of a second-generation person coming in, I just feel very privileged and lucky to take what my dad and his busi- ness partner created and car- ry it forward,” Flores says.
Six months after taking the reins, however, the pan- demic hit and Flores had to quickly figure out how to keep the company afloat in a fast-changing landscape. Much like other businesses, she was forced to navigate her way around the daily changes to rules regarding masks, barriers, customers’ temperatures, what items to serve and more.
“We were lucky that we were a takeout restaurant before and we just amped up that takeout business, added third-party delivery, added online and app order- ing,” she continues. “And so many of our stores in 2020 and 2021 actually ended up with higher sales than they had in 2019, because they were able to adjust really quickly.”
Currently, there are L&L Hawaiian Barbecue fran- chises in 14 states across the U.S. There are even two eateries finding success in Japan.
“All of our stores are fran- chised and it is so important in terms of having a good relationship with our fran- chisees. We’re partners in this together ... I think it’s such a privilege to be able to help our franchisees with that — to help them create their American dream, to help them create their fam- ily legacies,” Flores shares.
APRIL 6, 2022 MIDWEEK 13
older sibling. My parents put time, money, energy, love into the business, just like they did to me and my sister.”
wai‘i to attend college and work for GE, Flores always knew that she’ d eventually return and work for L&L.
(Right) The
business is
sometimes
viewed as the
fifth member of
the Flores family,
which consists of dad
Eddie Jr., mom Elaine, and
daughters Elisia and Ellice.
(Top right) Elisia and Eddie Jr. share
some family time at the L&L Hawaiian
Barbecue Liliha location. (Far right) Father
and daughter make an appearance at the Ke’eaumoku Street restaurant.
PHOTOS COURTESY ELISIA FLORES
What makes L&L such a beloved eatery is that its food really hits the spot with diners, she notes.
“But there was no real ex- pectation of when, and my parents did not give me a lot of pressure to come back and join the family business right away. So, I ended up working at GE and to my surprise, I guess I actually ended up really enjoying it. I loved being on the main- land, I loved traveling to different parts of the coun- try for work,” Flores shares. “AtGE,Iwasinacoupleof different leadership roles, so I got to work in different business groups and see dif- ferent industries.”
E