Page 21 - MidWeek - Dec 14, 2022

The Man Who Always Goes Above, Beyond
cember, Kurisu saw the de- spondent expression on KTA founder Koichi Taniguchi’s face and didn’t hesitate to act.
gation, right?” he says. “So hereIamatmy54thyearat this company. I saw every- thing evolve from hand reg- ister all the way to computers and to everything else and it has been a journey.”
His journey with the com- pany and in the local food industry continues.
restaurants in our store. The thing I’ m doing now is called ‘in-store food trucks.’”
more than a pan, a stove and a handful of ingredients.
His willingness to go above and beyond made his employ- ers happy as well. The Tanigu- chi family went on to support him through college — first adjusting his work schedule so he could study in Hilo,
Chef Andrew Recca (left) of Koko Head Cafe laughs as Kurisu enjoys one of his dishes at the 2022 Made in Hawai‘i Festival. PHOTO COURTESY DEREK KURISU
then helping him find a job in Honolulu when he moved on to University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. After he graduated from UH’s College of Trop- ical Agriculture and Human
When local restaurants were forced to close during the pandemic, he invited them to do pop-up shops in- side KTA’s flagship store in Hilo.
“I look at it as something very exciting,” he says. “I’m able to provide our customers way more than I could on my own by having these different business partnerships.”
After all, KTA and Kuri- su have always relied on the community for support and feedback. Without that, he says, they wouldn’t be where they are today.
Resources, they welcomed him back to the company.
“We provide them with la- bels and UPC codes and set them up to get into retail,” he says. “It’s still going on and it’s going stronger and stronger. I think we got seven
Another newer initiative is his “Man & the Pan” series on KTA’s Instagram account. These are short video demon- strations in which Kurisu walks viewers through sim- ple recipes that require little
“(The Taniguchi family) wanted me to make sure I’ m able to carry on that philoso- phy,” he says. “Take care of our customers, our suppliers, our people.”
“Can you imagine that? They would find me a job so I could work and continue my education. So, I had an obli-
DECEMBER 14, 2022 MIDWEEK 21
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“I was just a high school kid, but I jumped into the Santa uniform and I went out there and started passing out candy,” he says. “That’s when I started to learn, whatever you do, you better make sure you do it all you can regard- less of what it is. (Being San- ta) was not my job, but my job was to make everyone happy, make the customers happy.”
In this iteration, KTA in- vites a business to cook food for customers inside the store. Because there isn’t an actual food truck, he had signs made depicting a food truck to give customers a better idea of what was being offered.
For this particular series, though, he’s facing a chal- lenge not uncommon among content creators.
Looking Ahead
“I’m kind of running out of ideas of what to make,” he ad- mits, adding that suggestions are welcomed by messaging KTA’s Instagram account, @ktasuperstores.
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