Page 13 - MidWeek - March 15, 2023

It’s Showtime For These Island Businesses
ng and vacuuming large surface areas.
have worked. Gedeon, along with his brothers Joe, Mark and Branden, own and oper- ate a bustling business with a client list that includes gas stations, grocery and conve- nience stores, shopping cen- ters and more.
ponents.”
Gedeon, a proud Kaiser
Hawai‘i Island-based Sus- tainable Island Products is a family-run statewide distrib- utor of eco-friendly, com- postable and recyclable alter- natives to everyday single-use items, including cups, deli containers, cutlery, plates, office paper, green janitorial supplies and more.
“Everybody has an opportu- nity to make an impact on oth- ers, whether it’s your children, grandchildren or the commu- nity you live in,” he says. “We just felt that we could make a change in an industry that
“Our business began over 40 years ago and was recently acquired by Reyes Beverage Group,” shares general man- ager John Erickson. “Our strength lies within our great local team and our amazing
S “The employees — I al- sitways call the robots employ- b-ees — are doing the jobs that anpeople don’t want to do. And
High School grad, detests the opinion that family and business shouldn’t mix. In fact, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
itthey don’t call in sick either,” reDavenport says with a laugh. ut
In its current form, JPG Ha- wai‘i is a full-service graphic design, printing and installa- tion company based in Ka- ka‘ako. On top of that, the biz launched two more divisions: JPG Media, which offers out- of-home advertising across a digital screen network, and JPG Facility Services Ha- wai‘i, which provides pack- ages for companies looking to upgrade their space.
“My brothers are capable; they have unique abilities and they’ re super talented, and working with people who have skin in the game and trust is a dream come true to us,” Gedeon shares, adding that the Waikīkī Rotary Club dubbed them the “Gedeon Golden Boys” more than 20 years ago.
Most of the items are made from agricultural byproducts, like the agave straws, which are made using materials from the tequila-making pro- cess. But don’t worry, these aren’t the type of straws that disintegrate within five min- utes of sitting in liquid; Elkjer and his team thoroughly vet everything they sell to ensure optimal performance.
SEE PAGE 14
Eco-friendly, recyclable items are always on the menu at Sustainable Island Products. PHOTO COURTESY SUSTAINABLE ISLAND PRODUCTS
9 Reasons Why You’ll Love Our Office
MARCH 15, 2023 MIDWEEK 13
FROM PAGE 12
carrying food and cleaning a table. If you look at the time it takes to run to the kitchen and come back, the waiter could be out there with the custom- er. My goal is to increase cus- tomer service, not get rid of employees.”
for more sustain- able meth- ods in local restaurants and hotels.
looking at what plastics they have in their lives. They’re thinking, ‘Do I really need that? Can I do that different- ly?’” says Elkjer. “And if we all think that way, we’ll be able to reduce our plastic foot- print, and the more we reduce it, the better off we all are.”
was heavily entrenched in petroleum-based products. At a point in time, I wondered if we were crazy, but it seems to have worked out.”
“We al-
ways felt it
wasn’t about us. It’s about a bigger thing. It’s more about what we do for our fellow man and what we do for the future,” says Elkjer, who pur- chased the business in 2015.
At the Hawai‘i Hotel & Restaurant Show, attend- ees can expect to see a wide range of friendly robots that are capable of doing every- thing from bussing tables and singing happy birthday to delivering room service
JPG Hawai‘i remains a driving force in the graphic design, printing and installation industry in the islands. PHOTO COURTESY JPG HAWAI‘I
At the Hawai‘i Hotel & Restaurant Show, Elkjer looks forward to meeting and creating relationships with potential clients — that’s one of his favorite parts of the gig.
John Elkjer
Thanks to the hard work of 350 employees, Island Dis- tributing (previously known as Paradise Beverages) de- livers a whopping 9 million cases to more than 2,400 cus- tomers every year.
he
ots Jean-Paul Gedeon cred- hisits five magical words to his s asuccess: “What else do you
need?”
on Starting ndout as a
ntsteenager v-printing orT-shirts asand stick- byers in his
Jean-Paul Gedeon
“It’s the next evolution of what we’ ve done,” says Gedeon. “We’ve created the foundation of our print services and graphics instal- lations services, like wall wraps, signage and all that, but building on top of that extra value is the other com-
“I don’t see anyone else I want to be a business part- ner with. As long as we stay straight about our business and relationship together, then the sky’s the limit.”
The biz serves all islands and is eager to work with everyone from grocers and farmers to chefs and event planners, and everyone in between.
ekitchen, Gedeon would ask edclients if they needed help ithwith anything beyond his expertise and, if feasible, ot-he happily would oblige. ntsFast-forward 23 years later heand his method seemed to
ce lar
ee n- ut m. or “It ter
“I think people are more engaged now than ever when
Long before any official ban on single-use plastics, John Elkjer was an advocate
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