A restaurant franchise specializing in Hawaiian-style entrees will eventually open in Springfield, Joplin and other nearby metro areas over the next few years.
Hawaiian Bros Island Grill bills itself as a fast-casual restaurant that offers island-inspired meals prepared with fresh ingredients. It has earned recognition from the fast-food industry for its brand and menu, which are centered around “an ‘ohana culture and aloha spirit.”
The franchise was launched in 2018 and currently has 39 locations in seven states. According to a press release from the company, it signed a franchise agreement with Ohana Restaurant Group LLC, which is owned and operated by Zach Fugate and cousins Nick and Nathan Blasi. The group opened their first Hawaiian Bros in Springdale, Ark.
According to a spokesperson for the company, Ohana will start evaluating sites in Springfield later this year, with a projected opening sometime in the next two years.
Adapting a Hawaiian staple
Its menu is inspired by the Hawaiian plate lunch, which features chicken or pork with sweet or savory sauces served with macaroni salad, steamed white rice or vegetables.
The plate lunch has its origins from the 1880s, according to the company’s website, when workers from all over the world emigrated to work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations. Leftover meat from the previous evening’s dinner would be served with rice in order for the meal to be more filling.
While people from Japan to Puerto Rico, from the Philippines to Portugal, brought flavors from their homelands, those were enhanced with pineapple, according to the site. In the 1950s, roadside stands and food trucks started offering the plate lunch, adding macaroni salad to the meal.
Hawaiian Bros menu includes several varieties of chicken and pork. The Huli Huli Chicken is a teriyaki-flavored entree, while the Kilauea Chicken offers some spicy heat. Its Spam Musubi appetizer resembles a large piece of sushi, featuring seared Spam and teriyaki sauce on a large ball of rice.
Fugate leads Fugate Enterprises, a Wichita, Kansas-based business that operates about 150 Pizza Hut and 75 Taco Bell locations across the country. In the release, Fugate said Hawaiian Bros’ simple menu lends itself to fast drive-thru times and outstanding food quality.
Future expansion
The chain bills itself as a fast-casual restaurant. The press release said that new locations will be open in Springfield, Joplin, Wichita and northwest Arkansas through 2027.
A location was initially planned for Joplin last year, according to reports from The Joplin Globe. The chain had applied for a permit in September to build a $1.6 million restaurant on South Range Line Road.
However, the company opted not to pursue that location and moved it into the franchise agreement with Ohana, according to the spokesperson.
