Community Corner

Founding Year: 1975

878 Front St
A-12
Lahaina, HI 96761
Website

This month, we are happy to spotlight Thai Chef Restaurant! First opening its doors in 1975 on Maui, Thai Chef Restaurant was the first Thai restaurant in Lahaina. Specializing in authentic Thai food, the restaurant is well known for their freshly cooked-to-order foods ranging from papaya salad to Curry.

We recently asked John Young, Thai Chef Restaurant’s owner, a few questions to find out what makes his business unique.

How did the business get started?

Thai Chef Restaurant opened in 1975 as the first Thai restaurant in Lahaina! We took over the business from the Chan family who was ready to retire after more than 35 years. My wife is an amazing cook (just ask anyone who has had the pleasure of dining with us in our home) and had always dreamed about having her own restaurant one day. A simple discussion with the previous owners over lunch turned into ownership a few months later

What are the main services you provide to your customers?

What is an interesting fact about your business?

Google puts our location on Front Street because we're part of the same building that is on Front Street, but we’re actually on the back side far corner, just down from Sale Pepe. Hard to find but well worth it.

What is one thing your business is known for?

Best Thai food around! :)

What was a major hurdle you had to overcome and how you were able to achieve this?

We’re still trying to overcome the major shift in staffing challenges. Everything is different post-COVID-19 and we’re still adjusting and adapting.

What’s the biggest risk your business ever took?

Purchasing the business in the middle of the COVID outbreak. Like a lot of people I imagine, we thought this would be a rough patch for six months or so then life would go back to normal. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

Any advice you’d like to give to someone who’s thinking about becoming a business owner?

If you’re going into the restaurant business these days, you better have a lot of family support and be ready to work 24/7.

Information provided by: John Young, Owner of Thai Chef Restaurant 

About the Spotlight Member of the Month

As part of our contest for a HI Now segment on Hawaii News Now, we asked Rising Tide members to provide information highlighting their unique businesses. While only one winner could be featured in the spot, we wanted to highlight some of the other unique businesses that submitted. This started the Spotlight Member of the Month feature, a monthly highlight of small businesses from across the islands.