PO‘IPU — “We are grateful to be open,” said Dan King, general manager of the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort &Spa Thursday as he wielded bags of fixings for “yummy side dishes” to go along with the ham or turkey for each of the resort’s associate and their families.
The bag of fixings accompanied a choice of either a turkey or ham for each GHK associate and distributed in a drive-thru, no-contact format during the GHK Give Thanks Drive-Thru Shop – 2020 kine distribution at the property’s large-group entrance, keeping the porte cochere open for guests arriving at the Po‘ipu resort.
The drive-thru event was budgeted for at least 600 meals for hotel associates.
“The year, what we have experienced makes finding things to be grateful for even more important,” said Diann Hartman, the hotel’s director of marketing communications. “This year, and every year, we are grateful for our associates, and we would like to make Thanksgiving Day dinner shopping just a little easier.”
Al Garces, the resort’s director of purchasing, said that, traditionally, the hotel would assemble the goods in a big room, and associates would “shop” for their selections.
“We don’t want to break this tradition,” Garces said. “But with the COVID-19, we can’t do the room and have the associates shop. During the drive-thru, each associate gets a variety of traditional and island holiday food items, along with a free turkey or ham all ready to take home, as a mahalo from the Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i.”
The resort reopened Nov. 1 following nearly eight months of being shut down due to the global pandemic that hit Hawai‘i in March.
The hotel is slowly bringing back staff who were was furloughed because of the pandemic closure.
“We’ll be open on Thanksgiving,” chirped the chorus of associates from the Ilima Terrace restaurant, who took advantage of a break to claim their Thanksgiving meals. “We’re happy to be back.”
•••
Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
