HONOLULU — Anahola Granola was one of more than 25 honored at the 23rd annual Hawai‘i Entrepreneur Awards held Friday evening at Wai‘alae Country Club on O‘ahu.
Becky Burns, who founded Anahola Granola 37 years ago, was selected as the 2023 Consumer Packaged Goods Entrepreneur Award recipient at the event hosted by Hawai‘i Venture Capital Association to recognize the accomplishments of Hawai‘i’s outstanding entrepreneurs and innovators.
Melia Foster, founder of Meli Wraps, and Chloe Blake, co-founder of Kaua‘i Sweet Shoppe, were finalists in the People’s Choice of Startup Paradise.
Burns started Anahola Granola as a single mom who wanted to provide healthy food for her daughter. The firm has grown to offer four flavors of granola, a trail mix and granola bars that are served in hotels and sold in stores across the state.
The granola is now made in Hanapepe. Anahola Granola produces two tons of granola and thousands of granola bars each week. Burns’ daughter, Malia Burns, and son-in-law purchased the business last year, and continue her mother’s legacy.
Kaua‘i Sweet Shoppe, in Kilohana Plantation in Puhi, was co-founded by Blake, mother-in-law Nani Marston and husband Kalei Marston in 2012. The company manufactures specialty caramels with Hawai‘i flavors, like guava and li hing mui.
Foster created beeswax wraps to reduce the number of plastic bags she was using when making her two boys’ lunches. In 2015, she and a friend started making the wraps, and created Meli Wraps.
Local artists create the designs, honey from Hawai‘i Island is used for manufacturing the beeswax wraps and a line of products up on the North Shore of Kaua‘i. Meli Wraps employs seven people, and their products are sold in retail stores and nationwide chains.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
