Executive Chef Sven Ullrich’s imagination is cooking as he combs the exotic-fruit orchards at Frankie’s Nursery in Waimanalo for hand-picked ingredients to wow his guests at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa.

The 15-acre farm, which is shielded by the vibrant green Ko‘olau mountain range, offers up more than 400 choices of fruit, many of which Ullrich had never seen or tasted before his visit. Owner Frank Sekiya’s worldwide search to produce the best-tasting exotic fruits has turned his orchards into a real-life Willy Wonka factory.

There are orange-fleshed matisia from the Amazon Basin that taste like a cross between a cantaloupe and a mango. The firm flesh of the mammee apple, a relative of the mangosteen, has an apricot-mango flavor. Eating a sapodilla from the Philippines is like sampling a pear sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. Southeast Asian mabolos look like apples covered in peach skin, but taste oddly like cheese. Sekiya even has a patent pending on the world’s first cream-colored pineapple, which he created and dubbed the meli kalima or honey cream for its less acidic, high-sugar taste.

"I’ve been in the food industry for over 20 years, but they just blow me away," Ullrich said. "Coming here, I’m like the kid in the candy store. I get so excited. I just can’t wait to share these with my customers."

While the luxury Hyatt Waikiki might seem a world removed from Sekiya’s windward garden of Eden, a new companywide push to provide healthy, sustainable and responsible food and beverage options for guests and workers is bringing it closer. Last month, Hyatt introduced a global philosophy called "Food. Thoughtfully Sourced. Carefully Served," which emphasizes offering foods that are good for the local communities and good for the planet.

The new push means that Hyatt’s 488 properties throughout the world, including the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach, are working to reduce their impact on the environment and improve communities by buying local foods.

"We want to reduce energy consumption by buying more foods that don’t have to be shipped," Ullrich said.

Guests and workers also are seeing more portion-controlled menus that fit into a balanced and healthy diet. Offerings are growing more creative as Hyatt chefs discover new ingredients to delight the taste buds.

"It’s the right thing to do and it livens up the menus," said Ullrich, who upon his return to the hotel kitchen pickled the mammee apple and turned a purple mango into a salsa to dress the evening’s swordfish special.

Since the effort is at the core of every food and beverage decision, even the bar menu offers locally sourced choices, said Vincent Brunetti, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach’s executive assistant manager and food and beverage director.

"The chefs and food and beverage are working closely to really source the best ingredients for our guests," Brunetti said.

The Kai Breeze, made with locally sourced Kai Vodka and coconut shochu, and the Ty Ku Fiz, with Ty Ku Soju and fresh strawberries, have become instant hits, he said. Guests also like the Ocean Infusion, featuring Ocean Vodka from Maui, and the Thai-Kai Lemongrass Vodka, Brunetti said.

"They love to sample products that they can’t get anywhere else," he said.

Susan Santiago, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts’ vice president of food and beverage for North America, said Hyatt is the first hotel company to make such a holistic food and beverage commitment.

"A lot of our competition wants to do this, but the challenge is finding the supply to do it," Santiago said. "We are taking a journey."

Hyatt started down this path more than a year ago after guests and meeting planners asked for more environmentally conscious menus with healthier items and smaller portions, she said.

"We see this as a way to build brand preference," Santiago said.

While the amount of local and sustainable ingredients on the menus at individual Hyatt properties will vary due to supply, the company is mandating the use of at least five local ingredients on every menu, she said.

Oahu suppliers like Yupin "Jenny" Bickel, who runs Paradise Fruit and Vegetables, a wholesale, retail and export business, say they have already seen an improvement in sales.

"Hyatt buys fruit from me once a week," Bickel said. "I hand-pick the fruits for them so it’s the best quality."

Farmer Sekiya said his partnership with Hyatt increases the liklihood that his exotic fruits will not be wasted and opens up other business opportunities.

"It’s a new direction for our business, too," he said. "We have visitors coming to the nursery … or having our trees shipped home."

Hyatt is developing new relationships with suppliers across the corporation, Santiago said.

"We told our vendors that we are going to move in this direction and that they would need to move with us," she said.

For example, last year Hyatt became the first hotel company to commit to carrying cage-free eggs on most of its menus, Santiago said.

"Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has switched all of the 2.4 million (whole) eggs it uses in their U.S. restaurants and room service operations to cage-free," Santiago said. "And, we are moving to natural (without nitrates) bacon by the end of the year."

The company has changed its burger standards to a Meyer all-natural burger and put vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian choices on all of its menus, she said. Hyatt also is looking for ways to increase its natural (no hormone or antibiotic) beef and chicken and has made a commitment to hormone-free milk.

While the new push means costs have gone up, Santiago said Hyatt is using portion control to manage revenue.

"Our mandate used to be an 8 oz. burger. But the (Meyer burger) is a 20 to 40 percent premium, so we went to a 7 oz. burger," she said. "That helps with the calorie count as well."

"When we look at obesity in this country, a majority is due to those portion sizes," Santiago said. "We have a responsibility to our guests to help them eat smart."

Likewise, the company has acknowledged that it has similar responsibilities to its workers, said Jeffrey Szombaty, Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach’s executive sous chef.

The 365 Refresh program, which began two months ago, promotes fresh and healthy employee dining in a stress-free environment.

"We wanted to create a place where our associates were happy and where the food that they ate revitalized them throughout the day," Szombaty said.

Employees, who are provided free meals in the workplace cafeteria Hale Aina, now have access to a full salad bar with fresh greens, fresh fruits and about 10 different toppings, he said. Hale Aina is also serving up main dishes made with leaner cuts of meat, baked and roasted more often than fried, he said.

"We’re controlling portions and putting sauces on the side," Szombaty said. "We’re moving to Meatless Mondays instead of Fried-Fish Fridays."

Emily Gadingan, who has worked for the Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach for eight years, said the changes are pleasing.

"We have our own salad bar and they serve things like fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh salmon," Gadingan said. "It makes us feel like we matter."

With that simple change, Gadingan said Hyatt has earned her lifelong loyalty.

"I want to work here forever and never retire," she said.

The company is banking on the idea that the guests in all 45 countries it serves will have similar reactions.

"This is what they’ve been asking for," Santiago said.