Honolulu Coffee Co. serves at Golden Globes
Ed Schultz, owner of Honolulu Coffee Co., has brought his product to Hollywood.
Honolulu Coffee Co. owner Ed Schultz is hobnobbing with celebrities while serving them 100 percent Hawaii-grown coffee in the 2011 Golden Globe Celebrity Suites in Hollywood. The suites are set up in advance of the Golden Globes Awards telecast, coming up Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. on KHNL-TV.
"It’s a great opportunity. I’m pretty excited about it," he said. "It’s a chance, obviously, to promote your products to some of Hollywood’s finest stars and TV stars," some of whom have frequented Honolulu Coffee Co. cafes in the islands.
ON THE NET: |
Golden Globe nominees Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Scott Caan are among the Hollywood types who have sipped a cuppa joe at Honolulu Coffee Co. cafes in Hawaii, as have Aerosmith front man and new American Idol "American Idol" judge Steven Tyler, Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton and recording artist Taylor Swift.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
At his Maui cafe, Schultz has personally served celebrities including tennis star Andy Roddick and his bride, actress Brooklyn Decker.
"I don’t know if any of them will recognize me, but hopefully they’ll recognize the coffee," he chuckled.
"Hawaii Five-0" star Caan is likely to be at the awards, and Schultz hopes to "bump into him and talk story about Hawaii."
The company has formulated a Golden Globe blend from Kona- and Maui-grown coffees that will be given to the celebs who stop by the booth, being shared by sister company Kaldi’s Coffee Roasting Co., based in Missouri. Kaldi’s business model is to serve coffees from around the world, while Honolulu Coffee Co. serves Hawaii-grown coffees. The sister companies’ coffees are the official coffees of the event.
Schultz planned a pour-over bar, in which hot water is poured over freshly ground coffee in a ceramic cone-shaped dripper. It takes 45 seconds to a minute to make a cup of coffee, "faster than a French press, but it has the specialness of being freshly prepared," he said. The preparation method has proved a boon to business, as its pour-over bar at DFS in Waikiki has increased sales of his product line nearly eightfold, he said.
Schultz’s Golden Globe blend will be available in the eight Honolulu Coffee Co. stores in Hawaii beginning next week and will retail at $29.95 for a 12-ounce bag.
It will take a little longer to get the product to the two Guam stores and to the Manila store — but the Honolulu Coffee Co. cafe in Taipei will have to be built before it can receive any product for sale. It is set to open in September.
