The Hiking Hawaii Cafe, a restaurant built around a hiking tour company, has moved into the Doubletree by Hilton Alana Waikiki Beach, filling a long-vacant space.

Hiking Hawaii Cafe owner Crystal Evans said she hopes to stimulate the appetite for hiking through her cafe, which reopened about a month ago in the space formerly occupied by Padovani’s Restaurant and Wine Bar, which closed in 2005, and later J’s Bistro Martini &Wine Bar, which closed a few years later.

Evans first opened the cafe in 2012 a few doors down in Canterbury Place, but closed the venue in 2015 when her lease expired. Evans, who has an extensive food and beverage and event planning background, said the idea was to offer simple sandwiches for hikers, but the concept took off when she added vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. It also provided a way to improve net profits by booking hikes directly rather than going through third-party agents that charge commissions nearing 30 percent.

“The businesses complemented each other by accident,” Evans said. “When I didn’t have the cafe, I was very dependent on Expedia and the occasional person who would find our hiking business through our website. Once I added the cafe, my website traffic bumped up. In the last year and a half, when we didn’t have the cafe, my hikes plummeted.”

The hotel’s encouragement as well as a lifelong dream to be a restaurateur inspired Evans to expand the earlier cafe concept.

“When I saw the space, I knew it would be a good fit. We’ve got hotel guests and a steady crowd of local clientele that comes in every week from the surrounding condos,” Evans said.

Michael Wilding, Doubletree general manager, said the hotel has been pleased by Evans’ sustainable renovation, which utilized wood from the site’s former restaurants and from an old barn. Wilding said guests love the cafe’s environmental focus, food quality and ambience, which promotes hiking at every turn.

“One of the Doubletree’s mindsets is that little things mean everything,” Wilding said. “The cafe is attentive, it’s local. Crystal puts her whole heart into it. People really like it.”

Evans uses local produce from Mari’s Farm in Pearl City to make panini sandwiches, burritos, wraps, salads and pizza. Breakfast, which features acai bowls, egg scrambles, bagels, paninis, burritos and pizzas, also is served all day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian options abound.

All smoothies are made with real fruit and vegetables, and the cafe has kombucha on tap. The food comes in environmentally kind containers, and drinks are served with metal straws.

“We are a hiking company, so we felt that we had to make a big commitment to sustainability both in the cafe and on our hikes, where our guides always bring bags to pick up any trash that we find,” Evans said.

Daily group and custom hikes are sold at the cafe and online at hikinghawaii808.com. Reservations are recommended for hikes and can be made by calling 855-808-4453 (HIKE). Trained guides accompany all hikers, who also can request to add Louie, a certified therapy dog.