Pure Kaʻū
Our Story
A Place That Changed Our Family
Where It Began
Pure Kaʻū did not begin with a product or a business plan.
In many ways, it began with my father.
He moved to Kona in 1979 and settled in Ocean View in 1983. The man who left Colorado was not an easy man.
But when I visited him over the years, I encountered a person transformed by Hawaiʻi Island and its people—a skilled craftsman, a philosopher, an artist, and, to many, a true friend.
He was honest, thoughtful, and deeply respected.
What struck me most was the community surrounding him.
He was not someone who sought attention or tried to be known. Yet everywhere we went, people were genuinely happy to see him.
There was trust, respect, and an affection earned over years of simply being the person he had become.
When he passed away in 2008, my wife Sarah and I came to Hawaiʻi to scatter his ashes.
The number of people who came to honor him told a story of its own.
Standing there, I realized I wanted my own life to leave that kind of evidence behind.
Coming Home to Kaʻū
Sarah fell in love with the island and its people during that trip, and we began dreaming about moving here one day.
“One day” took a while.
We raised our five older children and watched them begin lives of their own. We adopted three more, and once those adoptions were complete, we finally made the move to Hawaiʻi in 2020.
We built a home in Ocean View, learned the rhythms of living off-grid, raised animals, and continued raising our kids.
Gradually, this stopped feeling like a place we had moved to.
It became home.
Life in a Small Community
Living in a community like this makes accountability personal.
You cannot easily disappear into anonymity here.
The person in the car ahead of you might be standing beside you at the post office tomorrow. The person you buy from today may know your neighbor. The person helping you now may be the person you have an opportunity to help next year.
Those relationships matter.
These are the people we are growing old with.
That realization changed how we thought about what we wanted to build here.
It became the foundation of Pure Kaʻū.
How Pure Kaʻū Took Shape
Pure Kaʻū did not arrive as one finished idea.
It developed a little at a time over several years. One idea led to another. A problem suggested a solution. A solution opened another possibility.
- How could we build premium Hawaiian products capable of reaching customers far beyond this island?
- Could the success of those products help sustain a physical store here?
- Could that store give local growers and makers another way to reach customers?
- Could we help someone with an excellent product improve a label, strengthen their presentation, or begin selling online without trying to take over their business?
- Could the store also carry the practical things people living in rural Kaʻū actually need?
Gradually, those ideas stopped feeling separate.
They became Pure Kaʻū.
The model is simple at its core: premium products create the economic engine; the retail store creates the community platform; and online sales extend opportunity beyond Kaʻū.
Made Here. Grown Here. Things We Need Here.
That phrase became the simplest way to describe what we are trying to build.
Our first Pure Kaʻū premium products are macadamia nuts, honey, and coffee.
We want those products to be exceptional.
Not because we are trying to manufacture an image of Hawaiian luxury, but because what is grown here deserves careful sourcing, thoughtful packaging, strong presentation, and the opportunity to compete anywhere.
Around those products, we are building something broader.
A place for local growers, makers, and artists.
A place for useful products that reflect what it actually means to live here.
And a place where someone who makes something good has another path to customers.
Pure Kaʻū should never become a gatekeeper between those people and their customers.
If we can help someone strengthen their business, reach more people, or become less dependent on us, that is a good outcome.
Pure Kaʻū exists to create opportunity, strengthen local businesses, and serve the community we are part of.
Why It Matters
My father found belonging here.
Decades later, our family has found it too.
I cannot repay a place for changing my father’s life and then changing ours. I don’t think community works that way anyway.
What I can do is participate.
I can use the skills and experience I have accumulated—some learned through success and some through failure—to build something useful.
Something financially strong enough to last.
Something capable of reaching beyond Kaʻū without losing its connection to Kaʻū.
Something that creates opportunity for the people around us.
Something our children can watch us build while they grow up here.
The goal is not perfection.
It is to be accountable for what we contribute to the place we call home.
That, more than anything, is where Pure Kaʻū came from.