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Tip Top Motel & Café named state’s best family-owned small business
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| Jonathan Ota sits in the Tip Top Café’s dining room below a framed photograph showing the company’s original location in the former TipTop building in Lihu‘e. Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island |
By Blake Jones - The Garden Island
The success of Lihu‘e’s historic Tip Top Motel & Café boils down to a careful balance of tradition and change, which is just one of the reasons it was named Hawai‘i’s best family-owned small business by the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Current owner and manager Jonathan Ota, whose great-grandfather started the business 92 years ago, says Tip Top continues to thrive today by staying true to its values without letting time and habit get in the way of improvement.
What hasn’t changed in the last 30 to 40 years: the simple, home-cooked meals, including the best-selling ox tail soup or the melt-in-your-mouth pancakes, made from scratch every morning using an old family recipe.
“It’s most important that we keep the place with the same feeling that we’re here to serve the local people,” Ota said.
The strategy seems to be working, as evidenced by the endlessly busy dining room — and that’s without the help of advertising.
“(My great-grandfather) felt that if you have a good product and you run things the right way, people will come and spread the word,” Ota said.
Much of the business today is a reflection of founder Denjiro Ota, who took a loan from a friend in 1916 to open Lihu‘e’s first coffee and breakfast shop.
In 1925 the Café and bakery was passed on to Mitchell Ota, Denjiro’s son. Mitchell introduced pies and pastries to the menu, including today’s still-famous pancakes and macadamia nut cookies.
Forty years later, the business moved a half mile to its current location on Akahi Street. At that time it expanded to include the 34-room motel and a bar. The Otas now lease four retail spaces to tenants, further diversifying the company’s portfolio.
Ota says many considered the motel a risky addition in 1965 because so few people visited the island.
“In those days everyone thought my grandfather was crazy to build a motel because nobody came to Kaua‘i,” Ota said. “It ended up being a smart decision.”
When Mitchell Ota died in 1989, his grandson, then 30-year-old Ota, took over.
Ota oversees the daily operations and is responsible for the strategic business decisions, but on an average day he’s just as likely to be found working the cash register alongside his father and extended “family,” or staff. On average, the employees have been at Tip Top for 20 years, and many have passed down jobs to their own family members.
“They are not only hard-working but very loyal to us,” Ota said.
Loyalty to workers, customers and a time-tested business philosophy were just some of the reasons that Tip Top was named Hawai‘i’s best family-owned business by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which hands out local, state, regional and national awards each year to small businesses.
Jane Sawyer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Hawai‘i office, says Tip Top stood out in a very competitive category this year.
“Tip Top went over the top because they’ve changed over the years to meet the needs of customers,” Sawyer said. “They’ve diversified but stayed true to the original values.”
Competing against Tip Top for the statewide honor were the other islands’ recipients for best family-owned small business: Hasegawa General Store on Maui, S. Tokunaga Store on Big Island, and Roy Sakuma Productions on O‘ahu.
Ota also said it’s nice for his family’s efforts over the years to receive recognition, and he knows the award is based on much more than just having kept the doors open all this time.
“The award recognizes businesses that are growing,” he said. “Even if it’s in the 92nd or 93rd year, if you’re not improving, you’re not going to win it.”
Looking forward, Ota says they will renovate the motel and restaurant in the next few years to keep the business “fresh.”
But don’t expect too much change from a place that’s built its name on consistency and familiar faces.
“We’re not here to do something really extravagant that will turn away the local people who have supported us and have been the backbone for so many years,” Ota said.
• Blake Jones, business writer/assistant editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or bjones@kauaipubco.com.
Current owner and manager Jonathan Ota, whose great-grandfather started the business 92 years ago, says Tip Top continues to thrive today by staying true to its values without letting time and habit get in the way of improvement.
What hasn’t changed in the last 30 to 40 years: the simple, home-cooked meals, including the best-selling ox tail soup or the melt-in-your-mouth pancakes, made from scratch every morning using an old family recipe.
“It’s most important that we keep the place with the same feeling that we’re here to serve the local people,” Ota said.
The strategy seems to be working, as evidenced by the endlessly busy dining room — and that’s without the help of advertising.
“(My great-grandfather) felt that if you have a good product and you run things the right way, people will come and spread the word,” Ota said.
Much of the business today is a reflection of founder Denjiro Ota, who took a loan from a friend in 1916 to open Lihu‘e’s first coffee and breakfast shop.
In 1925 the Café and bakery was passed on to Mitchell Ota, Denjiro’s son. Mitchell introduced pies and pastries to the menu, including today’s still-famous pancakes and macadamia nut cookies.
Forty years later, the business moved a half mile to its current location on Akahi Street. At that time it expanded to include the 34-room motel and a bar. The Otas now lease four retail spaces to tenants, further diversifying the company’s portfolio.
Ota says many considered the motel a risky addition in 1965 because so few people visited the island.
“In those days everyone thought my grandfather was crazy to build a motel because nobody came to Kaua‘i,” Ota said. “It ended up being a smart decision.”
When Mitchell Ota died in 1989, his grandson, then 30-year-old Ota, took over.
Ota oversees the daily operations and is responsible for the strategic business decisions, but on an average day he’s just as likely to be found working the cash register alongside his father and extended “family,” or staff. On average, the employees have been at Tip Top for 20 years, and many have passed down jobs to their own family members.
“They are not only hard-working but very loyal to us,” Ota said.
Loyalty to workers, customers and a time-tested business philosophy were just some of the reasons that Tip Top was named Hawai‘i’s best family-owned business by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which hands out local, state, regional and national awards each year to small businesses.
Jane Sawyer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Hawai‘i office, says Tip Top stood out in a very competitive category this year.
“Tip Top went over the top because they’ve changed over the years to meet the needs of customers,” Sawyer said. “They’ve diversified but stayed true to the original values.”
Competing against Tip Top for the statewide honor were the other islands’ recipients for best family-owned small business: Hasegawa General Store on Maui, S. Tokunaga Store on Big Island, and Roy Sakuma Productions on O‘ahu.
Ota also said it’s nice for his family’s efforts over the years to receive recognition, and he knows the award is based on much more than just having kept the doors open all this time.
“The award recognizes businesses that are growing,” he said. “Even if it’s in the 92nd or 93rd year, if you’re not improving, you’re not going to win it.”
Looking forward, Ota says they will renovate the motel and restaurant in the next few years to keep the business “fresh.”
But don’t expect too much change from a place that’s built its name on consistency and familiar faces.
“We’re not here to do something really extravagant that will turn away the local people who have supported us and have been the backbone for so many years,” Ota said.
• Blake Jones, business writer/assistant editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or bjones@kauaipubco.com.
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| Kaua‘i small businesses that lead the pack |
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earthlore wrote on Feb 23, 2009 3:08 PM:
A woman (an employee) rushed out onto the porch area of the shop, waved her forefinger at us, and shouted, "Uh-uh! You can't park here! Paying customers only!". I called back that we did, indeed, intend to come into her store to shop, she crossed her arms and just looked at us like we were gutter slime.
I wanted to leave immediately, but my girlfriend decided to go in to talk to the owner (who was there). They were completely unapologetic, ("Well, you can shop if you want"), and stared hard at her the entire time she was in the store (which wasn't long, I can assure you).
I don't know what possessed them to treat us this way. We are not hippies or thugs - just tourists carrying around a pocket full of cash looking for someplace to spend it. Maybe it was because we are too young to fit their demographic (I am in my early 30's, and my girlfriend is in her 20's), or possibly because she was wearing an "Obama '08" t-shirt (political differences?), but the way we were treated by the employees and ownership of this business was nothing short of deplorable.
I own a retail business in Michigan myself, and never in a thousand years would I behave this way toward any customer - even if I didn't think they were planning on buying anything. Perhaps this is a luxury you get from doing business on a tourist island - that you can mistreat anybody you feel like, knowing that they will be a thousand miles away in a few days.
This singular experience served to ruin the last couple hours of our vacation, and cast a dark note on the entire trip. I do not, as a practice, write negatively of any business... but we were extremely upset by this. "