We had the good fortune of connecting with MICHAEL KITANO and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi MICHAEL, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
My business (hapa meals) brings people together to try new and a very eclectic style of cuisine. People from different backgrounds get together and enjoy what I create.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I create fusion cuisine. Basically combining two or three different styles into one. I’m a classical French trained chef who went through culinary school. When I eventually branched out on my own, I started experimenting with different ideas and different combinations of cuisines; sometimes great, but when I first started, a lot of times not good at all. But you learn from what happened, add a little bit more of this, add a little bit more of that, and then you achieve what you set out to accomplish.

My brand is associated to what my style of cooking is. “Hapa” loosely translated means “half” or “mixed”. That’s what I do, half of this style plus half of my style therefore mixing the two together and creating sometime unique.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would go to local breweries around the area and beer taste. There we would sample whatever food vendor is available that day/night. Breweries also have very interesting people and it’s easy to talk and get to know each other.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are a few people who have recently helped me. The first organization is CCAP Los Angeles (Lisa, Gail, and Ely) as well as staff from Chef Works (Louis and Kelly). Also friends who have been there since day one and new friends in the industry as well.

But most importantly are my two daughters (Maddy and Emily) who volunteer with me at a local church (thanks to Louis and Ken).

Website: www.hapameals.com

Instagram: @hapa_meals

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