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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @TheRealHong, who misstepped.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on

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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Business & Tourism

Fun fact: Selling homemade cinnamon rolls was not 

While the business is currently known for its warm, fluffy rolls, Jasmine “Jaz” Milam, who co-owns Hele Rolls with Brittany “Kawai” Lopez, remembers she started out with doughnuts.

“It was doughnuts to begin with; I’m no good at doughnuts and I already knew that, but I think she (Lopez) really likes doughnuts,” Milam says. “After a couple weeks, I was like, doughnuts are not working.”

Milam, who always loved baking, remembers making homemade cinnamon rolls regularly when she was deployed.

“I was making homemade cinnamon rolls every Sunday to share with my fellow service members,” she says. “It became a tradition that brought everyone together, and seeing how something as simple as a warm cinnamon roll could create that sense of comfort and connection has always stayed with me.”

Milam suggested featuring cinnamon rolls for Hele Rolls’ main product and, long story short, they quickly became a hit.

“Cinnamon rolls felt like the perfect fit,” she says. “They’re nostalgic, comforting, and have a way of bringing people together, which is exactly what we hope every customer experiences when they enjoy one of our rolls.”

Hele Rolls officially launched last June, shortly after Milam’s father died. The business was created as a way to honor his legacy and the values he believed in, especially the idea of food having the power to bring people together.

The business’s name pays tribute to Hele Nui, the food truck Milam’s father previously operated.

“Everyone says it (the business name) should be Jaz’s cinnamon rolls, and I didn’t want my name on it,” Milam says. “All of a sudden, it came to me — his food truck’s name was Hele Nui, so what about Hele Rolls? It’s using his name, but kind of paving my own path, carrying his legacy forward.

“Now, I tell everybody, this started off as a side hustle, but it’s turned into so much more,” she adds. “I have a legacy that I’m trying to continue with my dad. It’s more than just making cinnamon rolls for some extra cash; it’s making him, my family and my community proud.”

The family-operated business accepts pre-orders and pops up at various events across O

ahu, such as the Taste of Aloha Night Market at NEX and What the Truck?! in Waikele. The business’s first What the Truck?! market was recent, and Hele Rolls sold out of its cinnamon rolls in 45 minutes, according to Milam.

“I had about 220 to 240 rolls at What the Truck?!,” she says. “Taste of Aloha was the most I’ve done at a market; it was a little more than 300.”

All cinnamon rolls are handmade in small batches, according to Milam, who says the business focuses on creating that soft, fluffy texture and homemade frostings.

While the business’s original cinnamon roll continues to be a bestseller, it also offers specialty flavors which change every month, according to Milam. Previous specialty flavors include strawberry shortcake, chocolate haupia, ube and Oreo. In July, the business featured Oreo and lemon blueberry cinnamon rolls.

“We love keeping our menu fresh with rotating flavors inspired by Hawai

i, classic desserts and seasonal favorites,” Milam says. “One of our favorite things is challenging people’s expectations of what a cinnamon roll can be. They can be familiar, nostalgic and comforting — or completely unexpected.

“Lemon blueberry had our housemade blueberry compote, our icing, homemade whipped cream, fresh blueberries, lemon zest and blueberry shortcake, which is like cookies with freeze-dried blueberries,” she adds. “The Oreo one was like a cookies and cream. Our menu rotates regularly, so there’s always something new to discover. We put a lot of heart into everything we make.”

At markets, customers can buy individual cinnamon rolls or get sample packs, which include two original rolls and two specialty flavors. If customers pre-order, only packs are available. At markets, original cinnamon rolls cost $6 each; specialty flavors cost $8 each.

When asked about her favorite cinnamon roll flavors, Milam says she likes her kūlolo one — “I still need to perfect it a little bit more” — and also recommends the haupia flavor, which features original icing, toasted macadamia nuts and coconut shavings. 

Besides pop-up events and accepting pre-orders, the biz also offers catering for private parties, corporate events and celebrations. Customers can opt for the full-sized cinnamon rolls or the business’s Cinni-Maninis, or bite-sized cinnamon rolls.

Hele Rolls wasn’t even a year old when the biz was asked to participate in Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race.”

“One day, we were making cinnamon rolls; I was in the kitchen, and Kawai yelled my name,” Milam remembers. “It wasn’t a panic yell; it was more of an excited yell. I came to her, and she said, ‘Look at this.’ It was a casting agent who reached out to us through Instagram. Obviously, like everyone else, we thought it was Spam.”

“We thought it was Spam for sure, but we were like, ‘Who knows, let’s just take a chance,’” Lopez says.

Hele Rolls responded to the message, the agent got back to them, and from there, “it just snowballed,” according to Milam.

That was earlier this spring; Hele Rolls left to compete on “The Great Food Truck Race” in April. Hosted by Tyler Florence, this season follows eight food truck teams from across the country, as they travel through the Great Smoky Mountains. The winning team gets a $50,000 grand prize. Previous show episodes can be viewed on HBO Max.

Keeping the competition a secret was a huge challenge, especially since Hele Rolls has regular customers.

“We couldn’t tell anyone,” Milam says. “On Instagram, we said, ‘This is our last pick-up and preorder until further notice;’ we didn’t know how long we were going to be there. Our regular customers were like, ‘What are you doing? Are you done?’ It was crazy to see all of that play out.”

The current season of “The Great Food Truck Race” premiered on July 26. The teams started in Nashville, according to Milam, who still remembers the first day of filming.

“We were so starstruck because we knew what we were doing there; everybody was looking at us,” she says. “It was insane; I will never forget that feeling.”

Hele Rolls usually pops up in tents at events; the business currently doesn’t operate out of a food truck, though that’s a future goal. Creating new friendships with other cast members and competing teams was one of the highlights of being on the show, according to Lopez.

“Though it was a competition, at the end of the day, we respected one another and cherished that experience as a whole,” she says. “We got a lot of different advice from everybody, their companies and their brands. A lot of them were more experienced in business; we’re freshly new in business. It was a lot to soak in, and also a chance for us to really be OK with being ourselves.”

[{"type":"text","text":"For Milam, being on the show instilled a newfound sense of confidence."}]

“This show has given me the ability to see the worth in ourselves,” she says. “All these people believed in me and believed in us. Being selected to compete on Season 19 of Food Network’s 

has been an unforgettable experience and an incredible opportunity to represent Hawai

“We continue to stay humble, but we’re so proud at the same time,” Lopez adds. “I think the best thing to do is to take a chance on yourself. You never know what can come out of any experience.”

As the business heads into its second year of operation, Milam and Lopez are focused on new goals for Hele Rolls. Milam — now running Hele Rolls full-time — says they would eventually love to own their own food truck and have a storefront.

“We’ve done so much in year one that we never thought was even possible,” Milam says. “We’ve been so blessed in one year — all these things that happened to us.”

She remembers when one of her first goals — in the business’s early days — was just to “have a line.”

“That’s all we wanted — two to three people,” she laughs. “A line means people are willing to sacrifice their time to stand in line for us and for our product. Having a storefront would be (amazing) because I know I can pump out more for them and it would be better quality; that’s always the goal.”

Being involved with the community is also important to the Hele Rolls team, who is always looking for ways they can support Hawai

“We want to be known not just for cinnamon rolls; we want to be known as a business that’s supporting our community,” Milam says. “If somebody needs something, I want Hele Rolls to be in the front of people’s minds. It’s literally about family, food and community.”

No matter what the future holds, staying true to themselves and maintaining the brand’s mission is essential, according to Milam.

“Beyond the cinnamon rolls themselves, I think what truly makes Hele Rolls unique is the experience,” she says. “From the very beginning, we’ve wanted every customer to feel like they’re part of our ‘ohana. That sense of connection is just as important to us as the product we serve.”

“We’re incredibly grateful for the support our community has shown us over the past year,” Milam adds. “As a women-owned, LGBTQ+-owned and family-powered business, it means so much to see people embrace not only our cinnamon rolls, but also the story and values behind Hele Rolls. We wouldn’t be here without our amazing ‘ohana and community, and we can’t wait to share what’s next.”

For updates and information, follow the biz on 

Hele Rolls The Great Food Truck Race credit Food Network 080526

<title>Oʻahu-based family business is 'on a roll'</title>

Hele Rolls, known for its homemade cinnamon rolls, started its business last June. The biz regularly pops up at events across Oʻahu and accepts pre-orders. Hele Rolls is also competing on the new season of Food Network’s "The Great Food Truck Race," which premiered on July 26.

Oʻahu-based family business is 'on a roll'

Zane Dalgamouni

Viewpoints

Government & Politics

threats of ever-growing government surveillance

 on the Mainland, with the use of biometric technology to track down undocumented migrants and 

 being used on Oʻahu for license plate tracking, we have an ever-growing threat for Hawaiʻi. For the past nine months, the mass-surveillance technology company Palantir has been retrofitting offices in Downtown Honolulu.

, a Miami-based corporation, specializes in combining vast datasets to build comprehensive profiles of individuals. It has been used by the 

 to integrate tracking from CCTV cameras, license plate readers, arrest logs and social media. For example, if the Honolulu Police Department were to partner with Palantir, walking in front of a biometric surveillance camera would allow the government to log your locations and movements, your social media posts would be linked to your name, your driving habits would be logged, and those you gather with would be traceable. 

I didn’t find out about this new office through a press release or a public hearing; I found out about it from online 

. The company is actively recruiting in Honolulu for high-level, military-facing roles including "Forward Deployed Software Engineers" and "Deployment Strategists" for the U.S. government. While Palantir has not explicitly named its clients, these specific roles, paired with Honolulu’s status as the headquarters for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, suggest that this corporate footprint is designed to support major federal military operations. Yet, even our local lawmakers are being left completely in the dark. 

When asked about Palantir’s new downtown office, Honolulu City Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam confirmed the secrecy, stating, "This is the first time I’m hearing about this, so ... No, I haven’t been briefed on it at all." 

If an elected official representing urban Honolulu is unaware of a major defense-intelligence contractor moving into his district, the public is entirely cut out of the equation. This complete lack of transparency from Palantir brings to light the threats that mass surveillance poses to our free society and will have impacts for years to come.

So far, based on public records, HPD has no open contracts with Palantir. However, once a tool becomes available in a society, it slowly becomes normalized and used by the local government. 

Mandy Finlay, advocacy coordinator of the 

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawaiʻi,

 warns that this is how "battlefield tools migrate into everyday governance without public input." 

This isn't a hypothetical fear: after facing years of significant public outcry and investigations into racial bias, the Los Angeles Police Department recently canceled its data-mining contracts with Palantir. Policymakers like Dos Santos-Tam note that if the city would want to pass transparency-measures on police contracts with private-firms, a statewide policy from the Legislature may be required due to state/county preemption limits. 

However, the ACLU argues the threat is immediate. Finlay notes that while the state recently signed 

 to limit local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, "we know this administration buys its way around such protections through private, backdoor data partnerships." 

In practice, federal agencies circumvent local sanctuary restrictions by bypassing local police departments entirely, opting instead to purchase bulk, aggregated civilian-tracking data directly from private tech vendors. Palantir Technologies did not respond to a request for comment regarding the operational scope or intent of its new downtown Honolulu office.

Hawaiʻi’s culture is unique from the rest of the country and is embodied in our Aloha Spirit. We pride ourselves on being welcoming to all, and our strong community allows us to trust and look out for our families and friends 

Palantir and mass-surveillance technologies are trained to monitor who you frequently drive to, who you stand with at public events, and who your friends are. On the Mainland, this is intended to 

 criminal gangs and extremist groups. With Hawaiʻi's deep interconnectedness, a Punahou student could have a friend who lives in Kailua, an aunty who works in Mākaha, and an uncle who works at Pearl Harbor; this would all look suspicious to an algorithm. 

Artificial intelligence does not understand the concept of ʻohana, and instead, treats interconnectedness as a risk. If Palantir and mass-surveillance technologies were to be used in Hawaiʻi, our Aloha Spirit could quickly turn into a culture of fear. Knowing that you are always being watched, you would change how you talk, where you gather, and who you hang out with, creating a society of constant surveillance. You would second-guess everything from going to a protest to attending a family gathering, out of fear that your presence could be used against you.

As a 15-year-old, I fear a future where my every move is watched and where my peers and I cannot speak freely. However, we do not have to accept a future dictated by unaccountable tech giants. We are already ahead of our mainland counterparts by not currently holding a contract with Palantir. It is of the utmost importance that we keep it this way. Honolulu must implement strict transparency rules and require public input before any municipal surveillance contract can even be considered. By drawing a line in the sand now, we can ensure that the future of our city is not defined by constant fear, but by the freedom to live openly.

ACLU Hawaiʻi, among other groups, will protest Palantir outside of its Hawaiʻi offices at Pacific Guardian Center in Downtown Honolulu.

Want to reach out to the author of this article? Find Zane Dalgamouni on LinkedIn, 

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<title>Community Voices: Punahou student raises concerns about Palantir Technologies in Honolulu</title>

Zane Dalgamouni, a 15-year-old student at Punahou, fears a future where his every move is watched and free speech is threatened. He concludes, "We do not have to accept a future dictated by unaccountable tech giants," including Palantir Technologies, a Miami-headquartered corporation that is hiring now in the Islands.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on

Kady Pascual

Social Media & Marketing Manager

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on

Authors

Kady Pascual

Social Media & Marketing Manager

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Enter for a chance to win tickets to see Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film ‘Moana’

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Most read