Zippy's Restaurants celebrates 60th anniversary in 2026

Francis and Charles Higa, the founders of Zippy's Restaurants, were really more than brothers.

"They were best friends growing up," says Francis' son Jason Higa. "It wasn't surprising, I think, to those that knew the two brothers that they would start a business together."

Zippy's, a popular and iconic institution in the Islands, was founded by the Higa brothers in 1966 and will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year. Aloha State Daily recently caught up with Jason Higa, CEO of Zippy's parent company, FCH Enterprises, to learn about the restaurant's origins, its legacy and more.

In the beginning

Higa says his dad and uncle were two of six siblings working at a family-owned meat market, which is still operated today by cousins.

"But at that time, Francis and Charlie knew that Higa Meat Market was not going to be big enough to sustain ... six siblings, so they decided to leave [and] start their own business," he told Aloha State Daily earlier this month.

It was the 1960s, and Higa says the pair began to look at different business options. Eventually, they started to talk to restaurant operators — more so drive-in operators, he says. Those operators, though, were quick to discourage the brothers because of their lack of experience — but the pair continued on anyway.

The Higa brothers opened the first Zippy's Restaurant in Honolulu's McCully neighborhood on Oct. 17, 1966.

They had no culinary background, Jason Higa says, so the duo hired Shiro Matsuo, a chef for then-Gov. John Burns. Matsuo, who went on to open his own restaurant called Shiro's Saimin Haven, helped Higa's father and uncle create the first menu for Zippy's.

"He was an excellent cook, came up with all the recipes for our original menu and that's how Zippy's got started."

The restaurant was open 24 hours at the start. Higa says that was unusual for the time and a lot of business in the early years came between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. "because there were no other options."

Zippy's, he says, became a destination for late night movie-goers, customers from the bars that were open until 2 a.m. and hotel workers coming from or headed to late night shifts in Waikīkī.

"We had a very robust customer base because of the 24 hours of operation, of course seven days a week."

In the early days, Higa says his uncle would work 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. or later, and his father would would 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.

"They always felt that one of them should be active at the restaurant to make sure they can support the team members and make sure the customer service was where they wanted it to be," he told ASD. "Growing up, my recollection was my father was always sleeping because he was sleeping during the daytime, preparing to go to work at 6 p.m."

Family traditions

Not surprisingly, Higa — who was around 3 when the first Zippy's opened — says his first job was at Zippy's in Makiki when he was 14.

"My dad wanted me to experience working at an early age and so I worked as a utility dishwasher that first summer, and subsequently would work on the weekends during high school and summers between high school," he says. "I pretty much worked in almost every position in the company over that period before leaving to the Mainland for college."

Higa, though, says he had no desire to lead the company. In fact, after college he went to law school and subsequently spent five years working at a Hawai‘i law firm before returning to Zippy's in 1995. He went through the management training program and worked at various stores and Zippy's central kitchen before taking the leadership position in 2003.

"I had no desire to come back to the family business, but after five years working as an attorney, I realized that there was a special opportunity that I had in terms of coming back to the family business," he says. "The truth is that I think I was motivated from the standpoint of when I grew up, my father was always working, so I really didn't get a chance to get to know him as well as I wanted to. Coming back to the family business in '95 was probably, for me, an opportunity to get to know him better.

"I never worked directly under him at any point before his passing, but I definitely began to understand him as a person, pretty much through the company culture."

When his father died, Higa says he didn't feel ready to take the reins.

"It eventually took me four years before I realized that, hey, I just got to do my best, and learned over the years how to navigate, how to build our leadership team, how to make decisions. [I] always led by the core values, which gives you a sense of direction in terms of decision-making and that has always helped us to make good decisions along the way."

Legacy

Zippy's has long been popular with kama‘āina. Actor Jason Momoa has called it his first stop in the Islands when he visits Hawai‘i. His newest movie, 'The Wrecking Crew' features select scenes filmed at Zippy's ‘Ewa Beach location, and as a tie-in with the movie, Zippy's even offered a limited-time menu item called The Wrecking Crew Pac. Former President Barack Obama is said to have frequented the McCully restaurant while growing up in Hawai‘i.

Today, Zippy's has 26 locations across on O‘ahu, Maui, Hawai‘i Island and in Las Vegas. And if you're wondering, it sells more than 100 tons of its chili every month.

When asked about Zippy's legacy, Higa says it's a byproduct of the last 60 years.

"As I was in the stores, what was clear is that there was a strong connection between our team members and customers," he says. "We still today have many customers, some of them would come in every day. We had customers that would come in for breakfast and lunch and sometimes even dinner, which is just amazing. And so they, of course, got to know the team members. The team members got to know the customers."

The connections are multi-generational, too.

Higa says there are team members who have children whose first jobs were at Zippy's, "and then you see the multi-generational evolution of our early customers now bringing in their children and then now grandchildren coming into our locations."

"I think that's just a special part of our relationship with our community," he continued. "Francis and Charlie always understood that they were only successful because of our customers and because of the community, so we have a long history of giving back to the community."

And when he's asked about things that have contributed to the chain's 60-year success, Higa sites the core values that go back to Zippy's founders.

The company uses the acronym CHIPS: commitment, humility, integrity, passion and supportiveness.

"It's really reflective, I think, of why we have been able to stay in business," he says. "So definitely the level of commitment, but also humility, and humility translates into being willing to learn, to evolve. We certainly have done that over our history, a lot of changes that we have to do in order to adapt."

As an example, Higa cites the Covid-19 pandemic, which he says allowed Zippy's to "make a lot of changes, which are benefiting us today."

Meanwhile, integrity is "essential" in Hawai‘i.

"For Francis and Charlie, the reputation of the business was so important, and there's many examples where they didn't care about profit," Higa says. "They were looking at the long-term and making sure they always did the right thing throughout their history and that, I think, created the trust with our customer base and even internally with our team members."

Supportiveness is reflected in Zippy's growth, he told ASD, "especially in the early years, they were very encouraging of team members to advance into management or other positions of greater responsibility."

"I think what they learned early on [is that] expansion created opportunities for team members to continue to progress and grow within the company. We have many team members that have been with us for decades, and started out as a utility, a counter person ... and today they're in executive leadership or management or they're a key part of our administrative positions."

60th anniversary

How does it feel to hit this milestone and lead the company across that threshold?

"At times, it feels overwhelming, but I realize that is a privilege, for not just for me, but I know for the executive team or any of our longtime team members," Higa says. "They understand the legacy of our founders and how hard the founders worked and we continue to carry on that legacy by remaining successful, figuring out what we need to figure out, and ensure that we can continue to operate because we also realize that we are providing a living for all of our team members."

Zippy's, which will celebrate the milestone throughout the year, kicked off its anniversary celebration earlier this month with the launch of a new line of 60th anniversary merch.

The collection, which you can find here, includes apparel and accessories inspired by the brand's evolving logos and design history.

Zippy's also will introduce limited-time menu offerings and a series of collaborations with Hawai‘i-based businesses throughout the year, including collabs with Kahala, Hawaiian Island Creations, FITTED Hawai‘i, Keiki Kaukau and others, a recent announcement noted. More will be announced through the year.

Higa, who spoke to ASD between back-to-back Kona Low storm systems that battered the Islands this month, shared his gratitude for Zippy's team members, its customers and the community.

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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.