The rain has stopped. The power is back. The doors are open. So is the crisis over?
For a small business, not necessarily.
After the Kona Low storms hit in March, Lindsey Burik, owner of Tradition Coffee Roasters in Kailua, was focused on getting her employees back to work and her customers back through the door. Tradition was fortunate. It had roof leaks and power outages, but avoided the extensive physical damage that forced other businesses to confront whether they could reopen at all.
Yet even a few days of closure carried a cost. Employees could not work consistently. Revenue was lost. Customers were unsure about road conditions and whether the business was accessible.
The storm had passed. The economic disruption had not.
That distinction matters. Severe weather will keep testing Hawai‘i’s communities and economy. We must keep helping businesses recover after disasters, but we also need to ask whether we are doing enough to help them withstand the next one.
Relief will always be necessary. When disaster strikes, we need to get resources to people and businesses quickly. But recovery cannot be the end of the conversation.
Resilience is an economic issue. The 2030 Blueprint for Hawai‘i is built around the idea that our future depends on working collectively toward a stronger, more competitive and more resilient economy. That includes strengthening the small businesses that employ our neighbors, serve our communities and keep our local economy moving.
Lindsey's experience shows why this has to be a shared effort.
When Tradition lost power, neighboring businesses and friends shared generators, extension cords and refrigerator space. An electrician stepped in to help. A friend loaned a large generator, keeping parts of the roastery running.
As Lindsey put it, “It reminded us that resiliency isn't always about having everything yourself. Sometimes it's about having a community where people share what they have.”
That spirit is essential to Hawai‘i's resilience, but community support alone is not enough. We also need to give businesses the resources to invest in preparedness before the next disaster, while making the public investments that help protect the infrastructure they depend on.
That means addressing vulnerabilities in our roads, drainage systems, power and communications infrastructure, particularly in areas that are repeatedly affected by flooding and severe weather. It also means helping businesses plan for disruptions and identify practical ways to keep employees working and doors open when conditions are difficult.
Following the Kona Low, the State of Hawai‘i made $5,000 and $10,000 recovery grants available to eligible businesses impacted by the storm, with the Chamber administering the program. The grants are intended to help businesses recover from the financial impacts of the disaster. For Tradition, that recovery support is also creating an opportunity to prepare for future disruptions.
Tradition plans to use a portion of its grant to compensate employees for work they missed during the storm and to purchase its own generator. Lindsey sees that investment as more than a way to recover. “For us, this grant isn't simply helping us recover from the last storm. It is helping us become better prepared for the next one.”
That is the model to build on. We should be creating more opportunities for businesses to make those investments. We should also encourage businesses to build relationships before a crisis. One business may have a generator. Another may have refrigeration. Another may have a truck or equipment that can be shared.
Resilience sometimes means hard choices about where to put limited resources today to prevent much greater costs tomorrow. It can mean infrastructure with no immediate, visible return, equipment a business may need only a few times a year, or planning when there is no storm on the horizon.
Those are choices worth making.
We cannot prevent every disaster. We cannot eliminate every risk. But we can decide that resilience will be part of how we build Hawai‘i's future, not simply how we respond when something goes wrong. Disaster relief helps us recover from the last storm. Mitigation and resilience help us prepare for the next one.
If we want Hawai‘i to be a place where businesses can grow and communities can withstand what comes next, we have to start preparing for that future now. Because the best time to strengthen our foundation is before the storm comes.
For Hawai‘i's small businesses, recovering from a storm can be tough. But you do not have to do it alone. The State of Hawai‘i, through DBEDT, is providing $5,000 and $10,000 recovery grants to eligible businesses affected by recent disasters, with the Chamber administering these programs. On Oahu, businesses impacted by the Kona Low can apply for recovery assistance. On Kaua‘i, recovery support is available for businesses and nonprofits impacted by Hurricane Lowell. If your business has been affected, learn more at cochawaii.org.
Sherry Menor is the President and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i.
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