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Business & Tourism

The overhead lights are bright on this Wednesday morning.

In the commercial kitchen at Leeward Community College’s Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center, Kenny Tsuru carefully pours a bright green syrup into the creamy base for his ice cream. A melon scent fills the air.

After it’s mixed, he talks as he moves to the ice cream machine, pours it in and presses the buttons to make it go. It would take him 24 hours to make a batch at home, he says. This produces six times as much in less than 10 minutes.

When that step is done, he moves to the table and begins to meticulously scoop his Melono ice cream into individual cups.

“When I started this business, I really wanted to bring in a Melono [flavor], but make it unique,” Tsuru explains. “I really like the taste of Melona shave ice and the mixture of that with condensed milk and ice cream, so I started and I made my own creation, which is ‘Melono’ which is exactly that — all combined into an ice cream with a very creamy texture and really my dream ice cream flavor.”

The entrepreneur — and Pearl City High School senior — is the namesake and driver behind Kenny Boy Ice Cream. He produces out of the WVAPDC commercial kitchen and sells his ice cream online and at the center’s monthly market.

He’s also a member of ‘Āina to Mākeke’s newest cohort, and the youngest participant in the program’s history. The day we meet him — Feb. 18 — was his 18th birthday.

‘Āina to Mākeke is a 12-week program is offered by the LCC’s Office of Workforce Development and the Wahiawā Value-Added Product Development Center in collaboration with the Hawai‘i Ag and Culinary Alliance. It aims to help local makers turn home recipes into market-ready products.

Aloha State Daily caught up with Tsuru to learn more about his business and participation in the program.

Tsuru started Kenny Boy Ice Cream after dealing with some health problems.

He was an active teenager, working two jobs, participating in sports and used to work out daily, but with his health condition, he could no longer do that. It even got to a point he says he couldn’t walk, couldn’t go to school and had to stop working.

“I wanted a way to put a smile on my face,” he told ASD. “I went out and bought a Ninja CREAMi ice cream maker for Black Friday [in 2024], and I just started making ice cream for myself and my friends and my family. I really got into it.”

His sweets-loving family was supportive and encouraged his work, and Tsuru began selling to friends, family, neighbors and people around him.

He “really got official” last summer. Tsuru says he started to feel better and his health problems began to go away.

“I decided that this wasn’t just going to be a passion project. This was going to be my business. This was the first thing I ever found in my life that I really enjoyed, and I felt this is my purpose. I felt this was a calling. This was really the career I wanted to go into,” he says. “And I know as a high school teenager, not a lot of people say that, and it is early on, but I really found that this made me happy. This helped me during that hard time in my health, and I really felt that this is what I wanted to do, so I went all-in in July.”

He came up with the name — Kenny Boy Ice Cream — and borrowed the slogan from an uncle: “It’s ono ono brah!”

From there, Tsuru says he started selling 32-ounce family-size tubs of the sweet treat, began networking and attended business entrepreneurship opportunities.

Tsuru also is in the management cohort program of the 

International Business and Design Academy

 at Pearl City High School, where he can earn early college credits and a certificate of achievement. His mentor at school suggested he check out the WVAPDC and he went to the showcase for the ‘Āina to Mākeke cohort six.

“I got to see what the ‘Āina to Mākeke program was and I was so amazed,” Tsuru says. “I wanted to make it happen for me. I wanted to be a part of that, so I really made it my goal to figure out what it was going to take for me to be a part of the cohort. As a young entrepreneur —  at the time under 18 — I didn’t know if it was possible.”

He kept talking with employees of the center, participated in workshops and went to events the center hosted to get in the door. When applications for the new to ‘Āina to Mākeke cohort opened, he jumped at the chance to apply.

"I said no matter what, no matter my age, I want to do it, so I signed up."

Tsuru says, too, that he was working to become a WVAPDC kitchen user at the same time he was applying for ‘Āina to Mākeke.

Using the center has allowed Tsuru to scale his production, commercialize his product and made the process much faster.

 — Melono, a melon cream flavor; Strawono, a strawberry flavor made with fresh fruit; and a cookies and cream flavor — as well as rotating flavors. He sells them in 32-ounce tubs but you can find 6-ounce cups at pop-up events and for his newly launched catering component.

When he started his business, Tsuru says he not only wanted to support himself financially and save for college, he also wanted to dedicate a portion of his profits to helping local organizations. This year, he’ll donate 10% of all profits to Make-A-Wish Hawai‘i.

Tsuru is one of 15 food entrepreneurs from O‘ahu and Kaua‘i that’s part of the seventh ‘Āina to Mākeke cohort, which ranges from early-stage makers to established local chefs.

When asked why he wanted to participate in the program, Tsuru say he saw the opportunities it provided when he attended the showcase for cohort six.

“The whole thing about ‘Āina to Mākeke is you take a value-added food product — ice cream is my product — and you get it to market,” he says. “That’s something I wanted to do. I wanted to share my ice cream in the market, and I wanted to someday live out that childhood dream of having a product that I can go to the store and say ‘That is mine. I’m proud of that.’”

He also wants to grow his business and help more people.

In addition to Kenny Boy Ice Cream, other cohort 7 entrepreneurs include Hawaiʻi’s Only; Honolulu Mochi; Kahawai Farms; Kauaʻi Fresh Fish; Mālama Protein Bar; Myna Trading Co.; Nā Kālai Waʻa; Nourish Your Soul; ReBran; rōmu; SAVA Provisions; Shaka Butter; Shaka Mex and Sol Food Kitchen.

Now, more than 100 entrepreneurs have participated in the ‘Āina to Mākeke program since its launch in the spring of 2023.

“It’s incredible. It’s surreal, in a relatively compact period of time,” Chris Bailey, manager of the WVAPDC told ASD of hitting the milestone. “I think it demonstrates the need and the interest from local entrepreneurs to figure out how to take all the parts and put it together and continue to build that mindset for actually taking an idea and really having a strong and stable business that they can grow and take to the next level.”

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Kenny tsuru 021826 1

<title>The scoop on Kenny Boy Ice Cream</title>

Entrepreneur — and Pearl City High School senior — Kenny Tsuru began making ice cream after going through a challenging period with his health. He is a member of the newest cohort for ‘Āina to Mākeke, a food business program from Leeward Community College's Office of Workforce Development in partnership with the Hawai‘i Ag and Culinary Alliance, and at 18, he's the youngest participant in the program’s history.

The scoop on Kenny Boy Ice Cream

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

A 2019 state law requiring boaters to cover the salvage costs if their boat runs aground has been almost entirely ineffective, according to a state audit.

Seven years ago, then-Gov. David Ige signed into law 

, a measure requiring owners of boats operating in state waters to maintain insurance policies that would cover the removal and salvage of their vessels if they ran aground or sank.

The bill was introduced after the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation warned the state Legislature that it was spending too much money covering the costs of vessel removal and salvage itself. In 2019, DLNR reported that it had spent $2.2 million since 2002 to deal with 91 grounded vessels.

But HB 1033 hasn’t meaningfully reduced DOBOR’s salvage expenses. The State Office of the Auditor released a 

 this week concluding that DOBOR may not be capable of enforcing HB 1033’s insurance requirements and may not have ever been clear about what those requirements actually are.

“We could not determine whether the insurance requirement has ‘greatly reduced,’ as DLNR represented it would — or has even reduced — the department’s costs to remove and salvage grounded vessels,” the audit reads. “We could not determine whether the requirement has helped to ensure that vessel owners are held responsible for the costs.”

According to the audit, DOBOR informed vessel owners of the new insurance requirements in 2020 before the law took effect in March of that year. By 2021 or 2022, however, the audit discovered that DOBOR had stopped requiring proof of insurance because boaters kept telling the division that such coverage was effectively unobtainable.

Boaters reportedly told DOBOR that no insurer would issue a $100,000 salvage coverage policy for a boat worth less than that — in fact, a boat would need to be worth $1 million to receive such coverage. The audit reported that a former DOBOR administrator — who went unidentified in the report, but, as the report described him as leaving the position in 2024 after 17 years, is most likely Ed Underwood — estimated that about 80% of registered vessels in the state are “junk.”

Meanwhile, the audit also cast doubt on the $2.2 million figure DOBOR had used to justify HB 1033. According to the audit, DOBOR could not provide clear records of how much money it had spent salvaging grounded vessels or how much it may have collected from vessel owners as reimbursement for such expenses.

The audit does include a figure from DOBOR claiming that the division has spent another $1.7 million removing grounded vessels since 2014. But it also notes that DOBOR’s efforts to collect salvage costs from boat owners — as required by HB 1033 — amounted to a single demand letter that almost always went unanswered.

“We found DOBOR’s efforts more akin to an honor system than a collections process,” the audit reads, estimating that boaters didn’t respond to the demand letter “95 to 99% of the time.”

The audit does not include information about how many salvage operations DOBOR has conducted since 2019. But each salvage operation was estimated to cost between roughly $12,000 and $50,000, most of which would inevitably be paid for by DOBOR.

The aforementioned former administrator also told the Auditor’s Office that HB 1033 wasn’t initially intended to reduce DOBOR’s salvage expenses at all. Instead, he reportedly said that it was intended to cover occasional liability issues involving “trailered” boats that launch via state boat ramps.

“Things happen in the launch ramp areas, people banging into each other’s cars, they knock the light poles down, things like that,” the former administrator told auditors.

The audit states that DOBOR leadership seemingly and erroneously assumed that the salvage coverage required by HB 1033 would also cover general liability for vessels using boat ramps.

DLNR Acting Chair Ryan Kanaka‘ole responded to a draft of the audit in January, providing additional context for some of the report’s findings. He claimed, for instance, that HB 1033 was hampered by unforeseeable “constraints in the marine insurance market” that rendered it less effected than intended.

Furthermore, Kanaka‘ole wrote that DOBOR does make greater efforts to recover salvage costs from boaters, but added that DOBOR also has a responsibility to protect natural resources. Because a prolonged shipwreck will have negative impacts on the environment, DOBOR prioritizes removing a grounded vessel — at cost — over securing payments from vessel owners.

The final conclusion of the audit makes several recommendations for DOBOR, including but not limited to developing more comprehensive documentation processes for money owed to the division and determining exactly what types of insurance, if any, will actually reduce DOBOR salvage expenses.

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<title>Unsalvageable: 2019 boat insurance law doesn't work, audit finds</title>

A 2019 law required boaters to have insurance to cover salvage costs in case of a grounding or shipwreck. That law was effectively unenforceable, a state audit has determined.

Unsalvageable: 2019 boat insurance law doesn't work, audit finds

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Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Tripadvisor named its top 10 beaches across the nation in its 

2026 Travelers’ Choice Awards Best of the Best Beaches

 list, and four are located in Hawaiʻi. Other states with beaches that made the list include California and Florida.

The travel guidance platform compiles the list using reviews from the Tripadvisor community over a 12-month period. Out of 8 million listings, less than 1% are recognized on Tripadvisor’s lists. Descriptions of beaches were based on reviews and summarized by artificial intelligence, according to Tripadvisor’s website.

Poʻipū Beach Park on Kauaʻi was the first location in the state to make the nationwide 

 Beach Park,” shares Tripadvisor’s website. “Strap on a snorkel and check out the lava rocks and their colorful fish inhabitants. Or, stick to the shore to catch Hawaiian monk seals lazily lounging by day and sea turtles making their way onto the beach by sunset.”

Next on the list is Waikīkī Beach on Oʻahu, which takes the No. 4 spot.

“Waikīkī Beach is known for its lively atmosphere, beautiful sunsets and stunning views,” shares the Tripadvisor website. “It's clear waters are perfect for swimming, surfing and water sports.”

With its aqua waters and silky sand, Lanikai Beach took the No. 5 spot on the list.

“Lanikai Beach is a calm and relaxing spot that rarely gets too crowded,” shared the Tripadvisor website. “It's clear waters are perfect for swimming, snorkeling and kayaking. It's easy to spend the entire day there, and you'll definitely want to get there early — the sunrise views are next level.”

The final Hawaiʻi-based beach on the list, which took the No. 7 spot, was Punaluʻu Black Sand Beach on Hawaiʻi Island. 

"With its volcanic sand and coconut palm-lined shores, Punalu'u Black Sand Beach is all about postcard-worthy views," shared Tripadvisor.

. One beach also made Tripadvisor’s worldwide 

 list. Poʻipū Beach Park on Kauaʻi took the No. 21 spot on that list. 

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Lanikai Beach

<title>Four Hawaiʻi beaches make Tripadvisor’s best U.S. beaches list for 2026</title>

Tripadvisor’s list of best beaches in the nation includes one location on Kauaʻi, another on Hawaiʻi Island and two on Oʻahu. Make your guesses for which beaches made the list ... 

Four Hawaiʻi beaches make Tripadvisor’s best U.S. beaches list for 2026

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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Girls’ Day, or Hinamatsuri, is coming up Tuesday, March 3.

Whether you’re looking for mochi or other limited-time treats, the following are sure to please the girls in your life:

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: These Sakura sugar cookies ($7) are available for a limited time. 

: Available for purchase and pick-up until March 3

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: This dessert shop’s March specials include:

: Available for pre-order; treats will be in store starting Feb. 27 

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: Fujiya Hawaiʻi is offering a variety of treats for Girls’ Day. Choose from:

: Pick-ups and walk-ins available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 2; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 3

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: The dessert shop will offer Sakura-shaped cookie and a four-pack of cupcakes ($23). Cupcake flavors include red velvet, vanilla buttercream, guava and chocolate buttercream; no substitutions on flavors are accepted.  

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: Eaton Square, 438 Hobron Lane Ste. 102, Honolulu

: This Girls’ Day strawberry shortcake ($44.50) is designed to serve four to six people. 

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: Ala Moana Center, 1450 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu

: The dessert shop is offering specialty cakes with seasonal decorations for Girl’s Day. Choose from strawberry shortcake (6-inch cake $58, 7-inch cake $70, 8-inch cake $90) and raspberry mousse cakes (7-inch cake $65). 

: This online business is offering a three-pack strawberry set ($8), Sakura sweet box ($15) and assorted sweet set ($3). All treats are available in dark or white chocolate or matcha flavors. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Yohei Sushi"}]

: 1111 Dillingham Blvd. No. 101, Honolulu

: The eatery is featuring a Girl’s Day special ($65). The special menu highlights sushi — featuring 12 pieces of seasonal fish — along with dishes inspired by pearls, peach blossoms and Nobori lanterns. 

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