Company History
Kona Brewing Company was started in the spring of 1994 by father and son team Cameron Healy and Spoon Khalsa. Kona Brewing Company’s Kailua-Kona Pub on Hawaii’s Big Island opened in November 1998. "A mahogany log lifted from the shores of Kailua Bay (used to adorn the acacia koa wood bar) and rusty corrugated tin from an old distillery helped transform the ink-smudged pressroom into a little hops-flavored oasis," said Kona president Mattson Davis in an interview with the Honolulu Star Bulletin in 2004. On the Go Hawaii website, the pub is listed as serving "fresh entrees including gourmet pizzas, sandwiches, pupus and salads. The menu is filled with locally-grown products, including greens, herbs, tomatoes and cheeses" as well as fresh beers on draft.
In 2003, Kona Brewing Co. opened its second restaurant at the Koko Marina Center in Hawaii Kai on Oahu. In an interview with examiner.com in spring of 2009, Davis said that Kona's strategy in 2003 was simple: “Make sure we made great beer, get it to market, and hand out coasters."
In July 2008, Kona Brewing Company opened its third restaurant location and first franchise at Honolulu International Airport. Located at the mainland terminal, the restaurant features Kona Brewing Company’s craft brews and pub menu items.
In February, 2010, Kona Brewing Company hired Sunetric, the largest Hawaii-owned and operated commercial solar energy contractor, to install a 229 kW solar energy generating system at its Kailua-Kona brewery and pub, which is expected to be fully operational by April, 2010. The project, a roof-mounted grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) system, is estimated to produce a daily average of 900 kWh of electricity, which will allow Kona Brewing Company nearly 60 percent offset of its current electricity usage. The brewery held a private blessing of the system with Sunetric on Monday, October 18 led by Hawaiian cultural educator Kumu Keala Ching as its solar system became fully operational.
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