Centralized Kitchens Are The Secret To Zippy’s SuccessÂ
The students in Hawaii’s Department of Education stand to benefit from the concept.
March 9, 2023 · 2 min read
About the Author
The proof is in the pudding (or chili in Zippy’s case) — the central kitchen concept works when mass meal preparation and distribution is required. Zippy’s, like the Hawaii Department of Education, feeds thousands daily across the state.
Zippy’s is Hawaii’s a first stop for local favorites and plate lunches and the largest locally owned restaurant chain in the state. With 22 locations on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island and a future Las Vegas location to open this year, we are a staple of Hawaii’s food and agriculture ecosystem.
The secret to our success: our not-so-secret centralized kitchen.
Our centralized kitchen concept has helped us ensure consistent food safety, quality, and, most importantly, taste. I can confidently say, the same would be true for the DOE, where plans are already under way.
Our USDA-certified central kitchen helps ensure that the quality of our food satisfies our customers from Hawaii Kai to Kapolei and beyond.
At Zippy’s, we pride ourselves on sourcing our products from local farmers. It’s encouraging to know that the DOE believes in the same purchasing practice of buying local.
Through the centralized kitchen concept, purchasing and contracts for all products are consolidated. This plays a critical role in our efforts to support the local agriculture industry.
Executing purchase agreements at each Zippy’s restaurant would be economically and logistically ineffective. Our central kitchen also helps to supplant food from mainland exports and support our local farmers.
The partnerships that we establish with farmers and local food manufacturers are invaluable. Zippy’s stands proud to say that our beloved chili is made of 100% local beef.
All of our saimin dishes are made with Sun Noodle saimin noodles which are locally produced here in Hawaii. Sugarland Growers supplies our tomatoes and we buy local products such as Japanese cucumbers, green onions, papaya, eggplant whenever it’s available. All the eggs used at the Zippy’s locations are local eggs, and we’ve supported Eggs Hawaii for many years.
Finally, the central kitchen concept helps ensure that each restaurant maintains a level of quality that our customers deserve.
The students of the DOE stand to reap the same benefits with a centralized kitchen.
I applaud the DOE for their foresight in implementing the concept.
Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.
Community Voices aims to encourage broad discussion on many topics of community interest. It’s kind of a cross between Letters to the Editor and op-eds. This is your space to talk about important issues or interesting people who are making a difference in our world. Column lengths should be no more than 800 words and we need a photo of the author and a bio. We welcome video commentary and other multimedia formats. Send to news@civilbeat.org. The opinions and information expressed in Community Voices are solely those of the authors and not Civil Beat.
Read this next:
Local reporting when you need it most
Support timely, accurate, independent journalism.
ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ is a nonprofit organization, and your donation helps us produce local reporting that serves all of Hawaii.
ContributeAbout the Author