Kauai is a fast casual restaurant that’s focused mainly on the healthy natural food space. The brand was founded in Cape Town, but over the years, it has grown globally, and today it has stores as far afield as Thailand, Scotland, Ireland and Holland.
The success of Kauai has shown us that healthy fast food is a realistic concept with a widespread appeal, and not one reserved for only a small portion of consumers.
Background
Kauai was launched in 1996 as the brainchild of 3 friends who had previously lived on the Hawaiian Garden Isle of Kauai.
These 3 friends — John Berry and brothers Carl & Brett Harwin —were running a bottled juice company while living in tents in a papaya field, but also shared a dream of one day opening a sandwich and smoothie shop.
Their dream became a reality after a visit to South Africa.
Their business was slowly gaining momentum when they travelled to Cape Town for Carl’s wedding to a Capetonian, which was followed by a holiday of surfing.
They fell in love with the city and decided to stay. But after a while, they realised that when they wanted to “go down the road” to buy some food, there weren’t any healthy options available
“After being here for a few days, we noticed that we couldn’t find the types of food – healthy juices, smoothies and so on that we were used to back home.”
“When we were hungry, all we could find were pizzas, burgers and fried chicken. We were surprised that nobody was providing a healthy, convenient food and drink offering in South Africa…the market was here but not the offering.”
In 1996, they decided to move their juice business from Kauai to South Africa and evolved it into an outlet in Cape Town that sold a range of healthy sandwiches.
“We wanted to share the unique warmth and Aloha spirit of the island and all its beauty and amazing flavours with the people of South Africa and beyond. We were driven to make the healthiest, freshest juices and smoothies to improve and inspire the lives of people.”
By following their dream to launch a healthy fast-food outlet, they created a retail concept that has become a success story. In the early days, Kauai consisted of only 3 outlets in Cape Town, and today there are over 200 outlets all over the country and beyond.
In mid-2015, Kauai was acquired by Real Foods — a food group with unmatched dedication to healthy and natural foods —ending the journey of 3 friends who were inspired on a trip to Hawaii, and launched the first Kauai store 26 years ago in the city of Cape Town.
