Can you share a bit about your business and what you do?

I make ONO (Hawaiian for “delicious/good”) house spam musubis and specialty musubis. I also make li hing mui candy, which is a famous type of candy in Hawai’i. I also do weekly orders depending on my schedule, and I have done a few pop-ups recently. I do catering for events big or small, so hit me up! 

When and why did you decide to start your new business?

I started selling spam musubis my sophomore year of high school, and people really liked them. So I decided to sell them throughout the rest of my 3 years of high school. During the pandemic, it was hard. I was a senior and did not get to finish my year off the way I expected. The stay-at-home order really had me bored, so I was like, “why not start a business to keep me busy?” So in June of 2020, I officially started Makana’s Musubis.

What do you love most about running your own business? 

Something I love about running my own business is that I can stick to my schedule. But most importantly, I have gotten to meet so many wonderful customers and other small business owners as well. It also gave me this piece of joy to have during these difficult times because I never thought something I made could make someone and their tummy happy. 

What’s your #1 recommendation for someone who has yet to try out your menu? 

Something I would totally recommend to a new customer is possibly the LoCoMo-subi, which is my musubi version of the Hawaiian dish: Loco Moco. And if they are vegan, no problem! I had also made a vegan version of the LoCoMo-subi.

I am currently working on more vegan options to reach out to more people who cannot have meat. A really popular one I have made was a Musilog musubi, which is based on a Filipino breakfast of egg, tocino, and rice. Definitely good for breakfast!

Do you have a business goal you can’t wait to hit either this year or in the future?

Some goals I have are to do more pop-ups in different areas, not just in the East Bay area but also in some orders in the valley area. I also want to try and make different varieties of musubis, especially different combinations, and expand the vegan menu.