09/24/2026
Hurricane Lowell knocked down hundreds of avocado trees across Kauaʻi — instead of letting that fruit go to waste, our longtime customer Gida Snyder of Slow Island Food & Beverage Co. came up with the brilliant idea to turn it into the inaugural Great Kauaʻi Guac-Off: 25 local guacamole entries, blind-tasted by local chefs, benefiting Kauaʻi’s beloved community radio station, KKCR.
When Gida invited us to take part, we enthusiastically agreed! Chef Miguel Figueroa fried up tortilla chips using donated Raiz tortillas and our donated Kuleana Hawaiʻi Grown Sunflower Oil. Contest participants were also treated to a bottle of our locally grown Sunflower Oil.
The connection ran deeper than the chips: our sister company, Pacific Biodiesel, stepped in to donate a supply of biodiesel to fuel KKCR’s generators when the station needed it most, helping to keep the broadcast alive. Pacific Biodiesel has been Hawaiʻi’s only commercial biodiesel producer for over three decades, and part of what makes it work is a true zero-waste loop — they recycle used cooking oil from restaurants statewide, including the sunflower oil that fried the chips at the event, back into clean fuel. That oil starts as sunflowers regeneratively farmed by Kuleana Farms on Kauaʻi, crushed at our Kaumakani mill into Kuleana Hawaiʻi Grown culinary oil – and the residual meal is sold as local animal feed. Field to fryer to fuel — nothing wasted.
The event exceeded its $2,500 goal, raising over $5,000 for KKCR by night’s end. Congrats, Gida, on creating this wonderful community collaboration. And mahalo to KKCR for your dedication to public broadcasting and support, come rain or shine.
Read the full story on Kauaʻi Now (link in bio) 🔗
Photo credit: Elana Tough | The Artichoke |
Kauaʻi Now article credit: Xiomara Yamileth
