Community bands together to support popular Hawaiian eatery on Maui

Click here for updates on this story

    Maui, HI (KITV) — A popular Hawaiian eatery on Maui was scheduled to close on Friday, but some loyal customers made sure that didn’t happen.

Poi by the Pound announced the planned closure on social media at the beginning of the month citing financial downturn due to the pandemic.

Since then, customers have flooded their phone line and front doors hoping the restaurant will stay open.

Because of the overwhelming support, their general manager tells me they will, for now.

“To see all of the communities of Maui come out and even people from other islands reach out to us, it was really overwhelming it was an amazing feeling,” General Manager of Poi by the Pound Chalysse Young ‘U’u said.

Chalysse Young ‘U’u says the central Maui restaurant’s received hundreds of emails, phone calls, social media messages.

Even handwritten letters over the past several days prompting the family owned business to remain open over the next two weeks.

The eatery’s been forced to slash hours and furlough over half of its workers for months.

Due to low revenue and restrictions brought on by the pandemic.

“It’s been really really tough, there have been a couple close calls, not just this one, but a couple close calls with use needing to close,” Young ‘U’u said.

According to the website Food a Go Go, 51 restaurants across the islands have already closed including six on Maui, but many on the island don’t want to see Poi by the Pound added to that list.

Kahului resident Bryant Manuel says he and his family typically eat there every other week.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.