Meet Aline Steiner | Founder and CEO / Koko Kai Yogurt

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aline Steiner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aline, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?What was your thought process behind starting your own business?

My partner Jon and I started Koko Kai Yogurt as a pivot business at the early onset of the Covid 19 shut down as our existing occupations and businesses along with the rest of world started to Shutdown in March 2020.

After having a private Chef Services business myself and firm for the past 12 years and received an Holistic nutrition certification which resulted to switching to mostly plant-based eating; I searched for a yogurt alternative that reminded me of a European Style yogurt that tasted great and without too much sugar; Alas, the options were very limited and I was surprised at the amounts of fillers and sugars constantly added. I was inspired to create a wonderful plant based functional yogurt without all the added stuff existing in commercial dairy alternative yogurts. We also noticed that no yogurts were made in Hawaii as we rely so much on mainland distribution. We also strongly wanted to support the local farming community in Hawaii with the bounty of tropical options that we have. Prior to the covid shutdown, lack of time and always traveling preventing us to commit 100% in the development of our brand.

Subsequently and due to the shutdowns, all client’s bookings and projects cancelling one after the other for both of us, a blessing in disguise happened and we went to work as we had now plenty of time on our hands to commit to properly research, test and develop Koko Kai Yogurt.

With a leap of faith, patience and resilience in the middle of a pandemic; we brought to market for the first time our Coconut Yogurt at a farmer’s market in Honolulu in August 2020 with 3 flavors and now 4: Simple Coconut, North Shore Vanilla, Hawaiian Passion Fruit and Raw Hawaiian Honey. Our ingredients label is extremely clean and short with less than 4 ingredients + 13 lives and active custom probiotics blend.

Our yogurts are Dairy free, Gluten free, Plant based and contains no starches, fillers, no gums and no sugars added. And we guarantee our Coconut Yogurt is delicious.

We are thrilled that our customers recognize the value added in their daily lives of Koko Kai as we wanted to share a functional healthy, lactose free yogurt that is a clean and a gut health powerhouse without all the hype of big brands.

Finally, as we care about our islands and the environment, we chose glass containers over plastic and run a successful reuse and recycle campaign on Oahu; where each jar returned to us is turned to a 50 cents donation to a non-profit organization for ocean, beach clean-up and environment awareness.

Fast forward to Spring 2022; We are now in over 50 locations in the state of Hawaii and have demands to expand to the mainland and Japan. Trying to grow and scale appropriately to maintain the quality of our product. Finding the right partners in distribution and retail but also investments is our next step at Koko Kai.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

As a young 22 years old; I moved from France to Hawaii in the early 90’s; I then was hired by a local Travel agency and became a European destination specialist and ran one of their agency branch in Honolulu..then 9/11/2001 happened and the travel industry took a great hit along with real changes on how people booked their travel as the world wide web growing popularity. Within a couple of years : I left the travel agency and moved to Japan in 2003 and lived in the Tokyo area for 5 years. There I had a renewed appreciation with my first love; cooking and sourcing wonderful ingredients grown with integrity; the Japanese people eat and live by the seasons and enjoy their delicacies – very much as I grew up in France. I taught English, French conversation classes but also French cooking to japanese ladies group.

As I always try to learn and grow wherever I am, I took another leap and got a job in a restaurant in Tokyo; held by Chef Joel Robuchon, French Chef and International Restaurateur; named named “Chef of the Century” by the guide Gault Millau in 1990. There, I was just a prep cook under a grand master guidance of his Japanese team; Hard, long working hours but infinite life lessons and professional experiences. When we moved back to Hawaii in 2008, I swore to myself that I would never work again in a restaurant kitchen and become a private chef running my own business with local and visitors alike in Hawaii until 2020. Another world tragedy that year, created an opening and another pivot into creating my own product and brand ; Koko Kai Yogurt.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We live in one of the most beautiful places in the world and realize how lucky we are…so taking people around is easy as beauty surrounds us; A visit to Hawaii, has mandatory stops on some of the most beautiful beaches; Waimanalo and Waimea bay on the North Shore. We would also go for a hike on top of Koko Crater in Hawaii for fabulous views of east and windward side of Oahu. Dinner at Roy’s Hawaii Kai; one of the original founder and location of Pacific Rim Cuisine; as well as Pau Hana at Merriman’s in Kakaako for live musics and pupu’s (appetizers in Hawaiian) followed by a stroll of the funky, art district in Kakaako with greats shops, artists murals and events.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
The adventure of Koko Kai brought us many new friends, partners and relationships in mind liked entrepreneurs wanting to make Hawaii a better place in supporting local businesses, farmers and growers. We want to recognized Ethan West @ Pike provisions and XLR8HI who runs one of the best Hawaii’s Virtual Investment Readiness And Business Scaling Program who played an important role in mentoring during our first year in business.

Website: kokokaiyogurt.com

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Image Credits
PHOTOGRAPHERS : Alex Kahn @ planitvisionbranding PHOTOGRAPHERS : Colin F Cross @ colinfcross WE CERTIFY TO HAVE THE RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONTO ALL IMAGES.