Home-style catering · Hawai'i Island

Grinds made
the way Auntie
and Uncle cook.

Plate lunch, poke, laulau, kalua pig — cooked slow, seasoned right, and brought to your gathering in real foil pans because that's how everybody's family does it. We cater small graduations, weddings under the tent, and first-baby luau for folks who heard about us from somebody's cousin.

Serving
Hilo side, Kona side, Waimea, Volcano
Booking
By referral, weekends first
Style
Local plate, luau, pūpū trays

Plate Lunch Catering

Two-scoop rice, mac salad, and your choice of kalbi, mochiko chicken, or shoyu pork. Packed hot for pickup or laid out buffet-style with sterno and all.

Poke Bar Setup

Fresh ahi shoyu, spicy ahi, tako, and limu styles, scooped to order at your event. We cut the fish morning-of — never the day before.

Imu Luau Spread

Full luau menu for the big milestones. Kalua pig from the imu, lomi salmon, haupia, poi, chicken long rice. Plan with us three months out.

Twenty-two years of feeding families.

We started Big Island Grinds out of our Pāhoa kitchen back when our oldest was still in diapers. A neighbor asked if we could do the food for her daughter's graduation. Then her sister called. Then the cousin on Kona side. We never really advertised — the phone just kept ringing, and one day we bought a second rice cooker, then a third.

We cook for maybe forty gatherings a year now. Everything is made the day of the event in real pans, not catering trays flown in from somewhere. If we can't drive it to you the same morning, we don't take the booking. That's the rule.

What our families say

"Kimo cooked for my mom's 80th. The kalua pig was so soft we didn't even need knives. Auntie Mele stayed until everything got cleaned up."

— K., Honoka'a

"We had three generations at the table and nobody had one complaint. The mochiko chicken disappeared before the pork even came out."

— The R. Family, Hilo

"They quoted us a fair number, showed up an hour early, and left the kitchen cleaner than they found it. Cannot recommend them more."

— J. & M., Waimea

Thinking about a gathering?

We book by referral, and the calendar usually fills six to eight weeks ahead. If somebody pointed you our way, read the contact page and we'll go from there.

How to reach us →