Have you ever met anyone who had the great idea to mix Hawaiian Aloha style and original business at the same time, just to see people happy? Derek Bentley, owner and CEO of 'King Kahuna Kettle Korn' is that guy. He started selling pop corn in Honolulu, HW with 'King Kahuna Kettle Korn' before appearing on the West coast with his award winning multi-flavored Caramel, Hawaiian, Cinnamon Crunch-w-Almond Slivers, and his now famous Classic Flavored, Kettle Korn.

Aloha! King Kahuna will make you taste real pop corn...

Thanks to the promoters of the Play Boy Jazz Festival at the Rose Bowl, he then discovered what real success meant by selling his product to enthusiastic crowds at stadiums and big events. Today, people are still fond of his original tasting pop corn.  Everyone wants their own 'slightly salty and slightly sweet Kettle Korn' giant bag and are willing to stand in line for up to 45 minutes to get it.

Always a nice Hawaiian girl to take your order

Sure, selling popcorn is a good idea to earn money. Everybody knows how much popcorn is part of the American way of life. But what makes Bentley's business really different is the amazing and various flavors among which you can choose.  It won't be easy for you to decide since you can't find any of his home-made flavors anywhere else but at King Kahuna. And few people can imagine how much time and experience it takes to satisfy the customer.  Finding the 'Giant' style of popcorn, hand selected from over 250 breeds of popping corn took years of research, and it even took ten years to develop this special variety with its round ball like appearance.

hmmmm... You want to taste them?

Aloha smile to welcome you

King Kahuna remains faithful to its origins: Aloha spirit. Born in a very competitive family of entertainers in Honolulu, Bentley knows what makes people happy and uses his business to see smiles on people's faces. He cannot count the number of people who tell him about the memories such sweet popcorn awakens in them. Observing the long lines he has to serve, he sometimes feels bad for the people waiting. So, he organizes lotteries where he asks them to pick a number between 1 and 10 and then gives a few of King Kahuna's large bags away, even when they don't guess the right number. His description of such lotteries show how much he cares for those people, who could stand in line for almost an hour in order to get their King Kahuna pop corn: 'The look on their faces is priceless and is that of total shock when they win. And then the feeling in the line shifts from intense anxiousness to relief. We literally roll out a 'red carpet' for them. People sense it. The people very clearly sense the care we feel for them and that they are very special to us and are taken care of.'

Will you stay in line for hours to get your own King Kahuna bag?

But King Kahuna does not only care about his customers, he also gets involved with national charities like stem cell research and spinal paralysis, and the Fight For Life Foundation. Bentley explains his commitment as the result of an accident he underwent a year and a half ago, when he broke his neck and became partially paralyzed. Thankfully he recovered from that accident and as he sincerely says: 'I've always wanted to help people, and with King Kahuna, we are now in a position to give back." He recovered from his accident with Pat Rummerfield, who is the only person in history to come back from being a quadriplegic, not to mention being 'the world's land speed world record holder and Iron Man Triathlete'. Later, Bentley received a call from Rummerfield saying, 'Derek- I want to be the first one on the cover of your bags in stores everywhere on Wheaties!' Bentley tells the rest: 'I tell him we' re not even in stores yet, and that he can find us up and down the West Coast at big events and such.  He tells me, 'we have funding-we're going to build you a web site-you guys need to get your stuff out there and oh yeah, about the 'store thing', well' you'll have to jump through some hoops but'   I'll talk to my people and see if we can work on that for you too!!!'  I put down the phone, and my jaw just dropped."

King Kahuna does not forget charities

To conclude, none could have said it better than Bentley: 'Life's too short not to share our gifts. And King Kahuna Kettle Korn seems to have an affect on people no matter where we go. It may seem corny, but if you had a King Kahuna Girl wearing a lei who was offering you some of our Kettle Corn and then was thanking you with a smile and a warm 'Aloha'' wouldn't you feel good? It's a great feeling to share happiness with love and aloha the Hawaiian way. We just give it away Hawaiian style and it comes back in ways we've never imagined.'

To go to their web site click here

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