Mark Oyama of Mark s Place and Contemporary Flavors Catering on Kaua i
Recovering from Hurricanes Iwa in 1982, and Iniki in 1992, is still pretty fresh for a lot of Kauai people. More recently, there was the ‘08-‘09 recession, but by last year, 2019, Chef Mark Oyama, of Mark’s Place in Lihu’e, says the economy was pumping again.
Restaurants actually suffer when it s really good, because we can t get employees. It s hard to get workers at that time.”
Oyama also runs Kaua’i’s largest catering company, Contemporary Flavors, and had a staff of more than fifty.
“We had a lot of business, catering was booming. I do a lot of destination weddings so there s nothing now. If we did have a full service event where we service it, we end up making like plate lunches there. We gotta repack it and serve it because you can t do a buffet anymore.