HAWAII AG AND CULINARY ALLIANCE

Hawaii Ag & Culinary Alliance (HACA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2011 that strengthens Hawaii’s food and hospitality ecosystem through education, workforce development, entrepreneurship, thought leadership, and community resilience. HACA is the nonprofit behind the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival and reinvests event proceeds into year‑round programs that support students, chefs, producers, and hospitality workers across the state. The organization runs scholarships and workforce cohorts (including a CIP x CIA partnership), a Cottage Industry to Commercial Enterprise pathway for value‑added food entrepreneurs, thought‑leadership programming such as the FEAST Summit and podcast, and the Kōkua Restaurant & Hospitality Fund that provides emergency relief for industry workers. Since its founding HACA reports multi‑million dollar reinvestment into scholarships, training, local sourcing initiatives, and disaster/relief assistance to Hawaii’s food and hospitality sector. In recent years HACA has broadened industry partnerships and statewide initiatives—convening stakeholders at the State Capitol and expanding market‑readiness, workforce, and entrepreneurship programs while responding to acute needs in the hospitality community (including relief efforts for restaurant and hospitality workers following major wildfires).