Page 6 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - April 13, 2022

6 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK APRIL 13, 2022 Hawai‘i Island Midweek Cover
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue is not only surviving, but also thriving under the swell leadership of Elisia Flores.
STORY BY
Don Robbins
PHOTO BY
Anthony Consillio
Why is the lead- er of the L&L Hawaiian Bar- becue empire, Elisia Flores, smiling so much these days? It probably has to do with a couple of momentous and grin-worthy occasions that just occurred or are right around the corner.
nowadays is reserved for her first child —a boy — who was born on April 1. Equal- ly exciting is that younger sister Ellice is pregnant, too — all of which means the Flores ‘ohana is hitting a growth spurt, and that’s a bit of long-awaited good news for the matriarch of the fam- ily, Elaine, and its patriarch, co-founder of the L&L Ha- waiian Barbecue franchise, Eddie Jr.
we’ re definitely excited to welcome our baby,” says Flores, adding that bringing a child into the world can be both an “awesome and terri- fying” experience.
Elisia Flores and her father, Eddie Flores Jr., are all smiles as L&L Hawai‘i prepares for its upcoming anniversary convention in Waikīkī.
Coming up is the much-an- ticipated L&L convention, scheduled for April 15-16 at Royal Hawaiian Resort and Sheraton Waikīkī. The event, which will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the popular restaurant chain, is expected to draw more than 200 L&L Hawaiian Barbecue franchisees from more than
The same could be said about helping to lead an iconic fast-food company that’s viewed as a member of the family.
The original L&L Drive Inn on Liliha Street was purchased in 1976.
“L&L was created before I was created, so it’s been a part of our family my entire life. But it definitely wasn’t asbigasitistodaywhenI was growing up ... it wasn’t a huge part of our lives at that point,” she explains. “That said, I consider it my
PHOTO COURTESY ELISIA FLORES
“My parents are both very excited. I think they’ ve been wanting to have grandchil- dren for a while, and I guess we’ ve just taken our time ... My wife (Megan) and I have been trying for a while, so
10 states and Japan.
“I’ m super excited about
hoping to double our store count in the next 10 years, and really, really celebrate Hawaiian barbecue across the nation.”
the future,” says Flores, who serves as CEO and vice chair of the company. “We’re at 211 stores right now, so I’ m
But her biggest smile
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