Hawai‘i Mobile Food Foundation
Hawai‘i’s food-truck vendors are great cooks and great with their customers — that’s where their time and attention belong. The Hawai‘i Mobile Food Foundation handles the side of the business that isn’t the food itself: marketing courses for vendors, and a podcast about the people behind every truck.
Vendors cook beautifully. They love their customers. They don’t always have the time, the inclination, or the help to market what they’re doing. We do.
That looks like a marketing course we’re building for them, and a podcast we record with them. Hawai‘i’s mobile food vendors, brought together — and made a little easier to find.
Read the full storyA course vendors can use, and a podcast we record with them. That’s the work — nothing aspirational, no slideware.
Built for vendors who'd rather cook than write captions. Curriculum in development right now — pricing, the social-media basics that actually drive a line, and how to talk about a truck without sounding like everyone else's. First pilot cohort opens soon.
Join the interest listA podcast about the people behind every truck — the kind of show that gets shared. We do the recording, the editing, the publishing. Vendors just have to show up and be themselves. Two episodes recorded, more on the calendar.
Hear the format below
[Podcast Name]
Conversations with the people who run Hawai‘i’s food trucks.
Every truck has a person behind the window — a reason they cook, a path that got them there, a thing they care about that you don’t hear in a five-minute order. The full conversation lives here. The Na Leo cut is the doorway in.
On the site
The full conversation, hosted here on the Foundation site (and YouTube). No edits for time, only for clarity.
On TV
A shorter cut airs on Na Leo TV through their Community Creator Program — local public-access on Hawai‘i Island. The doorway in.
Where we are
Two episodes in the can, more on the calendar. Pre-launch — we publish here first.
Want on the show?
Things vendors have told us off-cuff — the lines you don’t hear in a food review. Used with permission. Names withheld where requested. The full versions land in the podcast.
The hardest part isn't the cooking. It's the paperwork that sits between you and the cooking.
Operator, second-year truck
O‘ahu
A rally pays our rent for the month. Not the food — the line of people who didn't know we existed yesterday.
Owner, six trucks across two islands
Hawai‘i Island
We're not competing with each other. We're competing with the rumor that the islands don't have a real food scene.
Co-founder, plate-lunch truck
Maui
Whether you want to be on the show, get into the next course cohort, or just want to talk to someone who gets what you’re dealing with — leave a note. We read everything and reply within a week.
The Foundation began as the Hawai‘i Mobile Food Association (HiMFA) — a working group of food-truck operators, organizers, and a small board pulling together articles of incorporation, bylaws, and a vendor master list across all the islands. As the work widened past trade-association scope, we re-chartered as the Hawai‘i Mobile Food Foundation (HiMFF) — a Hawai‘i 501(c)(3).
Through Na Leo TV’s Community Creator Program — our local public-access channel on Hawai‘i Island — shorter cuts of the podcast air on broadcast. Full episodes live here on the Foundation site (and YouTube). Two episodes are in the can, more on the calendar.
When something specific comes up at the county or the state on rules that hit small operators hardest, we show up. It’s not a featured program; it’s part of the work.
Mailing address: PO Box 59, Papaikou, HI 96781. Board recruitment is open. Articles, bylaws, and curriculum drafts are under cultural and legal review.
Every dollar goes to vendor-facing work — episode production, course materials, legal review for advocacy. The foundation absorbs operating overhead so you don’t have to. HiMFF is a confirmed 501(c)(3); donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Curriculum is being built right now. The first pilot cohort opens soon — leave your info on the vendor form above and we’ll let you know when registration opens.
Then don’t. The course is the bigger thing for most vendors anyway. The podcast is opt-in, by invitation, with a real conversation up front about what you do and don’t want to talk about.
Episodes live here on the Foundation site and on YouTube. A shorter cut airs on Na Leo TV — Hawai‘i Island public-access — through their Community Creator Program. Two episodes are in production now; we’ll publish here first.
Yes. HiMFF is a confirmed 501(c)(3) public charity. Contributions are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. EIN will be published here once it’s issued.
Same people, same work, broader charter. We started as the Hawai‘i Mobile Food Association (HiMFA), a trade-style working group. As the scope widened past trade representation, we re-chartered as the Hawai‘i Mobile Food Foundation (HiMFF) — a 501(c)(3) that can take grants, run programs, and serve the public good.
All of them. Our vendor list covers O‘ahu, Hawai‘i Island, Maui, Kaua‘i, Moloka‘i, and Lāna‘i. The foundation is based on Hawai‘i Island, where Na Leo TV broadcasts.
Use the vendor form above. Tell us if you want into the next course cohort, want to be on the podcast, or just want to talk. We read everything and reply within a week.
No. Food Truck Hawai‘i is a separate, allied project — a discovery and ordering app being built for diners. The Foundation supports the vendors that app helps people find.