Koko Head Cafe

Born and raised in Honolulu, Robynne Maii is the chef and owner of the award-winning restaurant Fête in Honolulu’s Chinatown. A proud alumna of Punahou and ‘Iolani School, Robynne pursued modern dance and English at Middlebury College before obtaining culinary and pastry arts degrees at Kapi‘olani Community College. She began her culinary adventure at Kaimuki’s 3660 on the Rise, cooking under Chef Russell Siu and Padovani’s Bistro and Wine Bar, in Waikīkī where she transitioned to full-time pastry cook under Chef Pierre Padovani before leaving to New York for graduate school. After earning her master’s degree in food studies from New York University, Chef Robynne went on to work at Union Pacific and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.

Robynne has also worked for Gourmet Magazine, Kitchen Arts & Letters Bookstore and played an integral role in developing and teaching the culinary program at The Art Institute of New York City and CUNY’s Kingsborough Community College. She was named the 2022 James Beard Award Foundation Best Chef for the Northwest and Pacific Region on her first nomination. Robynne is the first Hawai‘i-born recipient to win this award in 19 years and is the first Native Hawaiian woman to win a James Beard Foundation award.

Roy Yamaguchi is an American celebrity chef/founder of a collection of restaurants that includes: Eating House 1849, Humble Market Kitchin, GOEN Dining + Bar, and Roy’s Worldwide. He is known as the innovator of Internationally Influenced, Hawaii Inspired cuisine – an eclectic blend of California-French-Japanese cooking traditions created with fresh ingredients from the Islands. He is the first from Hawaii to have been honored with the prestigious James Beard “Best Pacific Northwest Chef” Award in 1993 and has earned numerous honors including California Chef of the Year (California Restaurant Writers Association) Gault-Millau Top 40 (Forbes FYI), Top 50 Cuisines in America (Conde Nast Traveler), and the Fine Dining Hall of Fame (Nation’s Restaurant News).

Yamaguchi received his formal culinary training at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). In 1988, he moved to Honolulu to open the first Roy’s Restaurant. Yamaguchi hosted six seasons of the PBS series, Hawaii Cooks with Roy Yamaguchi. He has published four cookbooks: Pacific Bounty, Roy’s Feasts from Hawaii, Hawaii Cooks: Flavors from Roy’s Pacific Rim Kitchen and Roy’s Fish and Seafood. Yamaguchi, co-founded the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, Hawaii’s premier epicurean destination. He established the Tom and Warren Matsuda Scholarship Fund, providing scholarships to students to attend the Culinary Institute of the Pacific. Founding the Roy Yamaguchi Annual Golf Classic in 1998, more than $850,000 has been raised for Imua Family Services. Yamaguchi also serves on numerous nonprofit boards including: U.S.- Japan Council, Go For Broke National Education Center, Culinary Institute of America and the Culinary Institute of the Pacific.

As of January 2024, Yamaguchi is the executive director of the Culinary Institute of the Pacific (CIP) at Kapiʻolani Community College. As executive director, he will also develop and oversee the operation of the new CIP restaurant at Diamond Head—the crown jewel of the program.