When we opened I didn't want to serve anything but kava, but I knew people would get hungry and I wouldn't want them to leave. We didn't want to build a kitchen so we tried a few easy things. First it was sandwiches on a panini press. They were good but we didn't sell much (but really at the time we weren't selling much of anything). Then we moved to food that had a Hawaiian plate lunch feel. It was slow cooked kahlua pig and pineapple teriyaki chicken served with mac salad and rice. It was so damn good, but we still weren't selling much.
The street that we're located on in Portlland was in development when we first opened. Then about two years ago all this retail and condo development finally finished and we saw that there was a ton of food and people to eat it, but nothing healthy. We bought a commercial juicer and blender, secured an accounts with wholesalers of the ingredients, and started making fresh, healthy juices, smoothies, and acai bowls. It fits well because everything has a somewhat tropical feel. It goes well with kava because people have begun to view kava as a healthy alternative to other intoxicants so other healthy food and drinks makes sense to people. It also didn't require a full kitchen so the cost was minimal.
I wish we had been doing this the whole time. People love it and we feel like we're providing a service we can be proud of by giving them more good stuff that does good for their bodies.
