Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas “Buzz” Moore.
Hi Thomas, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
As an Air Force brat, I was basically born into the military and an attitude of service to others. We moved every few years as all military families do, only coming home to St. Louis on vacation.
In the late ’60s, we had a short period living in St. Louis at my grandmother’s house on Marwenette near Carondelet Park while our father went ahead to our new station in Okinawa, Japan. During our four years in Okinawa, I was first introduced to the Asian culture including foods such as rice cakes, spring rolls, and soups.
As an adult, I served in the U.S. Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller in California. In 1982 President Reagan fired 12,000 Air Traffic Controllers opening the doors to switch from the DOD to the DOT/FAA. I took a job at Honolulu International because at the time I was married to a local from Hawaii. We lived in her hometown on the North Shore of Oahu where I drove an hour each way to town working at Honolulu’s Air Traffic Control tower. My first daughter, Lei Awapuhi was born in California and our second, Tomi Nohealani was born in Honolulu.
The long drives each day provided plenty of local food stops. Due to the odd hours, shift work demands sometimes my drive would be early breakfast, late lunch, dinner, and midnight stop. I became hooked on the flavors of Hawaii that was based on historically traditional dishes such as Kalua Pig, Lau Lau, Squid Luau, Lomi Lomi Salmon, Poke, and many others. In addition, the island food today is largely influenced by the immigration of plantation workers that came from Japan, Okinawa, Korea, China, the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, the New England states, and Mexico for their cowboys. All of these influences shape Hawaii’s food scene and yet most tourists to the islands completely miss out on the “local grindz” as they are called in Hawaii.
In the late ’80s, I moved back to St. Louis to live closer to family and worked at St. Louis Lambert Air Traffic Control Tower. There, I remarried and we had three beautiful daughters. Alexandra, Anna, and Grace. Surrounded by a loving wife and five daughters is the best life a man could ask for. In the late ’90s, I left the FAA and started Strawberry Stitch Company, an embroidery design company based in Creve Coeur Missouri. Through Strawberry Stitch Company, I was able to exercise my creative drive of designing. Strawberry Stitch Company rose to national attention opening the doors for speaking engagements. In 1999, I authored the book “Digitizing 101 – The Basics of Digitizing for Embroidery.” This publication springboarded my path into high-level consulting projects and international speaking engagements.
During all of this time, our family would enjoy homemade dinners from Hawaii. We would host guests at our pool for dinners of Huli Huli Chicken and Kalbi Ribs. I missed the sushi, shave ice, and all the tasty plate lunches I enjoyed when living in Hawaii. Eventually, I saw St. Louis embracing sushi and shaving ice as places popped. There are still so many other parts to the Hawaiian cuisine that hasn’t caught one. The entrepreneur in me recognized the void in St. Louis of Hawaiian food. I wasn’t viewing it as much as a business opportunity as it was a pioneering opportunity.
Too often in the Midwest and other parts of the mainland Hawaiian food is misunderstood to be dishes with pineapple and coconut. For example, sticking pineapple chunks on a pizza doesn’t make it a Hawaiian pizza, which by the way was invented by a Canadian pizzeria. I wanted to provide my hometown of St. Louis with an authentic Hawaiian dining experience. For those from Hawaii missing their “local grindz”, for those who have traveled to Hawaii missing the food they enjoyed during their stay, and for those who will never be able to travel to Hawaii the chance to enjoy a taste of Hawaii.
I started developing a plan for a Huli Huli Chicken stand. One day, my son-in-law, Chris drag home a rusted-out grill we were going to fix up. As the plan progressed, I realized my need to share Hawaiian food went beyond Huli Huli Chicken and Shave ice. I needed a food truck to fulfill my desire to introduce St. Louis to Hawaiian food. Time lingered on, I doubted my ability to be able to be successful in the culinary world. In 2016, my older sister, Ann passed away reminding me to live life to the fullest. The rusted-out grill was sold and a partially outfitted food truck was purchased. We worked for months narrowing down which dishes would make the cut for the food truck menu because not all dishes would travel well and food trucks are limited in their space. It took nearly a year to be ready to hit the streets of St. Louis.
Four years later, we’ve made inroads to our goal of introducing Hawaiian food to St. Louis. Our schedule is full lines at food festivals are impressive, dishes like Poke and Musubi sell out quickly, we are routinely voted onto the St. Louis favorite food truck lists. In 2018, our Kalua Pork Sandwich and Poke plate were featured on the Cooking Channel’s show Food Truck Nation. In the Spring of 2022, we will take the next step in opening a small location in the Tower Grove East neighborhood at the corner of Magnolia Ave. and Arkansas.
This new venture will allow us to expand our menu introducing desserts such as Malasadas, regular specials like Shoyu chicken or Beef Tomato, and weekend Hawaiian style breakfast that includes Pork Hash, SPAM and eggs, Banana pancakes and Lilikoi syrup will be a crowd-pleaser. We cannot wait to get take the next step to spread Aloha to St. Louis.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Just months before we were scheduled to begin service I slipped on the wet tile at the St. Louis City post office. The fall injured my shoulder requiring surgery that took 90 days to recovery post-operation. Watching the planned opening day come and go while confined to a recliner not able to lift even a piece of paper seemed like a major setback. Instead, I used the time to work out every detail in our operation making us well prepared when the day came to begin service.
I didn’t anticipate the maintenance a food truck requires. The streets of St. Louis are full of potholes and bumps that play havoc on the truck. Those unplanned breakdowns can wear on you. It is especially stressful if you have an important event such as a wedding or a family reunion.
I also didn’t anticipate the St. Louis weather playing as big a role as it does making the food truck business a seasonal venture. In the summer the food truck gets hot as an oven. In the winter it’s like an icebox. In the Spring, it’s raining and in the summer people are on vacation. You really have to pay attention to your schedule and learn when it’s best to be working and when it’s best to get some rest.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our mission to bring authentic Hawaiian dishes to St. Louis guides us in staying true to what it’s like to live in Hawaii. We steer clear of gimmick dishes focused on making profits and remain focused on the dishes we would want to eat if we were in Hawaii that day. We source many of our ingredients from Hawaii which is more difficult to do, and more costly. We feel it’s the only way to keep the flavor of our food locally.
It troubles me when I order takeout and see all the Styrofoam used in the food industry. All Hawaii counties have banned the use of polystyrene food and drink containers by January 2022. Buzz’s Hawaiian Grill began using biodegradable plates and utensils. In addition, we take the time and expense to recycle vegetable scraps, reduce water consumption, and refuse to serve bottled water or straws.
These efforts take more time and money, but we feel it’s our responsibility to the environment while keeping us in step with what an environmentally friendly state such as Hawaii practices.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Don’t let the naysayers deter you from accomplishing your dreams. Instead, use their advice as a blueprint for the obstacles ahead. Address each roadblock ahead of time if your plan is to succeed.
Remain humble, ready to serve others. You’ll enjoy more from giving than you will from receiving.
Contact Info:
- Email: Buzz@BuzzsHawaiianGrill.com
- Website: https://buzzshawaiiangrill.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buzzs_hawaiian_grill/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BuzzsHawaiianGrill
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BZHawaiianGrill
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/buzzs-hawaiian-grill-creve-coeur-3
- Other: https://streetfoodfinder.com/BZHawaiianGrill
