The 19th century, Hawaii's sugar plantations were in desperate need of labor, and so began

an influx of immigration from Japan, China, the Philippines, Portugal, Korea, and more.

As these cultures intermingled with each other and with the island territory's native

population, so too did their dishes and flavors, and so Hawaiian food became the original Pan

Asian cuisine.

Sometime in the 1880s, inspired by the Japanese bento box, plantation workers collectively

created the plate lunch, a heaping helping of rice, macaroni salad, and a protein, such

as teriyaki beef or char su pork.

Nearly a century later, Hawaii now a U.S. state, and the plate lunch firmly in sconst and

local food culture, entrepreneur Johnson, Cam, and Eddie Flores Jr. purchased a drive-in

restaurant in Honolulu specializing in the dish.

After growing it into a massively successful regional Hawaiian chain, they traversed the

Pacific to the Western United States in 1999, quenning the term Hawaiian barbecue to market

the plate lunch to unfamiliar mainlanders.

The chain's expansion to the contiguous states was a success, and they exploded throughout

the American West, and today, there are 200 locations in places as far as long as Texas,

New York, New Zealand, and Japan.

This week on Do Boys, L and L, Hawaiian barbecue.

Welcome to Do Boys, the podcast about chain restaurants and Nick Weiger alongside Mike

the Spoon Man Mitchell.

How you doing, Mitch?

I'm doing well.

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