HONOLULU – In March, Fatboy’s restaurants island wide are erasing all prices from their menus and letting customers set their own prices. The unique “No Prices for Hawaii’s Keiki” promotion is a fundraiser for the Kapi‘olani Health Foundation in support of its Campaign for Hawai‘i’s Children, a capital campaign to rebuild Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children.
On Tuesdays and Sundays through March 31, Fatboy’s menus will have no printed prices. Instead customers can set their own price, knowing that all proceeds over cost will be matched by Fatboy’s and donated directly to Kapi‘olani.
The promotion is the brainchild of Fatboy’s owner Carroll Ung and his wife Rariyo, whose daughter Leah was born at Kapi‘olani. Shortly after her birth, a blood test showed that Leah’s platelet count was critically low at only 10,000 (normal is 150,000). Leah is now a thriving two year old and the frightening days of her first few weeks are a distant memory, but the care the family received at Kapi‘olani inspired Ung to create the “No Prices” fundraiser. “I can’t express how capable, professional and comforting the doctors and staff were during such a stressful time for our family,” Ung said. “We will always be grateful to Kapi‘olani and we wanted to give back.”
Carroll and his father founded the first Fatboy’s in Kalihi in 1999 with a goal to serve a higher-end plate lunch with fresh local ingredients and gourmet sauces. They have since expanded to five restaurants on O‘ahu. The restaurant’s name comes from Carroll’s nickname as a child: his brother used to call him Fatboy. Stores are located in Kailua, Keeaumoku, Waipahu, Hawai‘i Kai & Pali Golf Course.
About Kapi‘olani’s Campaign for Hawai‘i’s Children
Co-chaired by Dee Jay Mailer and Bert Kobayashi and honorary co-chairs Wendy Crabb, Tadd Fujikawa, Thomas Kosasa, MD and Nainoa Thompson, the Campaign will raise $30M to fund the first phase of a 15-year master plan to rebuild Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children.
Rapidly emerging technologies have fundamentally changed the care delivery process and a rebuild of the hospital is vital to provide the level of comfort and care that Hawai‘i’s families deserve. The Phase 1 renovation and rebuild will help Kapi‘olani reach the following goals: 1) create family-centered space to deliver family-centered care, a concept at the center of hospital rebuilds nationwide; 2) meet the critical care needs of Hawai‘i’s keiki, as the Pacific region’s sole tertiary referral center and Level III-B Neonatal Intensive Care Unit; and 3) ensure adequate educational conference rooms and spaces are available as Hawai‘i’s pediatric teaching hospital.
Paving the way for Phase 1 to begin in earnest, a new parking garage was recently completed and opened on February 11. In 2014, construction will start on the new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.