Roy Yamaguchi Is Likely the Next Head of KCC’s Culinary Institute of the Pacific

Editor’s note: The UH Board of Regents unanimously confirmed Yamaguchi’s appointment—and announced he was donating his entire salary as CIP’s executive director to the UH Foundation to use for culinary scholarships. Yamaguchi confirmed the move in an Instagram message to Frolic.

Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

Barring anything unforeseen, University of Hawai‘i leaders this week will confirm a rumor that’s been circulating in the local restaurant industry for a while: Roy Yamaguchi will be the next leader of the Culinary Institute of the Pacific. His appointment as director of the state’s largest culinary school is scheduled for a vote at the Board of Regents meeting tomorrow, Nov. 16.

The move would bring Yamaguchi’s star power to a well-regarded four-year program that is still building its campus and programs. It would give it a full-time director whose achievements as the creator of Roy’s restaurants and co-founder of Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine and the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival are globally recognized.

“I’m happy that they will potentially hire someone who has been in Hawai‘i running a business for a long time,” says Jason Peel, chef and owner of Nami Kaze. Peel worked for Yamaguchi for about 20 years, at Roy’s restaurants and the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival, and taught at the Culinary Institute. He calls Yamaguchi a mentor who “has done a lot for my growth and a lot of others. He’s done a lot for the schools and community. I think his vision for Hawai‘i will be beneficial to the collaboration of the school and the community and beyond.”

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It might seem odd that a culinary figure of Yamaguchi’s renown would be interested in an executive position in the UH community colleges system. At 67, he owns several Roy’s restaurants in Hawai‘i and more recently has opened others, including Eating House 1849 and Goen Dining + Bar. With his wife, Denise Hayashi Yamaguchi, and fellow James Beard Award winner Alan Wong, he is a key player in the Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival, which wraps up its thirteenth year this Saturday at Humbl Market Kitchin by Roy Yamaguchi with a benefit dinner for Maui recovery efforts. We reached out for comment, though Yamaguchi was too busy.

But the Culinary Institute, or CIP, was a beneficiary of the festival years before it broke ground. Its chief proponent was Conrad Nonaka, a well-known industry figure who became CIP’s first director and often worked together with Yamaguchi and Wong. Nonaka died in 2018. While he oversaw the opening of the first phase, eight years after its groundbreaking, the CIP campus is still being built with a combination of private donations and state funds.

Perhaps sensing a need for a next-level leader, the private UH Foundation began raising money to supplement the CIP director’s salary. Last summer, UH announced it was looking for applicants. They found in Yamaguchi a visionary with a history of elevating not just his restaurants, but Hawai‘i’s budding cooks, farmers, ranchers, fishers and its entire food scene. If approved on Thursday, he’ll become the Culinary Institute’s new leader in January 2024. About 38% of his monthly salary of $16,667 will be paid by the UH Foundation.