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Hawaii #SBDC Client Wins National “Small Business Person of the Year” – and Recap #SmallBusinessWeek

May 5, 2017

Small Business Week Winner presentationAs part of National Small Business Week, Vice President of the United States Mike Pence, SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, and First Daughter and entrepreneur Ivanka Trump recognized this year’s Small Business Persons of the Year and other national award winners at a ceremony and reception at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Monday, May 1st, 2017.

“It is my extreme pleasure to announce that husband-and-wife business partners Garrett and Melanie Marrero of Maui Brewing Company are this year’s national Small Business Persons of the Year,” McMahon said. “Their innovative spirit, with assistance from the SBA and its lending and partners, created a thriving business and hundreds of jobs for their community.”

Garrett Marrero and Charles "Tee" RoweGarrett and Melanie started working with the Hawaii SBDC in 2004, when they were seeking financing for their first project – a small, seven-barrel brewpub launched with the help of SBA financing. Today, Maui Brewing Company is the largest craft beer producer in Hawaii.

“Garrett and Melanie have shown impressive growth, expanding the size, sales and scope of their business,” McMahon said. “By 2007, increasing demand led them to open a second location in Lahaina with a 25-barrel capacity, giving them the ability to provide brewery tours and making it a tourist destination as well. By 2013, they were producing more than 19,000 barrels of beer a year, boosting revenues to more than $10 million. They have since expanded with a new 18,000 square-foot restaurant that opened in Oahu last year, and new brewpubs and eateries are scheduled to open later this year. By the end of 2018, Maui Brewing Company will employ a workforce of 700.”  (more…)