Founderology Forum

Celebrating Cameron McNie, co-founder of Hawaiian Bros Island Grill

Photo: LinkedIn

February 4, 2025 by Kathleen Wood — Founder, K. Wood Partners

Our first "Founderology — Built to Breakthrough" podcast featured Cameron McNie, co-founder and executivechairman of Hawaiian Bros Island Grill. Cameron shared his insights and lessons from his Founder's journey. Here are just a few highlights from our discussion.

Cameron took his experience from the family business, a vision for building a national chain, and transformed it into one of the fastest-growing restaurant brands in the country. Today, Hawaiian Bros boasts over 60 locations across nine states and continues to redefine what it means to scale successfully.

So, what are some of his key insights and lessons for how he built Hawaiian Bros to breakthrough?

Cameron's journey started with a simple but powerful idea: bring the flavors of Hawaiian plate lunch across the United States. But it wasn't just about the food — it was about culture, community, and a commitment to excellence. From day one, he envisioned a national brand, built on an authentic guest experience with food and people-focused culture.

Growth isn't just about numbers—it's about people. Cameron and his team built Hawaiian Bros with Aloha Spirit, a people-first approach, ensuring their team members are valued, protected from burnout, and given opportunities to grow. Their 100% employer-paid health insurance for managers and their families is just one example of how they lead with care.

Cameron's one key lesson for scaling? You can't scale one department and neglect the others. Many founders focus on operations, but finance, supply chain, and people strategy need to grow in sync to avoid costly bottlenecks down the road.

I love that Cameron believes the minute you think "We've made it," you stop innovating. His advice to fellow founders? Always begin with the end in mind and build for the business you want to have, not just the one you have today.

Founder's Takeaways:

Cameron's journey really shows when you lead with passion, purpose, and people-first thinking, your business can break through in powerful ways. Whether you're growing from one location to ten or ten to one hundred, these lessons are universal:

Have a clear vision and stick to it – begin with the end in mind.
Make sure you understand the why. The why are you doing this?
Live the Aloha Spirit – treat others the way you would want to be treated, and giving is better than receiving.
Invest in the right experts and infrastructure before you need them.
Keep pushing forward—success is a moving target.

Tune in to our next Founderology — Built to Breakthrough podcast featuring Erin Wade, founder of Homeroom Mac+Cheese.

Until next time — go out there and make it a breakthrough day!

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OperationsHawaiian Bros

About Kathleen Wood

Kathleen Wood is the Founder of Kathleen Wood Partners (KWP), an innovative and award-winning growth strategy firm dedicated to propelling Founder-led businesses to new levels of success. Kathleen and her team work with Founders in scaling and accelerating their visions into actionable results through strategic growth solutions, operational excellence, competitive sales strategies, and transformative leadership development. The KWP expertise includes range of Founder-led businesses in the restaurant, hospitality, technology, and manufacturing industries.

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