Business Monday: Young entrepreneur brings food to Hawaiʻi Prep boarders with new delivery service

As a boarder at Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy in Waimea, Finn Wirum saw a need for food delivery to himself and his fellow students, and decided it would make a good topic for his senior class project.

But during his capstone class, Data-Driven Entrepreneurship, the 18-year-old went a step further and turned the project into a real catering business called Boarder Eats.

About 50% of Hawaiʻi Preparatory students attending the upper school (grades 9 to 12) live in dorms on the Big Island campus. The students are from other islands, the mainland and foreign countries.

While the boarding students can leave campus for educational, recreational or cultural activities with teachers and chaperones, they cannot leave to go get pizza, tacos and other things teenagers love to eat for dinner. Wirum saw the boarders as an untapped market for food delivery services, which are not offered in Waimea.

In his capstone class, students develop a wide range of entrepreneurial skills and learn how to find innovative solutions to real problems. For his project, Wirum created a business plan for “Boarder Eats,” and received supportive feedback from teachers and friends.

“This was a passion project for me,” he said. “I wanted to do something that would be helpful for students, especially the boarding community who can’t leave campus all the time, Now the food can come to them.”

Boarders typically eat their meals at two dining halls. They are offered meals that prioritize food grown and produced on Hawaiʻi Island, including items from the on-campus garden.

According to Wirum, the dining hall is a great option with its changing selection of healthy, locally-sourced meals. But students will sometimes find themselves looking for something different, especially if they have been living as a boarder for a couple of semesters.

When Wirum used his savings and donation-led funding to officially establish Boarder Eats as a limited liability company, he also arranged a partnerhsip with Hawaiʻi Preparatory and then hired two student drivers to start delivery on Jan. 17.

“In the initial days, not many people ordered, but every week we’ve grown in sales,” he said. “I realized that involving the students in the business is the way to go. I have an intern who runs our social media and posts funny content that helps get the word out while also being something fun for students to be part of.”

The social media videos are often cheeky and filled with nuanced inside jokes perfect for Hawaiʻi Preparatory students. In the latest video, the social media intern, Wes, surprises a student driver, Quinn, with an employee of the month award.

Boarder Eats is available to students on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. They must place orders between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., and then the food is delivered between 6:30 and 7 p.m. the same day.

Wirum coordinates with the driver working that evening, telling them where and when to pick up the food before they head to town. Boarder Eats is currently working with nine restaurants and shops in Waimea:

• Ratcha Thai
• L&L Hawaiian Barbecue 
• Food Land
• Pau Pizza
• Taco Rosa
• Starbucks
• Merriman’s
• McDonald’s
• Burger King

“I want to add more restaurants to the menu to help grow the business, but not every place is receptive to a business owned by a high schooler, and I completely understand,” Wirum said. “While it’s cool to own a business as a young person, some places don’t know the legitimacy of the work, which is why I try to be as professional as possible. And luckily, the places that have been working with us are getting a lot of business.”

Wirum said last week was the biggest yet for the young company as it brought in a gross income of about $1,000. After salaries, taxes and any other expenses, any profits are being recycled back into the business.

Right now, Wirum is working to grow his business while also brainstorming ideas for what to do with Boarder Eats when he graduates this spring. He will be leaving the Big Island to attend Boston University to study economics.

Although he’ll be leaving it behind in some form after graduation, Wirum is making sure to enjoy what he has built as a young entrepreneur and take the lessons he’s learned from the experience into the future.

“I’ve always wanted to own a business and I’m very happy with what I’ve been able to do so far,” Wirum said. “I think the main thing I’ve learned is that you should always have a growth mindset. Things can be going well or badly, but the future depends on how you decide to grow.

“The most important thing I’ve learned, though, is to value relationships with everyone — employees, customers, people you work with — because they are the people who have the biggest impact,” he added.

If you’re a student at Hawaiʻi Preparatory, order from Boarder Eats online, or check out Instagram for full, fun content.