Island Lu'au
"Bringing the Aloha Spirit and Hawaiian Hospitality to you"
Spreading the ALOHA through its humble beginings. . .
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Yaneth has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry. She harnessed her skills through various jobs obtained through the years. Her experiences include being a flight attendant, learned techniques & awareness of banquet procedures as a fine dining/banquet server for an elite country club, bartender trainer for a reputable restaurant chain, experience with planning & coordinating events as a banquet manager for a major hotel company to dealing with corporate catering as a catering manager for Aramark- a well-known food service company . Through these experiences has given Yaneth the knowledge, creative talent and confidence to produce wonderful events that certainly leaves a lasting impression.
Purely by accident, her catering business had its humble beginnings at the beach. Yaneth volunteered her time to coordinate and prepare some of the food items for a military event that was held at the beach. It was during this event that an acquaintance noticed her attention to detail and was impressed with her ability to put together such a beautiful setting with little time to prepare and asked if she could cater her retirement ceremony. Thinking it would be fun and maybe something she could do in her past time, Yaneth decided to go for it. The event went so well that word quickly traveled and in-turned spawned several more exciting events; such as, a baby’s 1st birthday lu’au, a wedding, another retirement, a graduation, and a corporate event. It wasn't until January 2008 that she took her business seriously. After taking some time off from work to have a baby she was ready to get back into the hospitality industry, but she was faced with the challenges of her husband being gone on deployment and becoming a single parent while he was gone. Wanting to go back to work was not going to be as easy as she thought. Not only was finding a management position in the hospitality industry difficult but working full time while her husband was deployed would bring new challenges in itself. Finding the job that allowed her to be there for her other 3 children along with finding adequate daycare and a job that paid enough to support sending her child to daycare was an issue. Yaneth know that there had to be way where she could do what she loved to do, still be there for her family and make money at the same time. So in January 2008, after realizing that there was a need for the services she offered she decided not to continue her career in the hospitality industry but instead took a chance to pursue her own business in the catering industry. To her amazement, her hobby kept her busy and soon developed a small cliental. Since most of her clients requested Yaneth to create a lu’au ambience for their event she decided after much thought to call her startup company “Island Lu’au”. Yaneth knew she needed help to provide the services Island Lu’au offered, so she solicited a few friends to assist her with each event and before she know it, she had others who wanted to be a part her catering team. As she planned each affair, she absorbed more knowledge and her reputation for creating beautiful buffet presentations along with delicious local cuisine began to spread and before long Island Lu’au was servicing clients all across Oahu. Her hobby has now turned into a small up-coming business.Far from being a culinary expert, she offers many innovative cuisine items that she developed over the years. Her passion for catering comes from simply cooking “with aloha” for family and friends. Because of her determination, word of mouth advertisement, support from family & friends and trusting in her faith she has built a solid base-line of clients and has brought success to her catering business meeting productivity within its first 2 years of operations. Yaneth has been married for 21 years to her husband Frank (a retired service man from the United States Navy) they have four children. She enjoys surfing, hiking, baking, sewing and of course event planning. Her mentors are Sandra Lee, Paula Deen, and Rachael Ray. Achievements & giving back
-Catering Much More Than Food (article in Midweek newspaper March 10, 2010)
-Guest on the TV show-Million Dollar Attitude with Joni Redick-Yundt- January 26, 2010
-A volunteer for the Chinatown Chase (fundraiser to benefit the Hawaii Theater Center) Feb. 2010, Feb 2011.
-Showcased in an article in the Hawaii Marine (Kaneohe Marine Corp base newspaper) in May 2009.
-Ranked 1st place in the Great American Bake Sale for the most Patriotic Bake Sale held in the United Stated in 2009. The proceeds go to end childhood hunger in America and in her local community.
Warmest aloha and much mahalo goes to those who have supported me through it all, my loving , supportive husband, wonderful kids, friends, my fabulous hardworking dedicated staff, the community and of course Glory be to God- which nothing is impossible.
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Our Story
Island Lu’au was founded by Yaneth Leialoha with the concept to provide her clients with a unique catering experience. She began her catering business as an occasional pastime in 2002 and through the last 9 years has grown from a hobby to an up-and-coming business. 
