Local Food & Farms • Regenerative Agriculture • Food Security • Community Well-Being • Plant-Based Dining • ʻUlu Stewardship • Local Economy
From the Family Farm to the Hilo Table: Growing Food, Nourishing Community, and Strengthening Hawaii’s Agricultural Future
In Hilo, Sweet Cane Cafe represents something much greater than a place to enjoy a fresh smoothie, nourishing meal, or glass of sugarcane juice.
It is a living connection between Hawaiʻi Island’s farms, the families who cultivate the land, the people who prepare food, and the communities they nourish.
Family-owned and operated since August 2011, Sweet Cane Cafe was established to make fresh, organic, locally grown food part of everyday life.
But its story begins beyond the café’s doors.
On the family’s farm in the Onomea and Pepeʻekeo area of East Hawaiʻi, generations of agricultural experience guide the cultivation of sugarcane, ʻulu, kalo, bananas, cassava, citrus, ginger, and other crops.
Those harvests become ingredients in the café’s smoothies, juices, vegetarian meals, baked goods, and house-made food products.
The family has also played a significant role in strengthening Hawaii’s ʻulu industry, helping create the infrastructure and relationships needed to bring locally grown breadfruit into more kitchens and communities.
For Support Local Hawaii, Sweet Cane Cafe demonstrates how agriculture, food entrepreneurship, community nourishment, and long-term stewardship can strengthen one another.
A Family Rooted in Hawaiʻi Island Agriculture
Sweet Cane Cafe’s story is closely connected to the agricultural lives of Jackie Prell and John Caverly and their ʻohana.
John, affectionately known as “Ginger John,” has spent decades farming on Hawaiʻi Island and is recognized for pioneering organic yellow Japanese ginger as a valuable agricultural crop.
Together, the family has cultivated a diverse farm in East Hawaiʻi, growing crops through practices that emphasize soil health, biodiversity, and ecological relationships.
Their work reflects an understanding that a farm is more than a collection of individual crops.
It is a living system.
Healthy soil supports plants.
Diverse crops create opportunities for ecological balance.
Agricultural knowledge develops through observation, experience, and continued care.
And the food produced through those relationships can nourish the surrounding community.
Sweet Cane Cafe grew from this agricultural foundation.
Rather than separating farming from food service, the family created a place where its harvests could be transformed into meals and products enjoyed by the public.
The café is an extension of the farm—and the farm is at the heart of the café’s story.
Growing a More Diverse and Resilient Food System
At Sweet Cane Farm, agricultural diversity is central to the growing philosophy.
The family cultivates crops including kō (sugarcane), ʻulu (breadfruit), kalo (taro), cassava, maiʻa (banana), ginger, citrus, and other tropical foods.
These crops offer different forms of nourishment and agricultural value.
Some are familiar ingredients in Hawaii’s food traditions.
Others provide opportunities for new recipes, products, and markets.
Growing a diverse range of crops can also contribute to more resilient agricultural systems by reducing dependence on a single harvest.
The family’s approach includes Korean Natural Farming and other regenerative techniques intended to support soil biology and reduce reliance on conventional agricultural inputs.
This work reflects the importance of understanding the relationships between soil, microorganisms, plants, water, and farming practices.
For Hawaiʻi, strengthening local agriculture also means strengthening the knowledge and capacity needed to keep land productive over time.
Food security begins with healthy growing systems and the people who know how to care for them.
Helping Build Hawaii’s ʻUlu Movement
One of the most significant chapters in Sweet Cane Cafe’s stewardship story is its relationship with the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative.
Sweet Cane Farm and Cafe was among the cooperative’s nine founding members when it began in 2016.
At a time when the cooperative was establishing the infrastructure needed to support breadfruit growers, Sweet Cane stepped forward.
The café became the cooperative’s first aggregation and processing facility, helping receive and handle harvests from participating farmers.
During the cooperative’s first 12 months, Jackie Prell and her team helped process nearly 20,000 pounds of ʻulu.
That contribution went far beyond serving breadfruit on a restaurant menu.
It helped address a practical challenge facing local agriculture: how to collect, process, and move harvested crops into markets where they could be used.
Farmers need more than land and seeds.
They need infrastructure.
They need reliable processing and distribution systems.
They need buyers and community partners willing to help develop new opportunities.
Sweet Cane’s early involvement helped demonstrate what collaborative agricultural stewardship can look like.
By sharing its capacity and supporting other growers, the Sweet Cane ʻohana helped strengthen a food system larger than its own farm or café.
Turning Island Harvests Into Everyday Meals
At Sweet Cane Cafe, the connection between farming and food becomes visible through the menu.
The café offers vegetarian meals, smoothies, fresh juices, salads, sandwiches, soups, and baked goods made with an emphasis on local and organic ingredients.
Its offerings include foods that highlight Hawaii-grown crops in creative ways.
ʻUlu can become a burger patty or a savory preparation.
Kalo can be incorporated into plant-based dishes.
Cassava can provide the foundation for fritters and other foods.
Locally grown bananas, citrus, and sugarcane become ingredients in drinks and desserts.
The café also prepares breads, sauces, coconut yogurt, sauerkraut, dried fruits, and other value-added foods.
These products demonstrate how local harvests can be transformed into meals that are approachable, satisfying, and connected to the agricultural landscape.
For customers, the experience offers more than a vegetarian lunch.
It provides an opportunity to discover ingredients grown on Hawaiʻi Island and the many ways they can be prepared.
Every locally grown ingredient used in a meal creates another connection between agriculture and community.
Sugarcane: A Signature Connection to the Farm
Sweet Cane Cafe is especially known for its fresh sugarcane juice.
The family grows sugarcane on its farm, and the café transforms that harvest into freshly pressed drinks, slushies, and smoothies.
Sugarcane is a plant with a complex history in Hawaiʻi.
It has longstanding significance in Hawaiian cultivation and later became central to the plantation economy, which profoundly shaped Hawaii’s land, labor, and communities.
Today, Sweet Cane’s farm-grown sugarcane represents a smaller-scale agricultural relationship in which the people growing the crop also prepare and serve the finished product.
Customers can experience the fresh flavor of cane juice while learning that the ingredient comes from land cultivated nearby.
The café’s signature drinks demonstrate how locally grown crops can support distinctive food businesses.
From the field to the glass, Sweet Cane Cafe makes the relationship between growing and enjoying food tangible.
Regenerative Agriculture and the Responsibility to Care for Soil
Sweet Cane Farm’s agricultural practices reflect a commitment to caring for the living systems that support food production.
John Caverly has shared his experience with Korean Natural Farming, a system that emphasizes cultivating beneficial microorganisms and supporting healthy soil ecology.
His approach focuses on observation, biological diversity, and the importance of understanding the farm as an interconnected environment.
In a farm tour published by the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, John discusses how maintaining healthy soil biology and diverse plantings can help farmers manage challenges such as crop disease.
He also emphasizes gratitude and the responsibility involved in working with the land.
These practices demonstrate that agriculture is not simply about extracting a harvest.
It requires continued attention to the conditions that make future harvests possible.
Caring for the soil today helps protect the agricultural opportunities available to future generations.
Supporting a Network of Hawaiʻi Island Farmers
Although Sweet Cane Cafe draws heavily from its family farm, its local food relationships extend beyond that property.
The café describes sourcing ingredients from a network of dedicated Hawaiʻi Island farmers.
This matters because a strong local food system depends on collaboration.
One farm cannot grow every ingredient throughout the year.
Seasonal availability changes.
Different regions offer different growing conditions.
And food businesses benefit from relationships with multiple producers.
By purchasing from local farmers, restaurants can create markets for crops grown within their communities.
Those relationships help connect agricultural production with everyday consumer demand.
Sweet Cane Cafe also participates in local food distribution through its value-added products, which have been featured through Farm Link Hawaiʻi.
These connections illustrate how local farms, food businesses, cooperatives, and distribution platforms can work together.
A stronger food system is built through relationships—not by expecting any single farm or business to do everything.
Making Plant-Based Food Part of Community Life
Sweet Cane Cafe’s menu emphasizes vegetarian foods while offering vegan and gluten-free choices.
Its approach brings together fresh produce, tropical fruits, locally grown staples, and house-made preparations.
Rather than presenting plant-based dining as a narrow specialty, the café makes it part of an approachable everyday food experience.
A customer might stop in for a smoothie.
A family might enjoy sandwiches and salads.
Someone seeking gluten-free baked goods might discover a new favorite dessert.
A visitor might experience ʻulu, kalo, or cassava in a preparation they have never tried before.
These everyday experiences can help broaden awareness of locally grown foods.
They also demonstrate how agricultural diversity can translate into culinary diversity.
When people discover enjoyable ways to eat crops grown in Hawaiʻi, they may become more interested in supporting the farmers who produce them.
From Farm Harvests to Value-Added Local Products
Sweet Cane Cafe’s work extends beyond meals prepared in its kitchen.
The business creates products such as dried tropical fruits, hot sauces, sauerkraut, coconut yogurt, and other house-made foods.
Value-added food production can play an important role in local agriculture.
Fresh produce is often highly perishable.
Processing can create additional uses for harvests, extend the shelf life of certain foods, and open new market opportunities.
For small agricultural businesses, these capabilities can help diversify revenue and create additional ways to connect with customers.
Sweet Cane’s products demonstrate how farm-grown ingredients can become part of a broader local food economy.
A harvest may become a meal, a beverage, a packaged product, or an ingredient used by another food business.
Each pathway creates opportunities to strengthen the connection between local agriculture and local purchasing.
A Gathering Place for Hilo’s Community
Sweet Cane Cafe also contributes to community life through the welcoming environment it creates.
Located on Kamana Street in Hilo, the café offers a place where residents, students, families, and visitors can gather around food.
Its atmosphere has been recognized as a comfortable place for conversation, studying, and enjoying a meal.
The café also offers catering and has promoted opportunities to use its space for events.
These services extend its role beyond everyday restaurant dining.
They create additional ways for food to support gatherings, celebrations, and community activities.
Restaurants can become important places of connection when they provide welcoming environments where people feel comfortable spending time together.
Sweet Cane Cafe brings its agricultural values into that social setting.
The result is a place where food, farming, and community life meet.
Why Support Local Hawaii Recognizes Sweet Cane Cafe
Support Local Hawaii recognizes stewards whose actions strengthen Hawaii’s Culture, Communities, and Ecosystems.
Sweet Cane Cafe offers a compelling example of stewardship across all three.
Through its family farm, it demonstrates a commitment to diverse crops, soil health, and agricultural knowledge.
Through its café, it creates opportunities for residents and visitors to enjoy locally grown foods.
Through its participation in the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, it helped build infrastructure supporting other farmers.
Through its value-added products, it demonstrates ways to expand the uses and markets for Hawaii-grown ingredients.
And through its relationships with local producers, it participates in a collaborative food economy that reaches beyond its own business.
Perhaps most importantly, Sweet Cane Cafe demonstrates that stewardship is not always a separate activity added to a business.
It can be built into the way a business operates.
The farming practices. The sourcing decisions. The recipes. The partnerships. The willingness to help other growers succeed.
For its longstanding commitment to local agriculture, regenerative farming practices, community nourishment, and its foundational contributions to Hawaii’s ʻulu movement, Support Local Hawaii is honored to recognize Sweet Cane Cafe as a Diamond Steward.
Stewardship in Action
Local Agriculture, Food Security & Community Well-Being
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Family Agriculture: Operates a family farm in East Hawaiʻi supplying ingredients to the café.
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Agricultural Diversity: Cultivates sugarcane, ʻulu, kalo, cassava, bananas, ginger, citrus, and other crops.
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Regenerative Farming: Uses Korean Natural Farming and other practices focused on soil biology and ecological relationships.
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ʻUlu Stewardship: Was among the nine founding members of the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative.
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Agricultural Infrastructure: Served as the cooperative’s first aggregation and processing facility, helping handle nearly 20,000 pounds of ʻulu during its first year.
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Local Food Networks: Sources ingredients from its family farm and other Hawaiʻi Island farmers.
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Plant-Based Dining: Offers vegetarian meals, vegan choices, and gluten-free baked goods.
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Value-Added Agriculture: Creates house-made foods and packaged products from farm ingredients.
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Local Economy: Connects farming, food preparation, retail products, and community purchasing.
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Community Connection: Provides a welcoming dining space and catering opportunities in Hilo.
Building Hawaii’s Food Future Through Collaboration
Sweet Cane Cafe’s story illustrates a principle that matters deeply to Hawaii’s future.
Strong local food systems require more than individual farms.
They require growers willing to share knowledge.
Businesses willing to purchase local ingredients.
Facilities capable of processing harvests.
Cooperatives that help producers work together.
And communities that value the food being grown around them.
The Sweet Cane ʻohana has participated in several of these roles.
As farmers, they cultivate crops.
As restaurant operators, they turn harvests into meals.
As food producers, they create additional uses for local ingredients.
And as early partners in the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative, they helped strengthen opportunities for other growers.
These are the kinds of relationships that make local food systems more durable.
When farmers, businesses, and communities build together, stewardship becomes shared capacity.
From the Soil to Future Generations
Sweet Cane Cafe reminds us that the future of Hawaii’s food system is shaped by the decisions people make today.
The decision to care for soil.
The decision to grow diverse crops.
The decision to purchase from neighboring farmers.
The decision to transform local harvests into foods people enjoy.
And the decision to collaborate when another farmer or organization needs support.
Each choice contributes to a larger system of relationships.
For more than a decade, the Sweet Cane ʻohana has demonstrated how farming and food entrepreneurship can work together to nourish communities while strengthening local agricultural capacity.
Mahalo nui loa to Jackie Prell, John Caverly, the Sweet Cane ʻohana, their team, the farmers who contribute ingredients, and the partners who continue working toward a stronger Hawaiʻi food system.
This is farming connected to community nourishment.
This is collaboration strengthening local agriculture.
This is mālama ʻāina expressed through everyday work.
This is stewardship from the soil to the table.
Connect With Sweet Cane Cafe
Business Type: Family-Owned Farm-to-Table Vegetarian Café & Agricultural Business
Established: August 2011
Family Behind the Business: Jackie Prell, John Caverly, and the Sweet Cane ʻohana
Location: 48 Kamana Street, Suite 101, Hilo, HI 96720
Farm: Sweet Cane Farm, Onomea / Pepeʻekeo area, Hawaiʻi Island
Island: Hawaiʻi Island
Cuisine: Vegetarian • Vegan Options • Farm-to-Table • Fresh Juices • Smoothies • Local Foods
Stewardship Areas: Local Food & Farms • Regenerative Agriculture • Food Security • ʻUlu Stewardship • Local Economy • Community Well-Being • Value-Added Agriculture
Community Partnership: Founding member of the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative
Support Local Hawaii Recognition: ♦ Diamond Steward
Website: https://www.sweetcanecafe.com/
Online Ordering: https://sweet-cane-cafe.square.site/
Phone: (808) 934-0002
Published Hours: Daily, 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
Support Sweet Cane Cafe by enjoying a farm-fresh meal, trying its signature sugarcane juice, exploring its locally made products, and helping others discover the farmers and agricultural partnerships behind its food.
