Three’s Catering: What it Takes to Cater on Maui

There is a part of Three’s that has existed as long as the Kalua Pork Quesadilla, Ginger-crusted Mahi and Mediterranean Flatbread have been on the menu.  It’s so important, Three’s Bar & Grill may not be here today without it.  The catering side of our business is what helped support Three’s while we were establishing our roots in Kīhei, and has grown to play a vital role in our identity today.

So what’s it all about?  Well, although catering is a ton of work, it’s a fantastic way to spread your brand, and gives people from all over the island a chance to sample your food.

Three’s Catering is full-service, meaning we go beyond just providing your food.  We offer service staff (servers, bartenders, captains), equipment rentals and even unique ways to stylize your event.  We provide set menus and packages, or if you’d rather go custom, we have an in-house event planner to help organize it every step of the way.

We cater pretty much everything you can imagine!  Weddings (plated and buffet), food truck events, corporate events, action station events (sushi, noodle and hibachi grill stations) and all kinds of public events, from fundraisers to concerts to speeches.  We also have extensive experience on boats, since we proudly cater all meal services for Pacific Whale Foundation.

Some larger public events we’ve catered usually occur at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (MACC).  For instance, concerts are a big deal here on the island.  Maui draws some big name talent, like Santana, Sublime, Elton John, Journey, and Jack Johnson to name a few, and that means large crowds to feed.   Three’s has consistently been part of catering these large events, many of which draw upward of 5,000 concert attendees!

We’re also stoked to cater a significant event happening Monday, June 26 at the MACC, when global media leader and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey will appear for a special conversation and Q&A session on health, wellness and happiness.  The free special event, presented by HMSA and Sharecare, is called “Live Your Best Life,” and tickets are available through Sunday via a free online sweepstakes if you’d like to join in.  Our sister restaurant Fork & Salad will also be catering a private VIP breakfast and lunch reception prior to the public event!

Although you enjoy the finished product (the delicious food!), planning for events, large or small, is a huge aspect of the business.  For instance, weddings take months of precise back-and-forth coordination with our sales manager, including food choices, rentals, service staff, timelines, floor plans, diet restrictions and more.  Everything is perfectly planned down to the exact amounts of chicken versus fish versus steak, to where each entrée is delivered per table, per seat.

Larger public events like concerts demand a different style of planning, based upon estimated ticket sales and years of learning through experience.  Our team is trained to execute interesting and delicious food quickly and efficiently, so you can get back to enjoying your show or event as soon as possible!  Menus are geared to serve a particular clientele per event, and as with our restaurants, utilize as many Hawai’i farms and producers as possible; in fact, we source ingredients from more than 25 local suppliers!

Our close-knit catering team is dedicated to excellence.  Each member is trained in job tasks specific to that particular event.  From planners to servers, bartenders to captains and chefs to dishwashers, our catering family works together to ensure every event goes off without a hitch, honoring our motto of “every event, every time.”

The top priority for our events remains customer service.  We take pride in our ability to deliver exceptional service with a ton of aloha.  Our goal is for every event to go flawlessly, with no worries for the client about any challenges, whether involving a contracted service from us or a different vendor like a florist, cake baker or deejay.  If there’s an issue and we’re at your event, we work together to solve it, so the guests can focus on what matters:  the celebration!!  That’s what we’re proud of.

Traditional and Not-so-Typical Choices on Three’s Kids Menu

Our menu at Three’s is designed to be diverse; to satisfy your appetite, whatever you’re in the mood for!  But that also applies to kids, who get a special activity menu all to themselves!  Taking keiki into consideration is an important part of any dining outing or experience, and we felt it was important to offer a great kids menu that not only pleases the parents, but gets the young ones craving Three’s too!  With happy keiki munching away, parents get to take a breath and relax.  Everyone can appreciate that.

It’s nice to give children a choice when it comes to what they want to eat.  From traditional kids items like chicken strips with fries and mac ‘n cheese to unique offerings like a BBQ kalua pork quesadilla, keiki caesar salad, and ramen, our menu aims to please.  Other favorites include the keiki cheese burger made with Maui Cattle Company beef, pasta with parmesan, and our fresh berry bowl for some added vitamins and antioxidants!

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We also offer an array of beverages on the keiki menu, like POG (passion-orange-guava juice), milk (and the chocolate variety!), soft drinks, tropical smoothies, and a fun, kid-friendly twist on a mojito, known as a tropical mock-jito!

We take pride in being a restaurant that welcomes keiki with open arms. Our owners have kids and families too, and we want children to enjoy themselves just as much as the grown-ups do.  As many parents know, it’s typically not the adults who decide on the restaurant, but the kids who make the choice!!  So come on in and savor some quality family time plus great food in our surf lounge, dining room or outdoor patio with live music.  See us anytime from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and our doors open at 8 a.m. on weekends for breakfast!

Have You Seen Three’s on Food Network’s DDD??

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We’re proud to share that Three’s Bar & Grill has been a featured restaurant on Food Network show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (DDD) not once…but TWICE!!

Our original episode, called “Barbecue, Batter & Beer Can Chicken,” premiered on Food Network on Friday, July 21, 2017!   We aired the showing in Three’s revamped, roomier Surf Lounge to a packed house of loyal customers and supporters!!

Three’s in the National Spotlight on DDD

Legendary show host Guy Fieri and his fantastic production crew flew to Maui in early April to film Three’s food, staff and customers.  Guy took particular interest in several menu specialties like Three’s Traditional Ramen and Asian Beer Can Chicken.

We and our dedicated employees spent many hours organizing ingredients and cleaning the kitchen to perfection before the DDD team showed up.  Then, lights…camera…action!!  The filming process itself was fascinating and the crew was beyond professional, but also really personable and fun to work with!  Between the field producers, audio technicians and videographers, they paid meticulous attention to every sound that was made, each person’s positioning and the angle of every image.

A few days after the shoot, we had the honor of joining the DDD team on a private Pacific Whale Foundation snorkel trip!  We crafted sushi, fish tacos and poke bowls for Guy and the crew, and had an awesome time hanging out!!

Let’s Do It Again Sometime (like how about 2021?)

 

Then, in May of 2021, crews came back to Three’s for a post-COVID follow-up called “Papaya, Panelle, and Pork” — a wonderfully-produced, “where-are-they-now” episode on Food Network.  Chef Travis Morrin got cooking in the kitchen again and we got to feature some local food favorites like our fresh Mahi Mahi Plate, Panko-crusted Ahi Roll and Crispy Pork Belly with Green Papaya Salad.  We worked with such a fantastic crew and were so stoked on the finished production, which aired in August 2021!!

Something Extra & Unexpected with Guy Fieri

Three's owners behind the scenes at Guy Hawaiian Style 2021

Three’s co-owners at the filming of “Guy! Hawaiian Style” in May 2021

And…it doesn’t stop there!  We got a little bonus showing on a special Discovery+ show called “Guy!  Hawaiian Style.”  Our co-owners Travis Morrin, Cody Christopher and Jaron Blosser had the honor of joining fellow Hawai’i chefs to hang with Food Network’s Guy Fieri and his family in a casual, fun setting.  The series aired in August 2021.  What an awesome experience!

We’ll Never Forget Our DDD Experiences

All the way around, we consider this a dream come true.  A chance of a lifetime.  We are proud to join the ranks of other successful establishments who’ve received amazing national exposure from this top-rated show.  Please be on the lookout for reruns and on-demand episodes to support Maui in the national spotlight!

Three’s Gives Maui a “Grand Taste” at AgFest

A “shrimp french fry.”  Well, that’s more of a nickname.  It was technically a little fancier than that for our offering at Maui County Agricultural Festival’s Grand Taste on Saturday, April 1.

“Seared Kaua’i prawn — on Kaua’i, they practice some of the most sustainable shrimp farm operations around,” explains Chef Travis, who crafted Three’s tasting menu for the event.

As an added bonus, we fried the prawn heads, a delicacy some people love to crunch on.  The dish also included a purée with Hāmākua mushrooms and Waihe‘e Valley Plantation macadamia nuts (learn more in our Know Your Farmers video) along with a light salad of parsley and celery leaves, salmon roe, bacon and arare.

For the Grand Taste at Maui Tropical Plantation, we were among 12 booth stations featuring locavore chefs who partnered with  farms and producers throughout Hawai‘i.  For a minimal ticket price of $30 to $40 in support of the Maui County Farm Bureau, guests got to experience farm-to-table cuisine at its freshest and finest.

“It’s a two-hour event where you get to try some really phenomenal food from some great chefs around the island,” Chef Travis says. “People get to see how the chefs incorporate ingredients into their dishes and makes something really cool.”

Our prawn dish was nearly 100% locally-sourced, which is a priority for us at Three’s, and of course at our sister eatery, Fork & Salad in Kīhei. Be on the lookout for more videos, where we’ll take you through our entire adventure at AgFest!  Mahalo for supporting local!!

What’s New? Delicious Additions to Three’s Menu!

Reopening our doors at Three’s after the kitchen fire in Fall was an epic feeling. And we were proud to reopen with some enhancements to not only the kitchen and decor, but also our menu!

We gave a lot of thought to the food items we added, so we wanted to give you the lowdown on a few of the highlights.

THREE’S SEAFOOD CRAB BOIL FOR TWO:

Three’s Seafood Crab Boil for Two, an entrée brought back from our first year in business.

Three’s Seafood Crab Boil was on our menu the very first year when we first opened, and everyone really loved it. So we wanted to honor those earlier years and our first customers by bringing this entrée back. It’s enough to feed two people, with a generous mix of snow crab, Kaua’i prawns, clams, mussels, Portuguese sausage, potatoes and corn, all simmered in beer butter and our housemade cajun spice to give it just the right amount of flavor.

HAWAIIAN JAMBALAYA:

Hawaiian Jambalaya, a longtime favorite at Three’s Bar & Grill, has returned to the menu.

Our Hawaiian Jambalaya is another favorite making a second appearance from a few years back. It’s a creole rice dish with a whole bunch of tasty ingredients, like shrimp, sausage, chicken, BBQ kalua pork, trinity peopers and melted jack cheese! Diners loved it and our staff was especially sad to see it taken off the menu. So this entrée is not only a customer pleaser, but pays tribute to our longstanding employees who loved this menu item and wanted it back. So here it is — come try it out!

AHI SLIDERS:

Ahi Sliders, one of Three’s new specialty items.

A true newcomer to our menu, the Ahi sliders have been a mega hit! It’s a light, rice-free sushi dish, featuring spicy crab mix wrapped in Ahi sashimi, with tempura crunch, black tobiko and more. You’ll find the Ahi sliders under our Specialty Items, and we’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on it.

RED CURRY CLAMS & MUSSELS APPETIZER:

Red Curry Clams & Mussels, a new appetizer at Three’s Bar & Grill.

There’s more, like our Red Curry Clams & Mussels — a full pound of ‘em simmered in sake, red curry butter and Thai basil — in our Appetizer section.

MARILYN MONROLL:

New specialty sushi at Three’s, known as the Marilyn Monroll.

We also have more sushi selections, including the Marilyn Monroll, which is a spicy California roll topped with torched hotate and finished with unagi glaze, masago and goma.

We’re stoked to add these items to the diverse menu Three’s is known for. Whether you’re in the mood for a Kalua pork quesadilla, tropical salad, french dip, ramen, beer can chicken, prime rib, freshly-shucked oysters or more than a dozen specialty sushi rolls, you’ll find it right here!

We hope you’ll join us to try out one of our new additions, or enjoy an old favorite! Either way, we’re happy to have you. Three’s Bar & Grill is open from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and open at 8 a.m. Saturday and Sunday (tried our epic breakfast yet?). We also have two happy hours a day, from 3 to 6 p.m. and 9 to 10 p.m. Give us a call at  808-879-3133 or book your reservation online at our page on Open Table. We’ll see you at Three’s!

Three’s Digs Deep to Help a Community Cause

We at Three’s are all about giving back to the community, and supporting local however we can.  So with that, we ask you this.  Ever eaten dirt?

It was a featured ingredient — well, sort of — at the Three’s/Fork & Salad display during the Taste of School Gardens event on March 4, 2017.

To represent Three’s, Chef Travis crafted a Peas & Carrots dish, complete with “culinary soil” made from porcini mushrooms, almonds and toasted bread.  It may have looked like dirt, but it tasted delicious!

“It’s kind of like eating a garden in a bite,” explains Chef Travis.

The roasted carrots came from our trusty organic supplier Oko’a Farms, and some were harvested from student gardens, which nonprofit Grow Some Good has worked to establish in 12 schools around Maui.

Volunteers help students learn skills like how to handle seedlings, build soil, maintain compost, tend plants and harvest produce.  It’s not just a hobby, it’s a curriculum!  Grow Some Good’s mission is right in line with ours at Three’s and Fork & Salad: putting the focus on local products and keeping agriculture alive here.  You could call the relationship, well, symbiotic.

“Nowadays 90% of food is imported to Hawai’i. We’re small potatoes in terms of changing that, but we’re trying to,” says Chef Travis. “When it comes to Grow Some Good, kids being mindful of island resources, space, sustainability, it’s full-circle!  It interconnects, it’s all really important.”

We were first introduced to Grow Some Good during an amazing Persian dinner at Chef Paris Nabavi’s home in 2016, which raised money for the nonprofit. We were inspired to help too, donating a portion of every Beet & Goat Cheese Salad sold at Fork & Salad to Grow Some Good.

But that was only the beginning.  Three’s selected Grow Some Good as our Kama‘āina Giveback Program recipient in September AND October of 2016.  In addition, our chef/co-owners have volunteered their time in the gardens with students at Kamali’i Elementary and Kīhei Charter School. Check us out in MauiNow.com’s story, “Chefs & Students Unite to Grow Some Good.”

The Taste of School Gardens event is Grow Some Good’s largest fundraiser of the year, and we joined other notable restaurants in helping support the fun event at Hotel Wailea. Our staff and UH Maui culinary students even made 300 portions of Fork & Salad’s popular Ni’ihau lamb chili. There was so much of it, we needed a big paddle to stir the giant pot!

To lend an extra hand, we’re planning to adopt the Kīhei Charter School garden, near Fork & Salad in Azeka Mauka. Our natural food scraps will go into their compost, and our staff will provide some hands-on help in the garden.

“We would volunteer in spring and fall to get the garden ready for planting,” says Chef Travis, “plus we’d get some vegetables from that too, so it’s really special.”

Go to Grow Some Good’s website to learn more about how this organization is making a difference to our keiki and our ‘aina, and how you can join them as a volunteer!