Island Hospitality with a Solid Foundation at Kalei’s Kitchenette

Spam musubi are poster children for doing more with less. They’re portable, comforting, nostalgic, and one of the many dishes Chef Andy Mangiduyos does well. In Mangiduyos’ hospitality career, he climbed the ranks to Executive Chef at a major hotel brand. But Chef Mangiduyos is most at home tweaking Spam musubi with pickled Daikon and preparing catering orders of Kalua pork and Mac Salad that transport diners to Hawaii without the plane ticket or jet lag. 

Mangiduyos’ culinary skills provide the blueprint for Kalei’s Kitchenette, a grab-and-go restaurant serving Pacific Rim cuisine in San Diego, California. Kalei’s Kitchenette co-owner (and Andy’s wife), Khara Mangiduyos handles everything outside of the kitchen—from back office P&L to organizing Spam musubi eating competitions at the Kalei’s Kitchenette anniversary celebration. 

After many years of combined hospitality experience, Khara and Andy opened their brick and mortar in 2023. They had honed the concept and menu through their catering business and regular farmers’ market appearances. The opportunities of a brick and mortar outweighed the challenges. In an unassuming San Diego strip mall, the Mangiduyos created a slice of Maui—and locals quickly took notice. 

Kalei’s Kitchenette has always been of the community and for the community. Khara spends the majority of her time in a 3-mile radius, running into customers at school drop-off, in the grocery store checkout, on the neighboring treadmill at the gym, and at church on Sundays. Over 25% of their guests are repeat loyalty customers. 

With a loyalty program, Khara can stay in touch with her guests and provide birthday discounts and rewards for repeat visits. It’s not just community building—she has seen real impact in incremental revenue. A recent trigger-based deal encouraging lapsed customers to come back for a visit led to $370 in incremental revenue per week over a 6-week period. “With automated marketing, I can put my time elsewhere. The guesswork has been taken off my shoulders,” says Khara. “I just need to read the report of the campaign’s success.”

Raising revenue is one thing. Keeping costs in check, especially as everything is rising, is equally important. SpotOn Profit Assist, an AI-powered feature that provides actionable items to help reduce costs and flag irregularities, has served as Khara’s CFO of sorts. “I don’t want to replace my bookkeeper. I want something on top of that,” says Khara, “Profit Assist removes the decision fatigue and gives me specific ways to save on expenses.” 

While most days are sunny, Kalei’s Kitchenette is prepared—Khara and Andy are hospitality people, after all. “Maybe there are going to be hiccups along the way,” says Khara, “but SpotOn are amazing partners who are there to solve your problem and check on you afterwards to make sure the problem has been solved.” 

For a family-owned business like Kalei’s Kitchenette, success isn’t just measured in dollars saved and new customers gained. Juggling catering, the online ordering business, local events, and cultivating the Aloha spirit in-store is no easy feat. But if all the work means doing right by their restaurant’s namesake (their eldest daughter) then it’s well worth it. That is, until their youngest daughter formally requests her own concept.