The Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort has opened Hinahina on the Beach, a new all-day oceanfront restaurant that replaces both Kai Market and The Edge of Waikiki Bar, consolidating two revenue-generating food-and-beverage outlets into a single concept capable of seating groups of up to 250 guests. The opening, effective October 20, 2026, also marks the return of a daily breakfast buffet — a format the property had not offered in more than six years.
The Concept
Hinahina operates across three dayparts, running its breakfast buffet from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m., lunch service from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and dinner from 5 to 8 p.m. The dinner buffet is scheduled to relaunch November 6. The venue includes a private dining room called the Shapers Room, which accommodates up to 40 guests, and supports semi-private and full-restaurant buyout configurations for groups ranging from 25 to 250 — a flexibility that positions the outlet as a meaningful contributor to the resort's events and group-travel revenue streams. For large hospitality operators, private dining and buyout capacity is an increasingly important margin lever as group travel demand continues to outpace leisure recovery in many premium island markets.
The culinary program is led by Executive Chef Darren Demaya, promoted from executive sous chef. A Hawaii Island native with more than 18 years at the property, Demaya trained early in his career at Alan Wong's Restaurant in Honolulu, a flagship of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. His menu draws on coastal and waterman culture: lunch features build-your-own poke bowls with local-caught ahi or wild-caught Atlantic salmon alongside a wagyu beef burger and the classic Loco Moco; dinner introduces shareable plates including Giant Tiger Shrimp with Red Thai Lobster Curry Sauce.
Buffet Economics
The revival of the breakfast buffet carries clear revenue implications. Buffets historically generate higher per-cover revenue than à la carte formats at resort properties by increasing average check and accelerating table turns during peak morning windows. Their disappearance across Hawaii hospitality during the pandemic created a gap that operators have been slow to close, in part due to labor and food-cost pressures. Sheraton Waikiki's decision to restore the format — at a 1,636-room property with high occupancy exposure to package-inclusive travelers — signals renewed confidence in the labor environment and in guests' willingness to pay for the format. Food & Beverage Magazine has tracked a broader pattern of full-service resort restaurants reconsidering buffet programming as staffing stabilizes.
What's Next
"Since imagining this exciting new concept, we've been anxious to begin welcoming residents and visitors to this gathering and dining space shaped by the history, surfing, waterman and beachboy life, and coastal culture of Gray's Beach," said Tetsuji "Tets" Yamazaki, general manager of Sheraton Waikiki Beach Resort. The property, part of Marriott International's Waikiki Collection, is positioned as a mixed local-and-visitor destination — a dual audience that increasingly matters to hotel F&B operators seeking to reduce dependence on in-house guests alone.
For operators watching Hawaii's competitive hotel-restaurant landscape, Hinahina's launch reflects a broader trend of full-service resorts reinvesting in flagship dining outlets as a differentiator in a market where travelers have demonstrated willingness to pay premium prices for curated, place-specific food experiences. The outlet's branding — the name references both the historic Gray's Beach and the Hawaiian word for the native silvery shoreline plant — aligns with the growing operator playbook of tying F&B identity to regional provenance.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
