Dirt is officially moving in Whitmore Village, Wahiawā, where state and local officials have broken ground on the first AINA Kitchen Network regional kitchen, a centralized facility the Department of Education says will prepare and distribute thousands of school meals. The project will anchor a new Central Oʻahu agriculture and food hub and is being built in phases to boost local sourcing and system resiliency.
According to the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education, AINA stands for Advancing Innovation in Nutrition for All, and the facility is intended to modernize meal preparation across school cafeterias while strengthening ties with local farmers. “This groundbreaking is more than a kitchen; it’s about building a healthier, more resilient Hawaiʻi,” First Lady Jaime Kanani Green said in the department’s announcement.
The DOE’s plan calls for a three-phase build: Phase I will be an 18,000-square-foot kitchen capable of producing 12,000 meals per shift (around 24,000 meals per day with two shifts), Phase II would expand to 30,000 square feet and 20,000 meals per shift, and Phase III would reach 45,000 square feet and 30,000 meals per shift. Construction for all phases is estimated at roughly $130 million, with the Phase I design-build contract estimated at about $28 million, as reported by Maui Now.
When and where students will get meals
The department expects the Whitmore facility to begin serving students in the Leilehua-Mililani-Waialua complex area in fall 2027, with a phased rollout to other Central and West Oʻahu campuses after that. Hawaii News Now reported that the launch will start with a handful of schools and that locally sourced ingredients currently make up roughly 8% of school meals statewide.
Local farmers could benefit
Supporters say a reliable, large-scale buyer like the DOE can give farmers the confidence to scale up production and invest in crops and processing. “The regional kitchens provide that certainty,” Hawaiʻi Farm Bureau Executive Director Brian Miyamoto said, noting that demand could cover fresh produce, cultural crops, proteins and value-added goods, per Maui Now.
Budget questions remain
Watchdogs and some lawmakers warn that the price tag and retrofit needs are steep. Honolulu Civil Beat reported that the DOE plans to seek roughly $30 million more to retrofit about 19 Central Oʻahu kitchens so they can accept centrally prepared meals, and that budget documents show the department purchased less than 5% of its food locally in 2024. Those figures have prompted calls for clarity on how much schools and taxpayers will ultimately pay to implement the model, and how kitchen retrofits will be prioritized…