The 13th Annual Hawaiian Airlines Made In Maui County Festival will open its doors to wholesale buyers, distributors, and retail category managers on November 6–7, 2026, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center — positioning the two-day event as a sourcing vehicle for operators and retailers seeking authentically produced Hawaiian food and beverage products. Presented by the Maui Chamber of Commerce, the festival has logged more than 10,000 wholesale buyer and distributor connections over its 12-year run.
The Buyer Opportunity
Friday, November 6, functions as a dedicated trade day — a Buyers Preview and Exclusive Shopping Day structured for wholesale buyers and qualified industry professionals. The format gives distributors and category buyers direct vendor access for wholesale discussions before the general public arrives. Complimentary admission is available to credentialed buyers who register at madeinmauicountyfestival.com/wholesalebuyers; those unable to attend in person can access the festival's Buyers Guide to identify products and connect with vendors remotely.
Eligibility requirements set a meaningful sourcing bar: all participating businesses must demonstrate that at least 51% of their materials or ingredients are locally Hawaiian-sourced. For foodservice operators and specialty retailers building provenance-driven menus or private-label programs, that threshold provides a baseline for regional authenticity claims — a selling point that has grown in commercial relevance as consumers and chain buyers alike scrutinize local-sourcing credentials.
Scale and Category Mix
Saturday, November 7, opens to the broader consumer market, featuring food trucks, live entertainment, and direct-to-shopper sampling across hundreds of vendor booths. The product mix spans food and beverage alongside art, fashion, beauty, and handcrafted goods, but the food and beverage category remains the primary draw for trade visitors. For foodservice distributors covering Hawaii and the broader Pacific, the festival functions as an efficient one-stop introduction to emerging regional producers who may not yet have national broker representation.
"The Made In Maui County Festival is about creating opportunities for our local businesses to grow," said Pamela Tumpap, President of the Maui Chamber of Commerce. "It gives buyers a chance to discover products they may not find anywhere else, while giving Maui County businesses a platform to build relationships and expand their reach beyond the island."
The event is sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines as title partner, with additional support from the County of Maui and Office of Economic Development. For foodservice buyers tracking regional and local-ingredient sourcing trends — a category that continues to command premium shelf and menu placement — the festival's trade day represents a low-friction entry point into Hawaii's artisan food and beverage supply base. Full vendor details and registration are at madeinmauicountyfestival.com.
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.
