Hawaii is the eighth-smallest state by land area in the U.S and one of the states that are making tremendous progress in renewable technology, efficient banking and a well-organized educational system making Hawaii a good state to start a business.
Though there were rankings in the past which put the state low based on factors like access to resources, availability of human capital, and cost of living, this doesn’t invalidate the fact that there are advantages of incorporating a business in the Aloha State. Besides, there are a lot of high-yielding business opportunities in Hawaii
In this article, we’ll focus exclusively on how entrepreneurs can tap into the comparative advantage of the state, we shall create a special article to address some of the challenges of doing business in the state.
So…
What business can start in Hawaii?
Hawaii provides access to different ideas to implement, some of them include vacation rental services, stores, and landscaping businesses. Below are the 20 business ideas in Hawaii.
Homestay Services
A homestay service is one of the easy-to-start business ideas. One can create a comfortable place, provide various amenities and make it available to visitors.
Hawaii constantly has had a high number of visitors over the years and is a good place for this business. You can consider listing your home/apartment on Airbnb.
The average cost per night for hotels in Hawaii is $393 USD, based on prices on trip.com. You can help customers book rooms when they visit or make referrals for commissions.
Tour Guide
Hawaii has numerous beauty sites and exciting locations tourists would love to visit and explore, given its water area.
With a total area of 10,932 sq mi (28,313 sq. km), Hawaii has 4,509 sq mi (11,678 sq. km) of water area making the state a centre of beaches, favorable climate and making it one of the most visited states.
In August 2022, europnews.com that residents begged tourists to stop visiting because Hawaii was overwhelmed by fun lovers, thanks to its beautiful locations that are irresistible for tourists.
To know how huge Hawaii tourism is, it makes 21% of its revenue from tourism. In 2017, for instance, Hawaii generated a whopping $1.96 billion in tax revenue from $16.78 billion in visitor spending.
Given the number of these visits, a reliable tour guide usually is in high demand. A tour guide business is ideal for operations in Hawaii.
Farming Business
Starting a farming business in Hawaii is a very lucrative and profitable venture. Hawaii is one the place that has a rich history of crops and vegetables.
An individual can start a farming business and enjoy profitable returns from sales. For instance, you can invest in crop farming, especially figs which is Hawaii most lucrative crop.
Beauty and Personal Care Services
Beauty and personal care services remain one of the most profitable businesses for an individual to start in Hawaii. The technical aspect of beauty service you can venture into is a hair removal service called body waxing.
Taxi Service
Starting a taxi service in Hawaii is a profitable business for a lot of reasons. Some residents prefer to use a taxi service especially when they go on a date.
Errand Services
To perfectly operate this business, you would need to offer support to numerous homes by handling daily activities, including grocery picking, newspaper delivery, and dog walking, among others. It ranks high on the list of high-yielding business ideas in Hawaii.
Beer Bar
First, you need to decide what type of bar you want to open (it could be a sports bar or a speciality bar). You would need to pick what you want to do and go through the correct process of setting it up.
Cleaning Services
A cleaning service business is one of the best businesses to start in Hawaii considering the thousands of people that visit the state every month.
The amount of refuse that is generated is high, thereby making service around cleaning a good business to start in the state.
Grocery Shop
A grocery shop is an ideal business. Packaged foods are known as the most demanded in the state, with other types of food items also required. An individual can consider establishing this type of business to make profitable returns.
Cellphone Repair
One can start this specific type of business and offer numerous services, including part repairs, LCD assembly, and fixing.
Security Guards
Because tourism is a flourishing business for the economy of Hawaii, the state continues to put in top-notch security measures in place to protect visitors.
But even at that, some visitors prefer to use the services of private security firms like hiring professional bouncers. And of course, this is a lucrative business that can fetch you between $35 to $50 per hour, depending on your skills and years of experience.
Café Business
There’s a large number of people who require fast food to get their day started. People who tend to open a café business already have previous experience in this space.
Antique Shop
Tourists are known to purchase a lot of things when they visit a new place. Hawaii is known for its rich culture and a place with a lot of historical artefacts, enough to attract tourists. You can create an Antique shop and provide diverse products that tourists can purchase.
Food Truck
A food truck is a profitable business in an environment where thousands of people visit on daily basis. With a food truck, you can move to different locations in Hawaii and make sales. A food truck business remains one of the excellent business ideals in Hawaii.
Barber Shop
The need to stay neat and have the best appearance necessitates the need for a barbershop. You can conduct diverse styling in your shop with the needs of customers duly handled.
Furniture Store Business
Furniture making is one of the thriving businesses. A skilled individual can operate this business while producing diverse furniture and selling it to people.
Online Business Consultancy
The state has many businesses that intend to gain online recognition. One can take huge consideration into opening an online business consultancy to help promote the businesses of different people.
Fashion Accessories
This is an excellent and very lucrative business to target fashionistas. One can suitably sell diverse types of wear that residents, especially tourists, can purchase.
Massage Therapy
Organizing a massage therapy business is one of the best easy-to-start business ideas you can set up. You would need to employ trained and certified personnel to handle different activities in case the demand for your service increases.
Conclusion:
If you considering starting any of the listed businesses above in Hawaii, be ready to bear the high cost of living in Honolulu, the state’s biggest city. But it depends on the nature of the business and how much you are generating as monthly revenue.