What is 🌺 Buy Pono?

Buy Pono is a non-commercial endeavor created to help with the current Coronavirus-Crisis, and beyond.

We want to connect local people with local businesses. As the current crisis progresses, it has become even more apparent, how important our local businesses are. My desire to buy locally sourced fruits, vegetables, and more, is even greater today than it has been in the past. I have found myself wondering what I can do to buy my avocadoes and my potatoes from local farmers, and I would like to purchase other things that are produced locally. And even when I purchase from larger vendors, I would like to know that they are active in the local community and not just "some large corporation". I have noticed that is is especially difficult now (but also in general) to find those local vendors and figure out how to interact with them, or know that they are even open and operating. That is how the idea to make BuyPono.com started.

Buy Pono is for everything. Not just for local stores, but it is also for local farmers, fishermen, and more. It also includes local restaurants. And it isn't just for food-related items either. Who can help you with your automotive needs? Who offers health-related services? And so on. And we will add more and more categories. Just tell us what else is needed! (Contact us at info@buypono.com!)

An important aspect is that BuyPono.com is NOT a commercial endeavor. It is a community effort. It is made with aloha in Maui, and it is meant for local communities here and elsewhere. Listing your business is free, and searching for businesses is free. We promise that we will keep that service free.

Some of you may wonder how Buy Pono is different from other services. We see ourselves as a platform with broad reach that goes beyond specific industries like restaurants, or grociery stores. And we are aiming to provide a better service in some ways. For instance, we believe our search is much better, enabling you to find businesses and products/services more easily. Also, the version of Buy Pono you see at this point is a very early version meant to get a service up and running. Expect the service to be enhanced in the future with even more information about the businesses and how they operate. This will allow users to tailor the service to their own desires.

Also, let us know what you think! This is a community project, and we would like to hear feedback from the community. What would you like to see on this platform? We can't promise to jump on every idea, but we will promise to consider all suggestions. The same goes for bugs and features. We are all building this in our spare time, and it is entirely possible that a bug or two has snuck in, or that a feature could be implemented better in other ways. If so, please let us know!

I hope you enjoy this site. Live pono, and stay safe!

Markus Egger
Founder, 🌺 BuyPono.com
Kihei, Hawaii