Steph Kudus, formerly a banker, now creates all the recipes for, and runs Pololi full time. We caught up with the fearless and effervescent entrepreneur, who shares more with us about her journey from investment banking to F&B. Along the way she’s creating a reputation for being a wellness and sustainability advocate.
Up Close with Pololi’s Steph Kudus
“I came to Hong Kong in 2010 to begin my investment banking career, which isn’t very exciting,” Steph confessed. “I did it for six years before switching to Pololi full time – and that was the best decision of my life.”
Asked about the inspiration behind Pololi, she had this to say:
“I did all my summer schools in Hawaii. When I was in banking I used to have a lot of lunches at my desk; I ate at my desk almost every day. I started making poké at home for my lunch the next day and all my colleagues would be like – ‘Oh, what is that?’ They were really curious!”
“Being the Singaporean that I am, I like to share my food. And so I would let them try it. I realised that about 80-90% of them liked what I was preparing. And that was the inspiration behind Pololi. From then on everything snowballed. We opened Pololi Central and that was my 25th birthday present to myself.”
Pololi is the rare F&B brand that has both portability and authenticity to be highly visible in community events such as wellness fairs, beach bazaars and seafood festivals.
Steph shares that she’s an avid scuba diver. “I love the ocean. I wanna scuba dive in 20 years and I wanna make sure all the things I want to see are still there.”
“Community, and promoting fitness and wellness, ties in with the food that poké really is. It’s healthy, it’s tasty… and it’s really fresh. Being in Hong Kong it’s really hard to get these three things at a good value. At Pololi, that’s what we’re all about. It’s about giving you the most value for the food we’re able to provide, that’s delicious and healthy at the same time,” she concludes.
We couldn’t agree more.
Check out the daily specials at Pololi’s Central shack for a taste of Steph Kudus’ passion and creativity. My personal favourites are the mouthwatering ‘Spicy Peanut Butter’ and ‘Lomi Lomi Salmon.’
Get your poké on with buy one get one free offers on the ENTERTAINER. Buy ENTERTAINER 2018 (RRP $495) on Early Bird for just $295. Use Promo Code HUBHK2018 upon checkout for a Free Gift with purchase.
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