Mick Restaurant Article

[sushud82]

Not sure if this was posted or not.

http://news.yahoo.com/fleetwood-celebrates-musical-legacy-eatery-113929051.html

[michelej1]

Oh no Mick, not more investments!

Fleetwood celebrates musical legacy, new eateryBy SANDY COHEN, September 28, 2011 -

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Long before the success of Fleetwood Mac, when band founder Mick Fleetwood was a kid in the U.K. learning how to play the drums, he dreamed of having his own restaurant. His parents entrusted the then 9-year-old with the stable of the old farmhouse they lived in, and young Fleetwood turned it into something of a children's speakeasy that he called Club Keller. Instead of booze, he poured Coca-Cola.

"I used to serve up Smith's crisps and fish and chips and stuff for other children to come round," the bearded rocker recalled during a recent interview, his eyes twinkling at the memory. "I had my radiogram and my drums in there and it was my world."

Now, five and a half decades later, Fleetwood is creating a new world for himself and his music: He's opening a restaurant in his adopted hometown of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

Fleetwood's on Front St. is set to open early next year, and its namesake sees it as the next professional chapter in his life: A place where he can indulge his taste for fine food and drink (including his own Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar wines), perform with his friends and run the whole show. He plans to showcase local musicians and artists and invite the occasional famous rock star. The new establishment is essentially a large-scale, souped-up version of his old Club Keller.

"I've always wanted to do this," Fleetwood said on a visit to his manager's office in Beverly Hills. "I'm like one of those weird Chinese creatures where you see something 30 years ahead. It's petrifying and exciting and fulfilling, because... if you keep focused, and it's a corny thing, but if you visualize and visualize and visualize, a lot of stuff really does come to you."

Club Keller itself may actually be resurrected, said Fleetwood's business partner, Jonathan Todd. "We have an option on a smaller place downstairs and, if we get it, I swear we're going to call it Club Keller," Todd sai

Developing the restaurant is dominating Fleetwood's time. He helped choose the site (a historic building dating back to 1916 — the year his mother was born), select the décor and create the menu, but he insists "it's not a shrine to Mick Fleetwood."

"You'll know that it's my place but it will be very tastefully done," the 64-year-old said. "It's not a museum for Mick Fleetwood. This is a real working restaurant."

He says he'll draw on the "heritage of Fleetwood Mac" to inform its atmosphere.

"All of this is a responsibility to do it properly, and selfishly a responsibility to something that's very precious to me, which is everything I've done with Fleetwood Mac and my partners and the music," he said.

The restaurant has taken him away from music a bit, and he expects that to continue, but that's fine with him: "Now I will have a place to play when I want to or need to."

Besides Fleetwood Mac, the musician has two other bands, the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band. With or without his bandmates, Fleetwood plans to play at the restaurant often — and there's at least one more Fleetwood Mac tour planned.

"We're going out next year," he said. "We're all creatures of habit and we love what we do.... Whatever has happened, we are together.

"The whole thing is powerful, and all of that is somehow resonating into what I'm doing with the restaurant, Fleetwood's," he continued. "It can't help but have that filtering through it. It's my place."

But as his beloved band slows down ("Within the next five to seven years, I sort of doubt that Fleetwood Mac is going to be horribly active"), Fleetwood said he's excited to devote himself to his new endeavor.

"It's a sense of plugging who I am and what I am into something," he said, "and for me it's the perfect vehicle."

___

[michelej1]

This is an excerpt from an article about a hands-free purse

DNA Info, Manhattan
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110928/murray-hill-gramercy/handsfree-purse-invented-by-midwife-debuts-at-paragon-sports

Mick Fleetwood, the drummer from Fleetwood Mac, purchased one in Aspen, Colorado. Fleetwood’s business manager told Bellinson that the musician “doesn’t live without this,” she recalled.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110928/murray-hill-gramercy/handsfree-purse-invented-by-midwife-debuts-at-paragon-sports#ixzz1ZGPaHdKB

[louielouie2000]

This is an excerpt from an article about a hands-free purse

DNA Info, Manhattan
http://www.dnainfo.com/20110928/murray-hill-gramercy/handsfree-purse-invented-by-midwife-debuts-at-paragon-sports

Mick Fleetwood, the drummer from Fleetwood Mac, purchased one in Aspen, Colorado. Fleetwood’s business manager told Bellinson that the musician “doesn’t live without this,” she recalled.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110928/murray-hill-gramercy/handsfree-purse-invented-by-midwife-debuts-at-paragon-sports#ixzz1ZGPaHdKB

Hmm, looks like the modern day fanny pack. :p

I wonder how long until Mick runs his new restaurant into the ground with his famous money mismanagement? :eek:

And I hate to see yet again that Fleetwood Mac is touring next year. I really have my heart set on an album from them... :(

[michelej1]

Mick Fleetwood Plans to Open New Restaurant
September 28, 2011 03:10 PM EDT
http://celebs.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980419376

Mick Fleetwood, founding father of the iconic band of the same name, originally from the United Kingdom, plans to open a restaurant in Lahaina, Maui, a Huffington Post report shared earlier today.

As a child, his dream was to have his own restaurant, and now that dream is coming true. With plans to open sometime early next year, Fleetwood's on Front St. has become his passion.

The Huffington Post article comments that as a child, Mick turned his old parents' farmhouse into a neighborhood hangout called Club Keller, so using that as a backdrop, he gained inspiration for his Maui establishment.

Mick has had a hand in all developments so far, including where Fleetwood's would be, creation of the menu, and the decor. "You'll know that it's my place but it will be very tastefully done," he is quoted as saying in the article. "It's not a museum for Mick Fleetwood. This is a real working restaurant."

Fleetwood Mac fans are sure to flock to the Hawaiian island for fun, sun, surf, and food. While the task at hand of preparing for the opening of the restaurant has taken Mick from the music scene momentarily, the Huffington Post article hinted that he is not out of the music business just yet.

Be on the lookout for another Fleetwood Mac tour in the next year, as well as Mick himself performing at his restaurant. He is also in two other bands, the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumors Band. It's unknown if either will play with him when his restaurant opens.

Regardless, the article ends, Mick seems very happy with this new venture in his life. It just goes to show that childhood dreams can come true.

[vivfox]

Mick should grab a microphone and speak-sing to the patrons while they are dining. I'm sure most won't know what his role is in Fleetwood Mac.

[skcin]

Hmm, looks like the modern day fanny pack. :p


Yeah it does. :distress:

[vivfox]

Renovations Begin for Fleetwood’s on Front Street
Daniel Weiss
February 23, 2012
The Maui Weekly

Fleetwood Mac founder Mick Fleetwood's newest masterpiece is a venture into the restaurateur world. Fleetwood's on Front Street and Fleetwood's Wine Cellar is set to open in Lahaina in early summer.

The restaurant will employ 100-plus people, and will embrace the Hawaiian culture and feature storytelling. Fleetwood himself will perform on a semi-regular basis along with surprise and esteemed musical guests performers.

Fleetwood's business partner, Jonathan Todd, said, "The restaurant space will look like a casbah meets Ralph Lauren meets colonial British Mick Fleetwood, and its changing and morphing as the process moves along."

Hawaiian Native Vene Chun presided over the traditional Hawaiian blessing last month, calling upon "na 'aumakua," ancestral guardians. Beginning with the blowing the conch and chanting, he used a tealeaf (a symbol of purification) to spread water (to give new life to the space) and sea salt (considered the amniotic fluid of Mother Earth), which reenergizes and revitalizes the spirits to rejuvenate everything in the building.

The blessing was followed by the initial demolition of the former restaurant's interior. An 1899 Langtry sign that adorned the back of one of the former restaurant's booths was salvaged and will be framed to hang on the walls of the new restaurant after renovations are complete. This was a particularly apropos, considering Langtry was one of the first locations of Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar Wines.

Fleetwood paid tribute to his late father, whose watch he wore to the ceremony and affectionately spoke about his mother, Bridget, who was in attendance.

"It's been a long time in dreaming of doing this," he said. "Mum, Mummy she knows way too much about me, but she knew me back in the day I was aspiring to play drums back when I was at the ripe old age of 9 or 10 years old. And mum and dad gave me part of their house, which were the stables, which we called Club Keller. And to me and mum, this [Fleetwood's on Front Street] is Club Keller. This was where I played drums, where I aspired to dream of going to London and began believing in something that might not be believable."

http://www.mauiweekly.com/page/content.detail/id/509427/Renovations-Begin-for-Fleetwood-s-on-Front-Street.html?nav=8

[michelej1]

Hawaii Business, April 8, 2013
http://www.hawaiibusiness.com/Hawaii-Business/April-2013/Celebrities-get-down-to-business-on-Maui/

Celebrities get down to business on Maui

Open for business are Gene Simmons of Kiss, Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar, and Basketball Hall of Fame member and former NBA coach Don Nelson

By Lehia Apana

Open any celebrity magazine and you’ll likely find photos of stars living it up in Hawaii: lounging behind oversize sunglasses, playing in the surf or sipping on an umbrella-adorned drink. But not every famous person who visits the Islands is focused just on rest and relaxation. The itineraries of some A-list entrepreneurs include everything from business meetings to product sampling.

Nowhere is this influx of celebrity businesses more evident than on Maui, where several stars have decided to work and play, including rockers-turned-restaurateurs Gene Simmons of Kiss, Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac and former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar, who also produces his own line of rum. Basketball Hall of Fame member and former coach Don Nelson is also betting on success with his oceanfront events facility. Then there’s the queen of media, Oprah Winfrey, who has filed a number of trademark applications and appears to be gearing up to sell organic products from her Upcountry farm.

[omitted parts of the article not related to Mick]
Drumming Up Success

Mick Fleetwood, right, with Scott Leibfried, corporate chef at Fleetwood's on Front St.

Fleetwood, a full-time Maui resident and newcomer to the Lahaina restaurant landscape, has lent his famous moniker to Fleetwood’s on Front St., which opened in August 2012. It’s no surprise that music has helped define the restaurant, and diners can enjoy live entertainment nightly on the rooftop lounge. The opening celebration saw jam sessions by drummer Fleetwood, Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and blues guitarist Jonny Lang, among others.

In addition to his famous friends taking the stage, Fleetwood has enlisted the culinary talents of celebrity chef Scott Leibfried, sous chef on the “Hell’s Kitchen” reality show. As Fleetwood’s on Front St.’s corporate chef, Leibfried helped create the menu and is working with Fleetwood to write a cookbook that could be on shelves sometime this year.

For the record, Fleetwood’s business history hasn’t been perfect. He blames a failed restaurant venture about two decades ago on the fact that he “wasn’t present” in its daily operations.

“You can’t do this without really being involved, and it’s not advisable to sort of slap your name on it and disappear,” he says, adding that he visits the restaurant up to four nights a week.

“I’m just not one of those public figures who hides from people. I’m very open and I think that is no doubt necessary when running a business,” says Fleetwood. “If you’re going to be there, you can’t mind taking pictures, talking to customers and asking them how we can make it better.

“I’m that person, so if I was frightened and annoyed at people coming up to me all the time, this would not be the business to be in.”

Fleetwood is currently on a four-month North American tour with Fleetwood Mac, but has plans to keep in touch with the restaurant virtually while he’s away.

“We’re going to have fun doing audio and video linkups to my dressing room so I can say hello to people behind the bar,” he explains.

Beyond the restaurant, Fleetwood has plans to open a retail shop in the same building that will feature a wine gallery, food and creations from local artists, including some of Fleetwood’s own art.

[Macfanforever]

Sammy has a beach bar in Atlantic City.

I hope Micks restaurant does good .

I hope he will expand into the states with it.

I wonder if his background music is all FM tunes.LOL.

[RockawayBlind]

I visited the restaurant in August. It had just opened, and they were still preparing for the grand public opening. The food was pretty good, but it needed a little work. It was fun, and I posed for pictures in front of Mick's drum kit. A lot of fun, for sure.

[michelej1]

Edmonton Journal, February 8, 2014 by Liane Faulder

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/story_print.html?id=9477024

If you’re looking for prices straight up the middle, visit Fleetwood’s on Front (744 Front St. 808-669-6425) opened in 2012 by the drummer in the famous band, Fleetwood Mac. Mick Fleetwood, a Scot, has a home on Maui and the eatery features one of his drum kits (gold-plated). A man in a sarong delivered a traditional Hawaiian blessing, complete with tooting conch shell, to launch our evening on the stunning rooftop patio. Directly thereafter, a man in a kilt serenaded us with bagpipes. Similarly, Fleetwood’s menu is a bit of a dog’s breakfast, offering everything from eggplant Parmesan to chicken curry. But with that ocean view, Fleetwood could flog haggis and people would lap it up.

[chriskisn]

Mick Fleetwood, a Scot,

huh?
tencharacters

[michelej1]

Government Center Gazette and Van Nuys News Press

http://www.vannuysnewspress.com/2014/03/30/fleetwoods-on-front-street-is-a-special-treat/

Fleetwood’s On Front Street Is A Special Treat, March 30, 2014

By George Christopher Thomas, Food Critic


MAUI, HAWAII — If there was ever a place that had ambience, it is Fleetwood’s on Front Street in Maui. This is the place you hope your family takes you on your birthday. This is the place you take your bride after you elope in Maui on your wedding night. Fleetwood’s on Front Street is the place you take your mother on her 60th birthday and thank her for raising you.

It is also the place to stop by and grab a superior bite to eat any time you are in Lahina. We enjoyed the best seat in the house, overlooking the ocean and right by the live band. As the restaurant is on Front Street — so called because it directly flanks the Pacific — we could hear the waves crash right across the street. On the way to the restaurant, you can walk down the sidewalk though the quiet town and get a little spray from the wave. Lahina is perfectly located and an absolutely beautiful little village.

The serenity of the town takes a break at Fleetwood’s on Front Street, where something is happening day and night. The band performing live were a duo of seasoned, professional musicians who played at an ideal volume so that you can still hear yourself think, and enjoy your dinner. Mick Fleetwood himself — a regular performer at his restaurant — likely came in and did the sound check for this band, because everything was absolutely perfect.

The blues band was excellent, with a good mix of well-known, mellowed-out covers, including ZZ Top, Beatles and Rolling Stones songs. Right after they were done with their first set, the lead singer said “When you are in the moment, time is irrelevant.” Amen brother.

Besides all the music and ambiance and location, there is the great food. We started off with Kula tomatoes from the Maui mountains, red and yellow ones, dipped in pink Maui sea salt. Those Kula tomatoes brushed with Hawaiian sea salt had more flavor that almost any I have ever tasted.

They also had the most amazing and delicious house made rosemary and thyme Italian-style bread. Believe me, that bread with homey butter along with the Kula tomatoes and pink Hawaiian sea salt was a great way to start off dinner, piquing our appetites for more to come.

We had only been here for fifteen minutes when Fleetwood’s on Front Street officially became my favorite restaurant in Maui. There is something special going on, and it would be no surprise if the band playing were all famous rock stars. They knew what they were doing and hit every note perfectly.

Next up was another round of starters, the freshest, fattest mussels in a coconut milk broth. They were perfectly cooked, tasting like they were born, grown, harvested and cooked just for me. Following that was the main course, and I wanted something substantial and smoky. One of the day’s specials, the beef Wellington, was the choice for me. This was a hearty dish straight out of the old country yet quite at home in Maui. As I sat and ate the best beef Wellington in America, the second best in all of the world, behind my Mum-in-Law’s back in Merry Old England, I thanked the moon and the stars for the infusing of cultures. To be eating British comfort food as I sat by the ocean drinking a Mai Tai in Maui proved once again that Hawaii is a very special place. For this moment in time, life was good, and the homemade horseradish was pretty awesome as well, with just the right amount of kick.

The food, the location, the world-class music and cool ambiance are individually reasons to dine here; combined they make it a destination not to be missed. The rumor that Mick Fleetwood comes out and plays from time to time should give you at least one more reason to stop by and have a cheeseburger.

My dad says the greatest thing Bill Clinton ever did was to reunite Fleetwood Mac. Imagine having a nice meal by the ocean in Maui and seeing Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham walk by … it’s showtime and it might happen. (In my fantasy they play the entire Rumors album all the way through.) Could someone in the band get me a side of Thousand Island for my fries? A gravy boat full would suffice. Cheers mates.

[michelej1]

Alicka Promise BlogSpot, April 11, 2014 [click for photos]

http://alickapromise.blogspot.com/2014/04/fleetwoods-on-front-street.html


Fleetwood's on Front Street


Shaina and I went to Fleetwood's on Front Street tonight for dinner, and we got sat on the rooftop right before sunset.

We had an epic view of the sun setting behind Lanai, and of a bagpiper:

Mick Fleetwood is very proud of his Scottish heritage, so he has a sunset ceremony performed nightly from the rooftop featuring a bagpipe player followed by a conch shell blowing and torch lighting done by a Hawiian native.

{pink pastel hues washing the sky at sunset}

{rooftop dining room--I'm loving the string of white lights along the rafters}


{going light after Lahaina Grill decadence last night: butternut squash with quinoa}

[michelej1]

Mick Fleetwood's Flagship Restaurant on Maui Embraces Tech in Social Media to "Never Break the Chain"

Press Release

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mick-fleetwoods-flagship-restaurant-on-maui-embraces-tech-in-social-media-to-never-break-the-chain-282443161.html

SEATTLE and MAUI, Hawaii, Nov. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Ashley Leal, assistant manager of Fleetwood's on Front St., the iconic restaurant of Mick Fleetwood, the namesake of Fleetwood Mac, uses Flowboard and loves it! Says Leal, "The world is changing. It was time our presentations changed too. We needed something faster than PowerPoint, more hip and easier to use. We picked an Adobe Cloud Partner App called Flowboard and love it."

Flowboard is a new way of creating and presenting business and conceptual information. Flowboard presentations are almost like instant interactive apps made to order and designed by users in minutes. They can include navigation elements, links to documents, videos, image galleries and more. It's a reimagining of how presentations work. Plus it's simple to use and share.

"I was looking for a product that would make my presentation more interesting with less time creating it and I found Flowboard on the App Store. It was exactly what I wanted! Flowboard is user friendly, easy to navigate and it only took me 15 minutes to make my presentation!"

"As a restaurant, we are always looking for new ways to reach customers," Leal said. "With Flowboard, we reached close to 7,000 people while our click through, shares and likes all increased 400%." The popular Maui, Hawaii restaurant, Fleetwood's on Front St., used Flowboard to advertise their Halloween party. This link was viewed over 400 times in a few hours. "The promotion with Flowboard worked better than any regular Facebook page promotion," said Leal. "Because Fleetwood's on Front St. used Flowboard, we were able to entice a larger number of viewers to click and interact with the Flowboard, and our profits from this exposure were exponentially higher." In fact, a regular Facebook post days earlier about the same event had only reached a little over 1,500 people. "There is no way we could have reached that many people with just one Facebook post; one Facebook post wouldn't even be enough to cover all the information that our Flowboard had!"

Flowboard prides itself on being easy to use. You can choose from the templates offered or make your own. From there, add slides to make your presentation longer or delete slides to make it shorter. A great feature of Flowboard is the ability to integrate outside websites or your email address right into the presentation. You can also include all kinds of things like videos, personal documents and images.

Once you are done, save your Flowboard. You can post it publicly or privately. No matter what option you choose, a URL will be formulated just for your Flowboard. From there, you can share that link with anyone! It will open on any Mac, PC, web-enabled phone (iPhone, Android) or tablet. Use the same link to share your presentation on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Flowboard boosts social media presence but it can also help the management team within the company. "Because of how impressed I was with Flowboard, I bragged about it to my team," Leal said. "Now it's something we also use for proposals to management and vendors." With an ever-demanding audience, your presentation shouldn't be boring. With Flowboard, it never will be!

Flowboard is available as an app for the Macintosh and a free app for iPad. Once a Flowboard is created, it can be viewed instantly on any web enabled device or computer regardless of brand.

[michelej1]

Great food, beautiful beaches at Hawaii Food and Wine Festival

http://www.saultstar.com/2015/09/09/hawaii-food-and-wine-festival

By Jim Byers, Special to Postmedia Network

Wednesday, September 9, 2015 4:37:17 EDT PM

KAANAPALI, MAUI – Celebrity chef Art Smith is holding court on the patio of the popular Hula Grill, just steps from the sparkling blue waters of Kaanapali Beach. He’s sporting a black Hawaiian shirt and a gorgeous lei made of intertwined green leaves and spiky orange flowers and talking about the local food scene on day one of the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival on Maui.

“They’ve always grown amazing things here,” said Smith, a Florida-born, Chicago-based restaurateur and chef who works closely with Chicagoan and part-time Maui resident Oprah Winfrey. “But now there’s a pride in what’s grown and raised in Hawaii.”

“For a period it was hard to find great food here, but that’s changed,” says another top chef, Nancy Oakes of the famed Boulevard restaurant in San Francisco. “It used to be Spam and those plate lunches or a hamburger patty at breakfast. But you now have young chefs working on the mainland and bringing ideas home and marrying those with local ingredients.”

Oakes pauses and looks around, taking in the white sand beach at Kaanapali and the views of the sparkling green islands of Lanai and Molokai across the water.

“And, on top of the great food, when you come here your shoulders drop two inches.”

You can still find casual, neighborhood joints in the Hawaiian islands; places that serve saimin noodles, Portuguese sausage and carb-heavy mixed plate lunches, with their famous two scoops of rice plus macaroni, potato salad, poi and shredded Hawaiian pork. But you’ll also find remarkable, romantic spots such as Merriman’s in Kapalua and Ka’ana Kitchen at the Andaz Maui hotel in Wailea, where chef Isaac Bancaco pairs deeply flavoured, deep red Maui strawberries with perfectly salty prosciutto and local ricotta cheese.

[michelej1]

St. Louis Post Dispatch By Amy Bertrand [click for photo in front of Mick's]

http://www.stltoday.com/travel/bring-it-on-home-hawaii/article_c27ba03a-a325-5883-adf1-d346109a97fe.html

Bring it on home: Hawaii

Who and where • Lisa and Neal Scott of Pacific in front of Mick Fleetwood’s drum set from the Rumors album in Lahaina, Hawaii. They are wearing local band Killer Wails T-shirts.

The trip • They stayed in Kihei, Maui, for nine days in May 2014.


Travel tip • “If you visit Fleetwoods on Front Street, ask if you can get a tour of the restaurant, you will find out interesting information about Mick Fleetwood, the band Fleetwood Mac and see lots of memorabilia,” says Lisa.

[michelej1]

Making Memories and Music at Fleetwood’s on Front Street

Maui Now, September 24, 2015, 08:01 PM

http://mauinow.com/2015/09/24/making-memories-and-music-at-fleetwoods-on-front-street/

Fleetwood’s on Front Street. You sit down, relish a view of the ocean, take in the cool memorabilia, enjoy some unique food and classy drinks. It’s cool. Comfortable. Relaxing.

And then this extremely tall, world-renown rock star walks in the room. And guess what? It’s still cool. Comfortable. Relaxing. Because so is he. Mick Fleetwood’s mellow, authentic, classy vibe seems to define his dining room.

“We’re trying to create something people will remember, that is friendly and welcoming,” Mick Fleetwood told me during our chat, saying on his world travels, he’s drawn to restaurants with a warm, open atmosphere, versus a “slick” operation. “When people are traveling, this whole island is about that; they come and they go, so you want to make sure they remember. Like I do when I’m on the road; I remember places that Mom and Dad from the restaurant said, you know, ‘How’re you doing?’ And they have time for you. And you remember an atmosphere; that’s what we hope can be achieved.”

Fleetwood does indeed make time for diners and fans, often greeting them at their tables and having genuine conversations. That’s simply who he is, says General Manager Eric Waddell.

“I think he’s just a unique man; he’s very flamboyant, he’s out there, he’s also very humble, he walks around his restaurant and talks with people,” explains Waddell. “I mean, 45 years-plus playing music, perfecting the art of music, not being involved in just music but other arts, photography. He’s that guy who just keeps going.”

He also makes time for staff behind the scenes, even when traveling and performing around the globe with his iconic rock band, Fleetwood Mac.

“When he’s on tour, we have a direct connection. We can call him at anytime, he makes a lot of decisions. I would say even though he’s not here, he’s still here.” Waddell adds Fleetwood is a lot more involved than people might expect. “He’s the guy who will be texting and emailing at 9:30, 10:00 at night, and then you’re getting emails and texts bright crack-of-dawn early in the morning, and you know he had to have some family time in, so when was he trying to fit all that in, and then go on a world tour too?”

And don’t forget. He IS a rock star. Just ask anyone who attended Fleetwood’s 3rd anniversary bash in August, complete with a Leather and Lace party, Burning Love show with Elvis (performer Darren Lee), rooftop dining and dancing, and a live, outdoor concert from the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band, where they rocked out on the rooftop lanai in the pouring rain! Since they only performed four songs before having to shut down the show and dry off, Fleetwood decided to invite concertgoers back the following night for a bonus concert, inside on the main floor this time.

“They almost blew the roof off,” Waddell laughs. “It was just phenomenal; everybody gave them a standing ovation at the end, and I think everybody really truly walked away with what we wanted to do, and that was make some memories.”

The staff has its own storehouse of memories. Around 17 of the 150 employees have been at Fleetwood’s since the beginning, impressive in an industry that’s no stranger to high turnover. Fleetwood speaks to the restaurant’s inherent sense of community.

“I’m here a lot, and my mum who came here, she passed away recently, but she came here a lot. People that come here, the staff, they know and remember Biddy,” Fleetwood explains. “So it resonates on a local level. It also trickles down; that’s what members of the staff know about. There’s a story to tell, it’s personal.”

Waddell says he encourages his staff to take creative risks, communicate openly, listen to feedback, and foster passion and purpose in every position.

“We embrace creativity, we embrace that different person, we want to pull that passion out from you, we want to build off of it, and we want to learn from it,” says Waddell. “Everybody has a purpose here. I’m no more important than the dishwasher, ‘cause if the dishwasher’s not there, we don’t have clean dishes. We need that person. We need to take care of them, we feed them through the employee meal, we all break bread together and we have a great meal that chef gives to us every day.”

Chef Eric Morrissette was given the creative control to “keep it fresh” and craft innovative dishes. “I can play around every day with something new. They almost promote it more than shy away from it; I couldn’t be more thankful,” says Morrissette, who grew up on the East Coast and started as a morning line cook at Fleetwood’s three years ago. Within six months, he was promoted to Executive Chef.








“A chef should always know what’s going in to all their products,” Morrissette explains, saying he appreciates the freedom that allows him to source products, and research Maui’s bounty of local ingredients first-hand. “I can explore: ‘Hey guys, I’m taking the afternoon off, I’ll be there at 2 p.m.’ Where I can go to Haiku and go stomp around a little bit. And be able to pick and look at these kind of things. If I’m gonna sit here and serve you the food and stand by it 100%, I need to stand by that product as well. And there’s no better way of doing it than going out to the farms and seeing it.”

Morrissette’s menu features appetizers like Pacific oysters, bourbon-glazed pork belly, New Bedford scallop and artisanal cheese and meat boards. Entrees include a 72-hour short rib, grilled Hawaiian Shutome, chicken curry, and a half-rack of Australian lamb. There’s also a kids menu, complete with a creative activity book and crayons. Dinner goes from 5 to 10 p.m., with happy hour (and $1 oysters) from 5 to 6 p.m. Locals can enjoy kama’aina discounts of 15% off every day of the week. There’s also a rooftop sunset ceremony and live entertainment on the lanai, starting at 6 p.m.

Fleetwood’s features some outside-the-box events for the community, including Tarot card readings, a monthly full-moon party with a telescope and lunar expert, a range of charity events, and some new offerings.

“We’re going to try a Movie Monday coming up and see if people will show up,” Waddell says, “and we do our Throwback Thursdays where we have our dance floor and just offer a great environment, a safe environment; we don’t keep it open until midnight — we close down at 10. But you can come here at 7, watch the sunset, have some great cocktails, eat some great food.”

Speaking of great food, there’s something new right outside of Fleetwood’s: an ice-cream booth. Chef Eric keeps it simple, on purpose.

“We’re talking egg yolks, we’re talking sugar, milk, heavy cream, and that’s your base. The rest of it, I use Kula strawberries in my strawberry; we steep the strawberries in the creams and then we blend it that way, so all-natural. I use Tahitian vanilla beans in my vanilla bean ice cream, let ‘em steep, get all that flavor extracted,” Morrissette explains. “There’s nothing that goes in my product that I don’t touch, see, and get as close to as possible. It gives a stamp of approval. I work for Mick Fleetwood; he’s at the top of his game, so it kinda pushes us to be at the top of ours.”

That passion has given Fleetwood’s a presence on Front Street in Lahaina for the past three years, and hopefully, many more to come. I’ve refrained from peppering this article with Fleetwood Mac song references, but will at least allow myself one. You could say managers “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow.” (It’ll soon be here!)

“This is our island with everybody else. This is our home! We want to be here for some time. Three years? Let’s go 30!” Waddell says they respect both the locals and visitors that influence our island. “There’s a lot of people who come to Maui and spend a lot of money, they bring children, they bring their families, and when you put those kinds of efforts and you put those dreams in our hands, even if just for a night, we better make sure it’s right.”

While leaders are rightfully proud of what they’ve accomplished, they hold themselves to a very high standard and say there’s always room to learn and grow.

“It goes back to challenging each other, it goes back to our boss still out there banging on the drums and doing world tours and that never-give-up attitude,” explains Morrissette. “We all know it’s hard opening a brand-new restaurant, especially a two-floor monster this size, and that’s the big thing: we all get it, we all believe.”

Mr. Fleetwood himself says in sustaining what he calls a “pipe dream” that’s become a big reality, he wants people to feel “at home” and excited about what’s to come. Because at Fleetwood’s, you kind of never know what’s to come, or what rock star you might see around the corner.

“We’re three years in; we feel good,” Fleetwood says. “Special places that become more special, they hang around.”