The nationwide franchise will raze former Round Table Pizza building at Highway 99W and Elliott Road

The unique flavors of the Pacific islands will soon be available in Newberg.

Work has begun to raze the Round Table Pizza building at the intersection of Highway 99W and Portland Road and construct the state’s second Hawaiian Bros Island Grill.

The franchise, with more than 55 locations in nine states across the country, is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, although its roots are much closer. According to its website, the business was founded in 2018 by Eugene natives Cameron and Tyler McNie.

“In the mid ‘90s a native Hawaiian by the name of Kekoa opened a Hawaiian restaurant in Oregon,” the site says. “He moved there from the Big Island of Hawaii and brought his own family recipes with him.”

Two of Kekoa’s best customers were the McNie brothers, who stepped in when they learned that the Eugene restaurant was in peril.

“The McNie brothers were faithful customers of Kekoa’s restaurant and were greatly disappointed in 2003 when they learned that the restaurant was closing,” according to the website. “That same year, Cameron and Tyler helped their family open a small restaurant that offered the same Hawaiian plate lunch the brothers had come to know and love.”

The brothers had been trained by Kekoa on the preparation of traditional Hawaiian dishes he brought to the mainland from the islands, including the plate lunch so popular throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Roughly a decade later the McNie brothers started Hawaiian Bros, and the business has been steadily growing ever since.

Now the Newberg site is poised to join one on Grand Avenue in southeast Portland, as well as locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Arkansas and Arrizona. Additional locations are expected in Oregon as the franchise makes a concerted push to open more stores in the Northwest, the website says.

Franchise’s buildings all similar

The 3,100-square-foot building to be built in Newberg will appear similar to the other sites in the franchise and feature a wood frame structure with in-house dining, a drive-thru adorned in stone, metal siding and a tall parapet.

The city approved in April plans for construction of the new store once the now-defunct 63,000-square-foot Round Table building is demolished. When building will begin is unclear, although crews surrounded the site with fencing early last week. The pizza shop closed its doors in summer 2024 after struggling to remain open for years.

Fore more information and a peek at the restaurant’s menu, visit hawaiianbros.com/menu.