The Founder

About Bonita Lao

Bonita Lao, founder of Lao Group Consulting, was born and raised on Hawaiʻi Island. A second-generation Chinese American, she grew up in Don's Chinese Kitchen in Waimea, the restaurant her family ran for 30 years.

Her career has had four distinct stages:

1. 01 Graduating from the California Culinary Academy and cooking alongside acclaimed chefs from Boulevard in San Francisco to kitchens in Sydney and Tuscany.
2. 02 Launching and running a private chef business for high-net-worth clients on Hawaiʻi Island.
3. 03 Building a multifaceted food business spanning a restaurant, catering for corporate and private events of 5 to 500 guests, a proprietary sauce line, and community ventures.
4. 04 Founding Lao Group Consulting to bring quality management systems to food and beverage organizations.

In 15 years as an owner-operator before turning to consulting, Bonita led every part of the build, from facility design with architects and equipment procurement to brand development. She built her teams from local talent, mentoring and promoting from within. For ten years she was mentored by Jim Hull, a systems and process consultant to aerospace manufacturing companies, and she brought that industry's approach to quality into her own f&b operations.

At Nanea Golf Club, Bonita spent 19 months working directly with the board, general manager, food and beverage director, and human resources, solving problems across the organization from leadership communication to daily execution. That work became the foundation of Menu-First Architecture™, her framework for helping good teams perform even better.

Today she continues the mission that has guided her whole career: changing people's relationship with food. Through quality management systems, she helps food and beverage organizations replace daily uncertainty with clarity, so teams can take pride in the food they prepare and serve, and guests can trust it every time.