Tasting Kauai is Growing
Tasting Kauai is happy to introduce Melissa Gregory, the newest member of our team. Daniel Lane photo
Tasting Kauai is thrilled to introduce Melissa Gregory, a kindred spirit who is handling sales for our food tours and restaurant guidebook. Since Tasting Kauai likes to celebrate food through family, friends and kinship, we offer edible experiences to cultivate a connection with the people who grow and make Kauai’s food. As a creative woman who knows how to enjoy life, Melissa’s easy laughter is a welcome addition to our team.
Melissa and her husband Jay, who is from New England, moved to Kauai in 2007. As fans of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park, the couple named their son Boston (Bo) and the family dog — a Boston Terrier, Fenway. In 2009, their daughter Marlee was born and two years later, the Gregorys purchased their “forever home” on Kauai’s south side, in Kalaheo.
Before moving to Kauai, Melissa lived in San Diego, CA, where she worked as a travel agent for AAA. She was also a meeting coordinator and event planner who handled group ticket sales and special events for a theatre in Old Town San Diego.
On Kauai, Melissa was the assistant to the director of the Breadfruit Institute at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) in Poipu. Following NTBG, she was the sales and logistics coordinator for Kauai Coffee Company, which is how I met her. We were covering the Westin Princeville Jazz & Wine Festival for Kauai Midweek, when she charmed us into a cup and forever changed our minds about Kauai Coffee.
“I’m excited to be joining the Tasting Kauai team,” says Melissa. “Sustainability and environmentally friendly practices are part of my heart-connection to Kauai. As a volunteer for NTBG, beach cleanups, annual NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) whale counts and the Monk Seal Hui, I am dedicated to keeping the island green and our oceans clean. My love of food, the environment, agriculture and botany are a perfect complement to Tasting Kauai’s ‘farm-to-fork’ philosophy and the edible experiences that Tasting Kauai provides.”
Marta Lane, a freelance food writer, and her husband Daniel, a freelance photographer, founded Tasting Kauai in 2012. The couple was inspired by Kauai’s abundance after writing hundreds of articles about food and farming for Kauai Midweek and The Garden Island newspaper. Tasting Kauai offers three farm-to-fork food tours a month, a weekly farmers market class and an active blog featuring Kauai food related news and events. Tasting Kauai: Restaurants – From Food Trucks to Fine Dining, A Guide to Eating Well on the Garden Island is a full-color restaurant guidebook.
Melissa can be reached at sales@tastingkauai.com or by calling 808-652-5255.