Meet Will Lydgate of Lydgate Farms
Will Lydgate, the owner of Kaua‘i-based Lydgate Farms, shares his vision for Hawai‘i-grown chocolate, along with some of his favorite places to visit on the Garden Isle.
The story of the Lydgates on Kaua‘i begins in 1865 when Will Lydgate’s great-great-grandfather William Ludgate (later changed to Lydgate), an engineer and a millwright, came to the island to work in the plantation business. His son, John Mortimer Lydgate, Will’s great-grandfather, worked for King Kalākaua as a land surveyor, and was an assistant to Wilhelm Hillebrand, a German physician and botanist. Hillebrand brought cacao to Hawai‘i from the Philippines in the 19th century. That cacao variety, originally from Mexico, is still grown on Kaua‘i today.
Will Lydgate was born in California and in 1999, at 16, moved to Kaua‘i, where his grandfather and father were born. He had no idea that, in 2002—when his father started Lydgate Farms on the same property that his ancestors had lived on—he’d become a farmer. Later, in college, Lydgate earned a master’s degree in music and worked as a recording engineer and touring musician for most of his 20s and 30s. But in 2016, when his father’s health began to decline, Lydgate decided to leave his music career to support his family and the farm.
The following year the farm’s chocolate was named among the 50 best in the world at the prestigious Cacao of Excellence Awards. It won again in 2021 and 2023. Now the farm also grows vanilla and, later this year, will launch varietal-specific and vintage-dated vanilla beans and extract.
Lydgate Farms is one of the most visited attractions on Kaua‘i. On its farm tour you’ll not only taste Hawai‘i-grown chocolate—known for its tropical fruit flavor and high cocoa butter content—but also a vast variety of estate-grown tropical fruit. The farm’s retail shop is so popular that in July Lydgate opened a store and tasting room in Kapa‘a. You can also find Lydgate Farms chocolate at the Kaua‘i Chocolate & Coffee Festival on Oct. 20. The annual festival is hosted by the Hawai‘i Chocolate and Cacao Association, of which Lydgate is president.
Do you think Hawai‘i could ever be famous for chocolate?
We believe that Hawai‘i is a global center of excellence for cacao quality, research and education and chocolate tourism. We could be the Burgundy of cacao. People want to come here to take classes and learn. We want [the University of Hawai‘i] to have a cacao certification, we want cacao professors, we want private sector education. We want this to be a place where people come to visit chocolate farms. We think that Hawai‘i is chocolate country. Hawai‘i produces something like one ten-thousandth of the world’s cacao but has won more Cacao of Excellence Awards than any other [place].
We’re using Hawai‘i as a grassroots movement. If we can change the way 10 million people taste chocolate, it could change the entire chocolate-buying world.
What are three spots on Kaua‘i you always take visitors to?
North Side of Keālia to bodysurf. Bring a gallon jug of water and put it on the car so it can heat up while you’re bodysurfing and then you pour the warm water all over yourself when you get out of the water. Lydgate Park is an incredibly safe place to swim and one of the most widely used family parks. Also, the bike path starts there—a wonderful path that runs along the east side. My great-grandfather was surveying [the] Wailua territory and he came across an old heiau (Hawaiian temple) that had been dismantled. He, along with some of the other community members, created the Kaua‘i Historical Society and they petitioned the governor to set aside the heiau of Wailua. He died in 1922 and in 1924 the board of supervisors, which is now the Kaua‘i County Council voted to name the park after him for his many efforts to the community. He also founded the first public library on the island, the YMCA, the Mokihana Club and the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce. He was very civic minded. And Hanalei Bay. I’m going to take you to the Hanalei Dolphin Fish Market. We’re gonna get a half-pound of fish dip and some sushi rolls and flatbread and go to the beach, have a picnic, jump in the water and marvel in the splendor of Hanalei.
Where are your favorite places to eat on Kaua‘i?
I gotta go to Wailua Drive-In and get the teri burger deluxe with cheese. It’s incredible. It’s one of my favorite burgers of all time. Kenji Burger—I’m really stoked about what those guys are doing. There’s something for everybody and they have good Japanese beers. And Princeville Wine Market. That place is so well-curated and if I sound like I know what I’m talking about with wine, it’s because of my friendship with the owner, Daniel Braun. You can tell him what you want and he’ll pick it out. There’s nothing bad in the store. Holy Grail Donuts; get the chocolate doughnuts with our chocolate. The Kōke‘e Lodge is really good. If you went there 10 to 20 years ago, it’s a whole different place now. Go again. It’s all good.
What’s unique about Kaua‘i?
We are a little further away, so culturally not conquered a bunch of times by foreign chiefs. We’ve got the fresh water; in Hawai‘i water is wealth. Where I live there are springs everywhere. I think Kaua‘i is a place for the kind of visitor who wants something a little different, a little off the beaten path, a little more special and a little less commercialized. We really try hard to keep Old Hawai‘i alive and try not to be overrun. You can’t build higher than a coconut tree here. Kaua‘i has a way of keeping its character that’s really charming.
This story was originally published in our Fall 2024 issue, which you can buy here. Better yet, subscribe and get HAWAIʻI Magazine delivered to right to your mailbox.
