DE222 Honoree: Javier Acuna

Title: Owner

Workplace: Hakuna Hospitality Group

Overseeing the parent company of more than half a dozen restaurants and markets in Newark and Wilmington is just one of the focuses of Hakuna Hospitality Group owner Javier Acuna. He also is the founder of Food First Delaware, which helped feed first responders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Santa Fe, one of Hakuna’s restaurants, has earned Delaware Today’s “Restaurant of the Year” title multiple times since opening. Acuna focuses on using locally grown produce when possible at his restaurants, which he has been expanding in northern Delaware. Two more Del Pez restaurants are slated to soon open in Pennsylvania and Newark.

– Digital Partners -