ST. GEORGE —From making 300 pies in their home kitchen to serving fresh fruit kabobs at the Super Bowl, this St. George business may have started small, but they’re doing it big.

“For the last 12 years, we’ve done this 24/7,” Todd Mizukawa said about Kabob Shack. “The business has allowed us to be around for our children’s formative years and given us the freedom to do things that many people don’t have the opportunity to do.”

Kabob Shack is a specialized food stand that features four flagship products: fresh strawberries and bananas on a skewer, strawberry brownie bites on a skewer with drizzled white and milk chocolate, frozen cheesecake on a stick drizzled with chocolate and apple blossoms with caramel, white chocolate and nuts.

Stacia Mizukawa, who originally started Kabob Shack in 2007, said her Greek parents were entrepreneurs who owned multiple restaurants. At age 13, she and her family moved to Arizona where her dad added a gyro sandwich stand to his list of food businesses.

After her parents divorced, Mizukawa’s mom decided to start her own food business. As the family sat down and discussed food business types, they came up with the joint idea of a fresh take on kabobs.

Her mom began her kabob business first, then she and her sister followed. While their individual businesses provide the same food, they each have their own territories –  her mom covers Colorado, Arkansas and parts of Texas, her sister covers Arizona and Kabob Shack covers “everything else.”

Mizukawa said she didn’t follow in her family’s footprints right away. After seven years of working 70-plus hours a week as a bank manager while taking care of two young kids at home, she and her husband filed for divorce. With a goal to focus more on spending time with her kids, she quit the banking industry in 2007 and began bringing Kabob Shack to special events full-time.

“It really started out as desperation,”  Muzukawa said about starting the business. “I really don’t know how it worked out because on paper it should not have worked out. I’d like to say it was a huge success overnight, but it wasn’t.”

A year after she started her business, she met her now-husband, Todd Mizukawa, who was the president of international sales for a company in Orem. His career required him to travel all over the country three weeks a month.

When the couple married in 2008, he moved to Arizona to begin their new life together. The move meant leaving a great career during the recession and he was unable to find employment upon arrival. On the weekends, he helped his wife with her kabob business, attending local festivals and fairs. 

“We just thought, OK, well, we’ll just keep doing more of whatever I’m doing, because that’ll pay more bills until he found something,” Stacia Mizukawa said. “So, I’m thinking, it’s a means to an end, right?” 

As a two-person team, they were able to grow Kabob Shack and expand to attending festivals and events in other states. Beginning with motor speedways in California and Las Vegas, each event led them to bigger opportunities.

They sold their kabob treats at the Arizona Coyotes hockey arena, which led them to their first Kentucky Derby. The derby led to their first NFL stadium experience with the Arizona Cardinals –  a contract that included the Final Four and even the Super Bowl. The Cardinals’ contract also led to serving at the Phoenix Suns NBA games.

Outside the Cardinals’ arena contract, Todd Mizukawa said the NFL also hired Kabob Shack for their official tailgate party. Star attendees included NFL players and their wives, agents and more. The couple said that the “NFL really knows how to throw a party,” and it was unlike anything they had seen before. Kabob Shack has been at the 2015 and 2016 Super Bowl, and will also be at the upcoming 2023 Super Bowl in February.

The couple moved to St. George six years ago and has been seen at many local festivals such as the Washington County Fair, the St. George Art Festival, the Kanab Balloons and Tunes Roundup and the Dixie Power Kite Festival.

“It’s truly been a remarkable ride,” Stacia Mizukawa said. “I never would have thought 15 years ago when I started this that I’d be doing this longer than until I got married again. But anyone that knows me knows I can’t be stagnant.”

Todd Mizukawa said owning and operating Kabob Shack has afforded them the rare opportunity to include their kids in their business, taking them on trips all over the country that are equal parts fun and play, such as staying extra days to go to Disneyland while in California. They are proud to show their kids the entrepreneurial lifestyle and instill a strong work ethic.

“We tell our kids leadership is not about what you get, it’s about what you can empower others to get, so if our business is able to empower others to find financial freedom, then we look at it that way,” Stacia Mizukawa said about copy-cat businesses that have since come to market.

Kabob Shack is a seasonal business, which allows the couple to dive into other food-related projects. Stacia’s Kitchen, a business Stacia Mizukawa also started in Arizona, offers home-cooked meals and baked treats. 

Through Stacia’s Kitchen, the couple now bakes desserts from scratch in mass quantities, such as specialty pies for Thanksgiving. They sold almost 300 pies last season with options such as strawberry, french silk, banana cream, pumpkin and blueberry. Stacia’s Kitchen also offers catering for corporate events, weddings, retirement parties and more.

“We have never advertised a bit of it,” Todd Mizukawa said about Stacia’s Kitchen. “And yet, we have people contacting us left and right. Pretty crazy. It’s all been word of mouth.”

The couple’s success, however, has not come without trials. Just as they were about to do their first event of the season in March 2019, COVID stuck. As preceding events continued to be canceled, they began to panic about the financial toll it could take on their family. The couple each took part-time jobs as a means of financial support during the two-year pandemic shutdowns.

Getting creative in desperate times, Stacia Mizukawa said the couple also did many off-the-wall food-related side businesses. While watching the news one day, she saw a restaurant owner with access to food suppliers turn their restaurant into a grocery store and was instantly inspired.

With access to their own food suppliers, she was able to stock up on a large number of ingredients that were in short supply to the general public.

“I drove to Vegas, loaded up my car,” she said. “I think I had 400 pounds of beans, like, it was crazy. The back of my car was weighed down from the amount I brought back. Our thoughts were: Who can we help? What can we do? What skills do we have? What can we contribute to help other people get through?”

The Mizukawa family set up tables and used bags to repackage items such as flour, beans and yeast and began selling them to the community. Stacia’s Kitchen was also able to offer freezer meals for families to assist in the food shortage.

“None of our success has come without struggles, but the best part is that we get to do it together,” Todd Mizukawa said.

For more information on Kabob Shack, find them on Facebook. To order directly from their home kitchen or inquire about catering options, visit Stacia’s Kitchen on Instagram or Facebook.

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