A food truck that started with two college students selling pizza out of their apartment is now serving up purple taro-crust pies and Vietnamese-inspired slices from a spot at Kahuku Sugar Mill, and it's growing. Zef's Pizza, formerly known as Zephanie's Pizza, has built a following on Oahu's North Shore for creative pizzas that blend Neapolitan style with Asian-Pacific flavors, and the business is expanding to a second location at Hukilau Marketplace at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Owners Zach Draper and Stephanie Draper opened their food truck at Kahuku Sugar Mill in October 2023, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. The couple's pizza story goes back further than that, though. Zach Draper has said he and Stephanie learned to make pizza as a hobby while in college, and the pair began selling pies out of their apartment to students and community members before building toward something bigger, as the Drapers told Aloha State Daily: “We began selling pizza out of our apartment in college,” Stephanie Draper said. “From there, we did a few pop-up events, catering and investing into building our own food truck.”
Zach Draper has also said that support from friends and the community inspired them to start the truck in the first place. That encouragement eventually turned into Zef's Pizza, a truck serving creative pizzas on Oahu's North Shore with a menu that leans into both Neapolitan tradition and Hawaii's multicultural food scene.
Taro Crusts Made From Scratch
The heart of the operation is the dough. Zef's Pizza offers crust options including traditional Italian-flour dough, gluten-free, cauliflower and a distinctive taro crust, and the North Shore truck serves 12-inch Neapolitan-style pizzas on either the traditional or taro base, according to Pizza Today. Both the traditional and taro crusts are handmade in-house, Stephanie Draper said, and the process is anything but quick. “Both, our traditional pizza crust and taro crust are handmade in house,” she said, per the same Aloha State Daily report. “The overall dough process takes three to five days, to give it the exact taste and texture that we love.”
A Menu That Travels From Hanoi to Hawaii
Nowhere is the truck's cross-cultural approach clearer than on the Da Pho pizza, a $19 pie topped with hoisin sauce, mozzarella, jalapeños, red onions, kalua pork, cilantro, Thai basil and a Sriracha drizzle. The pizza was inspired by dishes that Stephanie Draper's family made while she was growing up, the Star-Advertiser reported. The Banh Mi pizza takes a similar cue, featuring a soy-sesame base, mozzarella, jalapeños, cucumbers, kalua pork, pickled vegetables, cilantro and a Sriracha aioli drizzle.
Other menu standouts include the Three Little Pigs, a $21 meat-lover's pie loaded with sausage, kalua pork and pepperoni, and Steph's Curry, a $19 pizza built on housemade Thai green curry sauce with chicken, mozzarella, bell peppers, cilantro and Thai basil. The Prosciutto Happiness, priced at $22, rounds out the lineup with olive oil, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula and a balsamic glaze — the same pie pictured in a photo accompanying the Star-Advertiser's report, taken by Lawrence Tabudlo.
Pricing Discrepancy on the Hukilau Pie
The Hukilau pizza, a taro-crust pie topped with cheese, pineapple, kalua pork and barbecue sauce, carries conflicting prices depending on the source. The Star-Advertiser lists it at $19, while Aloha State Daily reported the same pizza at $21. Either way, the pie is called the Hukilau, and the Drapers plan a second location at Hukilau Marketplace.
Expanding Beyond the Sugar Mill
The original truck operates at 56-565 Kamehameha Highway in Kahuku, while the Hukilau Marketplace location is at 55-370 Kamehameha Highway, also in Kahuku, near the Polynesian Cultural Center in Lāʻie. Aloha State Daily reported in April that the business would be opening a second location soon at the Hukilau Marketplace; the second location opened earlier in 2026.
For now, customers can order from Zef's Pizza in person or online, and the truck accepts both cash and debit or credit cards. Whether it's the taro crust, the pho-inspired toppings, or the meat-lover's classic, the Kahuku business has carved out a distinct niche on the North Shore — one that appears ready to stretch a little further down the highway.
