Meet the couple behind one of Chatham’s best new businesses
By Anna-Rhesa Versola | Photography by John Michael Simpson
Kaylene Lauano was born and raised in American Samoa, a U.S. territory that is an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Hawaii. Cooking Polynesian food helps her maintain strong cultural and familial connections to Hawaii, where her parents met. Kaylene left island life to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage with plans to become a social worker, but the demands of a growing family quickly outpaced her educational goals.
Kaylene and her husband, Faasolo “Solo” Lauano, who is also from American Samoa, share three daughters and two sons: Nidaiya Lauano, 17, Nivan Lauano, 15, Nilayliann Lauano, 14, Nirytus Lauano, 11, and Niblessa Lauano, 8, all of whom attend Chatham County Schools. The couple’s culinary journey began in Alaska, where harsh conditions can be tough on both people and machinery.
The Lauanos would often see an abandoned food truck parked in an Ace Hardware store lot. “It would be so cool if we [could] sell Polynesian barbecue,” Kaylene remembers thinking. Dreaming of a food-based business, the couple tracked down the truck owner and signed a lease agreement. “We started to sell brisket because there was a big smoker outside,” Kaylene says.
While their business prospered during the warmer months, winter conditions discouraged customers from standing in line outside. Kaylene and Solo realized that it was time to reconsider their strategy.
“I was coming up with ideas out of nowhere,” Kaylene says. “I’m just this island girl trying to figure out life in America. People [would] always say, ‘I love the sauce.’ So, I did my research and due diligence.”
Kaylene began looking for a co-packing company that could help produce and bottle her three sauce recipes – Original BBQ, Sweet n’ Spicy and Kaylene’s Polynesian Sauce. She reached out to many different companies and found a good match in North Carolina. “They were nice people over the phone,” Kaylene says. With prayer and reflection, the Lauano family decided to move after 16 years in Anchorage, leaving behind their entire network of extended family and friends to be closer to the production facility.
Bottling for Ni Armor’s Premium Gourmet Sauces began in March 2017. Kaylene vividly remembers the reactions from family and friends: “Why do you have to go?” She says she and her family miss large gatherings with their cousins and close friends, especially around the holidays. “It was a big change, a huge change,” she says. “And it was scary. We had never been to the South.” Despite the challenges, they have adapted and supported one another.
North Carolina has a barbecue scene full of regional options, but Kaylene and Solo believe Ni Armor’s sauces offer a unique flavor experience compared to the local vinegar-based styles. “When we came here and tried to sell it, we were at events, and it took a while,” Kaylene says of their sauce catching on. “This person next to me is selling sauce. The other people over there are selling barbecue sauce, too.”
In 2022, they opened a 900-square-foot stall in Burlington Food Hall and Commissary Kitchen. It enabled the couple to showcase their sauces in action. In February, the couple opened Ni Armor’s Hawaiian and Polynesian BBQ in Pittsboro.
By summer, Ni Armor’s had been voted among the best new businesses by Chatham Magazine readers. “What we’re doing right now is what we love,” Kaylene says. “I’m just this island girl trying to figure out life in America.”
So far, the most popular dish on the menu is Solo’s barbecue sampler plate, which features beef short ribs, kālua-style pork, chicken, rice and macaroni pasta salad. Kālua is a traditional method of slow cooking using a pit or earthen oven. Another popular dish is Kaylene’s Polynesian Sauce meatball combo with barbecue chicken. And, for those who crave a taste of Hawaii, the Spam musubi (a slice of Spam with rice and nori) is a must-try dish. Due to limited outdoor seating, Ni Armor relies on its robust takeout orders and has a pickup window.
This summer, Kaylene and Solo received an invitation to pitch their brand and products to the corporate leaders of Walmart, hoping for an opportunity to scale up their business. Additionally, they launched a GoFundMe campaign in July to help raise money toward establishing a second location in Burlington with enough space to host luaus.
“We are focused on getting the products and the brand out; that was our goal in moving here,” Kaylene says. “We’re looking to the future.”
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