By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
The Kwock family -- mom Marilyn, son Wesley and
dad Jeffery -- use real whipped cream to top their treats.
Customers love their products so much, now that they're
closing one woman bought 40 bags of oatmeal cookies to
freeze. Another customer bought 20 quarts of frozen yogurt.
Dishing up warm memories
By Lois Lingeman
Star-BulletinMarilyn Kwock is coming in from the cold -- or, more appropriately, coming OUT of it -- this weekend. She's closing her Zack's Famous Frozen Yogurt shop in Kaimuki after a nearly 10-year run. No more racing in and out of the walk-in freezer, fretting about power failures, working 7-day weeks of 10-hour days.
But it's a bittersweet decision, and she'll miss dishing out her frosty desserts and sunny friendship.
As one customer wrote in a remembrance book put at the sales counter when word of the closing got around: "All good things must come to an end. Why?"
Time had a hand in it. Kwock's Market City lease is running out. Both her mother, Millie Chin, 74, and her husband Jeffery's mother, Phoebe, 86, are now widowed, and Kwock wants to spend more time with them.
ByDennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Family friend Pam Chock shares the
Kwocks' remembrance book.
But "basically, it's health. Health is more important than money," Kwock said, recalling a bout with Bell's palsy a few years ago, which she always blamed on being constantly in and out of the freezer."It's hard work, but it's enjoyable. My family has helped me so much."
Her husband often worked at the shop, as did their son, Wesley, who's studying criminal justice at the University of Hawaii. Now, Wesley says, "I'll have to look for another job."
Marilyn Kwock's brother and wife, who had tasted the yogurt in New Orleans, brought the Zack's franchise here in July 1988. Marilyn was the manager and bookkeeper and finally bought the shop in 1994. She had a feel for business, having worked in accounting and taxes, both with agencies and on her own, for 23 years. As a kid, she worked in the refreshment center at the Honolulu Zoo.
"It takes a lot of trial and error, and lots of hard work in this kind of business. You do have your ups and downs."
But she treasures the customers, the friends she's made.
And the laughs. "One day I was making a sundae, and there were about 10 or 12 customers waiting. I was squirting the whipped cream on the sundae and the nozzle went berserk. It (whipped cream) went all over the shop before I could get it stopped. They were all laughing.
"They waited patiently until I cleaned up the mess -- everything was sticky. The customers were all so nice I gave them 10 percent off on what they bought."
Customers have been filling the remembrance book with thanks and good wishes:
"The guys at the Kalihi-Kai fire station will miss the delicious pies. Thanks and best of luck!"
A Kaimuki High teacher: "You've made my years at Kaimuki sooo much better, and all my students thank you for your help."
"I love the yogurt. Enjoy your retirement."
"Sad to see you go. Good luck. Open somewhere else!"
"I've made many good friends here. I wish I could go on -- this is the goal I had, to retire here. I'm just very thankful that God gave me this opportunity. He'll see us through this whole thing."
The Kwocks are selling their Moanalua home, doing some renovating at Chin's huge house in Kaimuki, and will move there in late October, keeping all the family together.
Then, Kwock says, she may "go back to school, take some classes. And I'd like to do some volunteer work with hospitals, or children. I love children."
