It’s been a long and winding road for the Highway Inn

The Waipahu eatery is still going strong after 60 years and three generations

STORY SUMMARY »

The Highway Inn, a Waipahu landmark that began as the modest dream of Seiichi Toguchi in 1947, has made 60 years thanks to the tenacity of his granddaughters.

Waipahu landmark » Address: 94-226 Leoku St., Waipahu » Phone: 677-4345 » Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Regina and Monica Toguchi never planned to become restaurateurs. Support from the family business allowed the sisters to get professional degrees that took them far from Hawaii. Ironically, it was the family business that brought them home.

The sisters returned home in 2003 after their father Bobby Toguchi, son of the Highway Inn founder, suffered a stroke. Dedication to family, Highway Inn employees and customers kept them there.

"I told my daughters to sell the restaurant," said Bobby Toguchi, who in 1979 gave up a lucrative career at Japan Airlines to take over his father's business.

Bobby recalls that his decision to take over the family business was difficult, but said that in the end he felt that there wasn't any other choice to make. Flash forward a few decades, and Bobby's daughters faced the same difficult decision as he once had.

"How can you let something that had gone this far go?" Monica said.

In the end, it wasn't really a choice, Regina said. It was a responsibility, she said.

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Regina and Monica Toguchi, the granddaughters of Highway Inn founder Seiichi Toguchi, traveled around the world only to find that home is where the family lives.

These third-generation restaurateurs had never planned to operate the family business opened by their grandfather in 1947. After college on the mainland, Regina worked in Asia and ultimately planned to stay there. Big sister Monica lived in Oregon where she was pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology. Loyalty to the family brought them home to take over the family business after their father Bobby Toguchi suffered a stroke in 2003.

"We knew that this restaurant needed to stay in business no matter what," Regina said. "Seven of our family members depend on the restaurant for support and we have four families among our 25 employees who also depend on the income."

From the start, the Highway Inn always has been a family-based business.

"My grandfather opened this restaurant with one simple goal in mind to support his family," Regina said.

After returning from internment in Arkansas and California, Seiichi Toguchi tried many careers before opening what the family now terms "the old-style Hawaiian hole-in-the wall" as a means to support his wife and seven children.

"He had tried to be a pig farmer, but the pigs got skinny. After that he tried to be a junk collector, but in the end he went back to what he did well and that was cooking," said Bobby Toguchi, who survived his stroke and now is semi-retired.

Seiichi Toguchi learned to cook Hawaiian foods when he worked as a dishwasher at the old City Café, which was once owned by the Hamamoto family. He further cultivated his skills during World War II when he was sent to a California internment camp. Since Seiichi Toguchi had experience cooking, he was assigned to work at the cafeteria, which was staffed with other internees, some of whom had been executive chefs at top restaurants.

"He only had a third-grade education, but he was a very smart man and rounded out his education at the internment camp," Monica said.

Family and friends loaned Seiichi Toguchi about $3,000 and he opened the Highway Inn, which he named for its Farrington Highway location, near where the Bank of Hawaii and Mid-Town Radio are now. The business moved once more before relocating in 1984 to its current Leoku Street location.

Through lean times and strong times, Highway Inn has remained in Waipahu. This year, the business celebrated its 60th anniversary. The restaurant's longevity is an amazing accomplishment given the high failure rate of startup restaurants in Hawaii and serves as a testament to the collective strength of a family, said Bob Sigall, author of the newly released "Companies We Keep 2," a book about Hawaii's amazing people, places and companies.

Sigall, who featured the Highway Inn in his latest book, said Seiichi Toguchi's entrepreneurial story is his favorite.

"It's such an inspiring story," Sigall said. "Here's a guy that took lemons and made lemonade."

Strong family values are what differentiate the Highway Inn from other businesses, said Greg Fong, a Highway Inn regular.

"(It's about) family values. You know as far as I guess in Hawaii, family is (the) nucleus and most important," Fong said. "Yeah, that's the most important thing to me (about the Highway Inn). (They) continue family tradition and (that's) just hard to beat," Fong said in a video documenting the restaurant's anniversary.

Most of the Highway Inn workers say that they, too, feel the strong family pull. Juanita Villegas, who has worked at the restaurant for nearly 40 years, terms the job "her first job and her last job." Another worker, Cecelia Mendoza, who has worked at the establishment for about 16 years, describes it as "belonging to an ohana."

As Hawaii as grown, many things have changed, but the Highway Inn continues to be a Waipahu gathering place where customers say that they can expect to experience the same menu choices that their parents and grandparents favored -- albeit for a slightly higher price.

Over the years, many local celebrities have even adopted the Highway Inn as their place to get home cooking outside of the family. Makaha Sons group leader Louis "Moon" Kauakahi was in on Tuesday and other musical regulars include Cyril Pahanui and KITV sports director and University of Hawaii football radio color man Robert Kekaula. Councilman Nester Garcia and Hawaii fighters Falankio Vitale and Marcelo Tiger are also frequent diners as is professional baseball player Jerome Williams.

"Jerome's mother used to bring him into the restaurant to pick up hamburger sandwiches before baseball practice," Monica said.

It's stories like these that have made it impossible for Seiichi Toguchi's descendants to close his legacy, they said.

"I told my daughters to sell the restaurant," said Bobby Toguchi, who in 1979 gave up a lucrative career at Japan Airlines to take over his father's business.

Bobby recalls that his decision to take over the family business was difficult, but said that in the end he felt that there wasn't any other choice to make.

"I was a history major and I had no real experience in the restaurant and I had a family to support," Bobby said. "I worried that if my Dad got sick or died that I'd be stuck. Still, I felt that if I didn't try that, I would regret it for the rest of my life."

Bobby's worries were overshadowed by the continued success of the restaurant. In 2000, he expanded the business to include the Highway Inn Seafood Market, which sells fresh fish and produce and assorted poke. He also added the Highway Inn Catering Service.

Flash forward a few decades, and Bobby's daughters faced the same difficult decision as he once had.

"How can you let something that had gone this far go?" Monica said. "For us it was never a question if the Highway Inn would continue. The bigger question was who would continue it."

Initially, Regina was the one to step up to the plate. She had been working in Asia but had returned home after SARS and was in the process of looking for a new job when her father suffered his stroke.

"I had already traveled to 25 countries and held two jobs overseas," Regina said. "I just feel so grateful to the business and to my father for allowing me to have these opportunities."

Monica, the eldest of Bobby's daughters, had more interest in running the restaurant but the family thought it would be in her best interest to finish her doctoral course work in Oregon before returning home. She finished this past August and has returned home to work on her dissertation as well as help Regina run the family business.

"It's not a glamorous thing to be in this position, but we knew we needed to stay in business -- not just for the family, but for our workers and customers," Monica said.

Extended family members, cousins and two younger siblings have helped Bobby Toguchi's two eldest daughters shoulder the burden.

Younger sister Kinu has left for New York City where she is working on finishing up her teaching classes; however, she helps when in town. Even baby sister Kae, who is mentally retarded, has worked as a dishwasher alongside her other siblings.

Since the restaurant was so time consuming for Bobby, helping out gave his daughters an opportunity to spend more time with him, they said.

"Dad took the business of supporting his family very seriously. We saw him at home, too; however, he worked 15- to 16-hour days," Monica said. "When I would show up at the restaurant in my teens, I think the employees always knew that it was to ask for money."

Regina said she got her child labor permit when she turned 14 and began helping in the restaurant.

"I worked alongside my grandfather peeling potatoes and carrots. I used to talk to him about the family, but I wish I had asked him more about the restaurant," she said.

Of course, Dad Bobby and Uncle Gary, who works as the restaurant's head chef, are always there to offer their second-generation wisdom to the third generation of Toguchi business owners.

"I learned everything that I know through my Dad," Gary said. "He showed me what to put in and how to do it."

Seiichi Toguchi died in 1994, but his modest dream has come full circle and there's no end in sight.