By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin

The Lox of Bagels outlet in Waimalu is thriving on family-baked
ideas. The family-run business includes, from left, Joyce "Sunny"
Johiro, Lester and Irene Yonamine, Julie Schell (with daughter
Kaitlin) and Lorraine Johiro.

Family drives
Waimalu shop’s
bagel boom

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Former roofing contractor Lester Yonamine was nearing retirement age when he put his $250,000 pension on the line to start a family bagel business.

Four years later, at age 62, the owner of Hawaii's first Lox of Bagels franchise shop, at 98-124 Kaahumanu St. in Waimalu, says it was worth the risk.

Boosted by growing demand for three family-baked specialty items -- Auntie Sunny's Gourmet Bagel Chips, bagel puffs and Auntie Lorraine's Cookies -- business has been steadily increasing since the shop opened in August 1997.

"We're still struggling, but you can see good times are coming," he said.

Lester's wife, Irene, and one of his three daughters, Julie Schell, left jobs they enjoyed at Hawaii Baptist Academy to offer support to the family venture on a daily basis.

They were joined by Joyce "Sunny" Johiro, Irene's sister, and her sister-in-law, Lorraine Johiro, as well as Lester's sister-in-law, Audrey Yonamine.

"I had mixed feelings but felt it necessary to support the business," said Irene Yonamine, who worked 18 years at the academy as an administrative secretary.

Julie, one of five Yonamine children to graduate from the academy, had been teaching kindergarten at her alma mater for three years when she left.

"What we've learned is that it's important for family to support and encourage one another," Lester Yonamine said. "It hasn't been easy, but we're thankful to the Lord for guiding us to where we are now."

The idea of starting a family business was born in hard times.

Yonamine, who grew up around Palolo Valley, had spent 31 years with Quality Roofing, a company he co-founded with the late Thomas Tamashiro, when in 1994 he first began thinking about doing something else.

"Business was fine until we began experiencing the economic downhill in 1994," he said. "Sales were down 50 percent and things were going from bad to worse.

"I was looking toward retirement when the downhill trend occurred and got me frustrated. When I seriously thought about looking for another business, I thought food was OK, but what kind?"

The answer came during a 1995 visit to Arizona when their daughter, Becky, and her husband, Kapunahele Montgomery, took the Yonamines to a bagel place.

"I decided bagels might do well in Hawaii and began studying the industry from 1994 to 1996," Lester Yonamine said. "It jumped from below $1 billion in 1994 to $2.3 billion in 1996. I saw it had a lot of potential."

Knowing nothing about bagels, Yo-namine began researching the availability of franchises and settled on Lox of Bagels in Torrance, Calif., because it was family-run.

He visited the family in 1996 and signed up, purchasing a franchise "for less than $25,000."

The family instructed him on how to run the business and suggested placing the franchise near a spa or medical building since bagels appeal to health-conscious people, he said.

Once they settled on the Kaahumanu Street site, the Yonamines began equipping the store.

With the support of his family, Lester Yonamine used his pension as seed money to fund the venture.

"It was a big gamble," he said. "We found the place in January 1997 and it took us until August to open. We used part of the pension money to live on during that time.

"I was praying and hoping things would work out. We've been lucky from the time we opened the shop because the community has supported us."

Schell, the store's manager, said satisfied customers have been the biggest asset. "A lot of it has been through word of mouth," she said.

Wesley Yonamine, working on his doctorate in logistic philosophy at the University of Georgia, has been the biggest contributor of ideas to his parents' business.

In December 1997, he experimented with stuffing cream cheese in a bagel and baking it. The Yonamine family named it "bagel puffs."

There's a variety of stuffings, but Irene Yonamine says the most popular is cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese.

Wesley Yonamine also worked on improving the bagel chips, which are made from unsold bagels.

"People felt the thicker ones were too tough, so we worked on making it thinner," Irene Yonamine said. Through trial and error -- and a secret discovery or two along the way -- the Yonamines are marketing a winning chip.

"Right before Christmas, we ordered one gross and it was gone in three days," Hungry Lion Restaurant owner Roy Shimonishi said of the bagel chips. "They couldn't keep up with the demand."

The Yonamine's bagel chips, thicker than the one sold in Las Vegas but equally crunchy, has been a popular item during Christmas the past two years.

"Last Christmas, we put out 1,500 in plastic containers and more in plastic bags, but they went out quick," Lester Yonamine said. "We spent several weeks in December bagging chips to 2 in the morning."

Aside from family, the business employs eight other people.

"If we need help, other relatives are always there for us," Lester Yonamine said. "Family togetherness is really the theme of this adventure in business."