FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Annie, left, and Alice Yeung own Panya Bakery on Queen Street and Panya Bistro at Ala Moana Center. The sisters, who were born in Hong Kong and attended the University of Hawaii-Manoa, returned to Honolulu to open their businesses.

Bread that rose to success

Two young sisters began with a bakery that is turning into a food empire

WHEN SISTERS Alice and Annie Yeung opened Panya Bakery in 1997, their focus was solely on the bread. Almost a decade later, the business has flourished into a full-service bistro and bar at Ala Moana Center, along with a second cafe on Queen Street that also houses catering, wholesale, wedding-cake and gift-basket operations. The diversification was necessary, the second-generation entrepreneurs say, to keep things going despite seemingly overwhelming odds against them.

BORN IN Hong Kong, the Yeung sisters came to Hawaii separately during the early 1980s. Annie arrived in 1981 to attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa, while Alice moved a few years later and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1990 before also getting her degree from UH.

Both sisters returned to Hong Kong in the early '90s. Annie went from working as a corporate banker to starting her own wholesale fashion business. Alice worked for her older sister, although her father continued to encourage her to strike out on her own.

"He started with nothing, built his own business," Alice Yeung said last week at Panya's Queen Street location. "Even though I graduated from UH, when I went back to Hong Kong, every day he would ask, 'What is your plan?' "

So she decided to return to Hawaii, where she quickly teamed with some friends to start a catering service that delivered pizza to Waikiki hotels. But it wasn't good enough for her father.

Instead, he recalled the concept of a Japanese bread shop they had discussed a few years earlier. A friend of his had worked in the bakery that supplied bread to the emperor of Japan, and he was willing to travel. Could she find a space to open something like that in Honolulu?

Ironically, Alfonso's Bakery had recently closed in McCully Shopping Center. So Alice, who was just 23 at the time, partnered with a high school classmate and the Japanese baker and approached the center's owners about taking over the space.

"It already had everything inside," she said. "But we wanted to renovate the retail area to make it self-service."

FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Besides pastries and wedding cakes, Panya owners Alice, left, and Annie Yeung offer complete catering and event planning.

"At the time, we were the first ones," Annie Yeung said. "Everywhere else, you had to pull a number and wait.

"And why I have to tell you which one I want? In Hong Kong, it's self-service."

Almost immediately the Yeungs were approached about the possibility of selling their products wholesale. Waikiki hotels wanted to serve their pastries in the morning and dinner rolls at night. But even with Annie closing her business in Hong Kong and moving back to Hawaii to work at the bakery full-time, they had a difficult time keeping up with demand.

"At the beginning, I go to do baking at 3 o'clock," said Alice.

It wasn't unusual for the sisters to work 18- or 20-hour days, seven days a week. All the hard work paid off 15 months later, when they were able to open a second bakery near the IBM Building on Auahi Street. And in 1999, Panya opened a kiosk at Ward Centre to sell its most popular hand-made cookies.

"Within two years, we opened three locations," said Annie. "The growth was no problem, but they were in bad locations."

The kiosk closed in 2001, after its initial two-year lease expired. By 2003, word had come that developers would build the Hokua condominium, so they would lose their lease on Auahi Street as well.

But what still bothers the Yeung sisters is the way they left McCully Shopping Center. Infighting among its owners resulted in a property management company stepping in to take over, and a miscommunication resulted in Panya losing its ground-floor location to what would become Cold Stone Creamery.

BUT THEY didn't give up, moving quickly to secure a space at Ala Moana Center that would allow them to continue serving food along with selling bakery items. Panya Bistro and Bar opened in December 2003, and continues to be popular among the pau hana and weekend crowds.

At about the same time, Annie discovered the Queen Street location, which would provide a base of operations and give them the capability to expand their business further.

Wedding cakes have been popular since Panya first opened in 1997, and the sisters have expanded since 2003 to offer turkey dinners at Thanksgiving and gift baskets during the holiday season. They also offer complete catering, including a full bar setup and event planning.

"Too many people think we're only a bakery," Alice said. "I really want Panya to be a brand name. It's not just owned by two sisters. People should come to Panya because of the food, not just to see us."