My Hawaii – SOUTHERN SWEETNESS

King’s Hawaiian Bakes Aloha in Flowery Branch, Georgia

Colin Sewake
Hawai‘i Herald Columnist

“Okinawa is such a beautiful place, not just the ocean and scenery and culture, but the people. I’ve been treated well and taken care of by many people here in what has become ‘My Hawai‘i.’” — Colin Sewake

Aloha, y’all! Did you know that King’s Hawaiian sweet bread can be found in the South? The fact that Uchinanchu people and businesses can be found worldwide is amazing!

In June 2015, I returned to Okinawa from Air-Force-Reserve duty at Yokota Air Base via Narita International Airport. As the rest of the passengers exited, I remained seated and checked messages on my iPhone. Once the rush to deplane passed, I got off the plane and walked toward the Naha Airport baggage claim. I followed a group of over half a dozen Japanese-looking individuals. I noticed that they were wearing slippers and shorts and walking with Hawai‘i people’s posture, so I knew they weren’t Japanese citizens. Hawai‘i people typically wear University of Hawai‘i gear with its iconic “H” logo whether or not they graduated from there. Although King’s Hawaiian Bakery and products —like their sweet bread — are well known, I found it odd that this group all wore jackets and carried gym bags with the King’s Hawaiian distinctive orange logo.

When I arrived at the baggage claim area, nothing was coming out yet on my flight’s conveyor belt, so I sat on the left side of a bench with another passenger seated on the right side. The group I followed was urging an elderly lady, their mother and grandmother, to sit down and wait and assured her that they would handle picking up their baggage, so she sat down on my bench in between another passenger and me.

Even though I can tell someone is from Hawai‘i, I always start a conversation with, “Hi, so are you from Hawai‘i?”

The elderly lady said, “Yes.”

So I replied, “I thought so because I noticed the King’s Hawaiian embroidered logo on your jacket.” 

She looked down at her jacket as she pulled the left side that had the logo on it and said, “Oh yeah, my husband started the company.” 

I immediately shouted, “You’re Grandma Taira!”  I then started to tell her how I’m also from Hawai’i, live in Okinawa permanently, and that I was an Air Force Reservist and getting ready to leave in two weeks for my fifth trip to work at Robins Air Force Base, GA, on a six-month tour.

Grandma Taira then said, “Oh, I gotta introduce you to my grandson because we have a plant in Georgia,” and motioned to him. A young gentleman walked up, and Grandma Taira introduced him to me as her grandson, Winston, and her son, CEO Mark Taira.

 I wondered if Winston was born and raised in Hawai’i, and he told me he was born, raised, and graduated from a high school in California. We exchanged business cards, chatted a little bit, and I was also able to meet his father quickly before leaving the baggage claim area for the parking lot where my wife, Keiko, was waiting for me. 

The following day, I emailed Winston and told him about what a pleasure it was to meet him, how popular his grandfather’s sweet bread was and how much he touched the people of Hawai’i. I don’t know anyone in Hawai’i who doesn’t know King’s Hawaiian and its sweet bread. By the next day, Winston replied and told me he was happy to meet me. He also shared his tentatively scheduled visits to Georgia for the summer, and he invited me to tour the plant.

After settling into my hotel in Warner Robins, GA, Winston and I continued to keep in touch over the next couple of weeks; he followed through on his invitation to tour their plant, which opened in 2010 and services the East Coast. 

I befriended a bunch of Hawai‘i transplants in Georgia and asked if it was possible to include them. He replied that they could accommodate a small group, so I contacted our GAwaiian ‘Ohana (pronounced Jeorwaiian ‘Ohana) and told everyone that I would sign up the first few folks to respond. 

Within a couple of days, I finalized the name list, and several months later, we caravanned on the two-and-a-half-hour trip from Warner Robins to Flowery Branch northeast of Atlanta.

Our GAwaiian adventure began with a welcome from Winston and the King’s Hawaiian ‘Ohana members, who guided us into the conference room. There, we received a presentation on the King’s Hawaiian company. 

After donning protective coats and hairnets, our hosts led us on a tour of their plant operations. One of the most memorable moments of that tour for me was eating sweet rolls right off the production line after spreading butter on them. Anyone can buy a package of their sweet bread from the local grocery store, but how many people can say that they ate sweet rolls hot off the line?

After the tour, we were escorted back into a large room where the staff fed us a lunch — local Hawai‘i food, some of which was shipped in from Hawai‘i like poi and the burgers, hot dogs, and other items which were prepared locally.

There I was halfway around the world from Okinawa (Georgia is 14 hours behind Japan under standard time and 13 hours under daylight savings time) conversing in Pidgin English while being treated to a menu consisting of kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, ahi poke, and Korean kalbi short ribs.

After lunch, a couple of members shared their memories of King’s Hawaiian in Hawai‘i. One member’s father worked for a local Hawai‘i bank. He shared stories of his father’s conversations with founder Robert Taira, who encouraged and helped him secure a loan from a bank in Califonia.

Another GAwaiian originally from Hilo told us how she remembered as a little girl her father ordering bakery items from the original Robert’s Bakery there and Robert Taira driving around the Big Island making deliveries. Mark’s brother, Curtis, shared his memories of riding in the back of his father’s station wagon on weekends as he made those deliveries. Curtis saw my Kalapana cap and told me he attended the same high school as guitarist and vocalist Mackey Feary.

The aloha spirit is alive and well on the East Coast of the United States, not just because of the King’s Hawaiian goody bag we each received — of branded items like sunglasses, caps and koozies. The newly formed friendship continues to share aloha via invitations to the GAwaiian ‘Ohana to watch Atlanta United FC soccer games in their King’s Hawaiian suite at Merces-Benz Stadium, donations of sweet bread to GAwaiian ‘Ohana annual picnics, and even my recovery period after first my brain surgery in October 2015.

I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to Military Appreciation Day at an Atlanta Falcons football game in November coordinated by Winston; Aunty Shalene (Ota) Rohde from ‘Aiea, who leads the GAwaiian ‘Ohana and happens to be my Sewake cousin’s high school classmate; Uncle Ken Apaka who is cousins with Hawaiian singer Alfred Apaka; and the team’s Corporate Partnership Sales Executive, Michael Burrell, who helped me gain access to the field where I watched the pre-game practice and met Japanese cheerleader Rie O.

Rie hailed from Yokohama and left her life in Japan to pursue her dream of becoming a National Football League cheerleader, serving four seasons.

Winston visited Hawai’i in March 2016 while I was also visiting my parents. I expressed my gratitude by taking him to a Kalapana performance and backstage to take pictures with the band members and get autographs.

How sweet that Southern Aloha is!

Colin Sewake is a keiki o ka ‘äina from Wahiawä, assigned to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa in December 1994 to fulfill his U.S. Air Force ROTC commitment. There, he met his future wife, Keiko, and decided to make Okinawa his permanent home. Colin is now retired from the Air Force and the Air Force Reserves. He and Keiko have two children and live in Yomitan.

loha, y’all! Did you know that King’s Hawaiian sweet bread can be found in the South? The fact that Uchinanchu people and businesses can be found worldwide is amazing!

In June 2015, I returned to Okinawa from Air-Force-Reserve duty at Yokota Air Base via Narita International Airport. As the rest of the passengers exited, I remained seated and checked messages on my iPhone. Once the rush to deplane passed, I got off the plane and walked toward the Naha Airport baggage claim. I followed a group of over half a dozen Japanese-looking individuals. I noticed that they were wearing slippers and shorts and walking with Hawai‘i people’s posture, so I knew they weren’t Japanese citizens. Hawai‘i people typically wear University of Hawai‘i gear with its iconic “H” logo whether or not they graduated from there. Although King’s Hawaiian Bakery and products —like their sweet bread — are well known, I found it odd that this group all wore jackets and carried gym bags with the King’s Hawaiian distinctive orange logo.

When I arrived at the baggage claim area, nothing was coming out yet on my flight’s conveyor belt, so I sat on the left side of a bench with another passenger seated on the right side. The group I followed was urging an elderly lady, their mother and grandmother, to sit down and wait and assured her that they would handle picking up their baggage, so she sat down on my bench in between another passenger and me.

Even though I can tell someone is from Hawai‘i, I always start a conversation with, “Hi, so are you from Hawai‘i?”

The elderly lady said, “Yes.”

So I replied, “I thought so because I noticed the King’s Hawaiian embroidered logo on your jacket.” 

She looked down at her jacket as she pulled the left side that had the logo on it and said, “Oh yeah, my husband started the company.” 

I immediately shouted, “You’re Grandma Taira!”  I then started to tell her how I’m also from Hawai’i, live in Okinawa permanently, and that I was an Air Force Reservist and getting ready to leave in two weeks for my fifth trip to work at Robins Air Force Base, GA, on a six-month tour.

Grandma Taira then said, “Oh, I gotta introduce you to my grandson because we have a plant in Georgia,” and motioned to him. A young gentleman walked up, and Grandma Taira introduced him to me as her grandson, Winston, and her son, CEO Mark Taira.

 I wondered if Winston was born and raised in Hawai’i, and he told me he was born, raised, and graduated from a high school in California. We exchanged business cards, chatted a little bit, and I was also able to meet his father quickly before leaving the baggage claim area for the parking lot where my wife, Keiko, was waiting for me. 

The following day, I emailed Winston and told him about what a pleasure it was to meet him, how popular his grandfather’s sweetbread was and how much he touched the people of Hawai’i. I don’t know anyone in Hawai’i who doesn’t know King’s Hawaiian and its sweet bread. By the next day, Winston replied and told me he was happy to meet me. He also shared his tentatively scheduled visits to Georgia for the summer, and he invited me to tour the plant.

After settling into my hotel in Warner Robins, GA, Winston and I continued to keep in touch over the next couple of weeks; he followed through on his invitation to tour their plant, which opened in 2010 and services the East Coast. 

I befriended a bunch of Hawai‘i transplants in Georgia and asked if it was possible to include them. He replied that they could accommodate a small group, so I contacted our GAwaiian ‘Ohana (pronounced Jeorwaiian ‘Ohana) and told everyone that I would sign up the first few folks to respond. 

Within a couple of days, I finalized the name list, and several months later, we caravanned on the two-and-a-half-hour trip from Warner Robins to Flowery Branch northeast of Atlanta.

Our GAwaiian adventure began with a welcome from Winston and the King’s Hawaiian ‘Ohana members, who guided us into the conference room. There, we received a presentation on the King’s Hawaiian company. 

After donning protective coats and hairnets, our hosts led us on a tour of their plant operations. One of the most memorable moments of that tour for me was eating sweet rolls right off the production line after spreading butter on them. Anyone can buy a package of their sweet bread from the local grocery store, but how many people can say that they ate sweet rolls hot off the line?

After the tour, we were escorted back into a large room where the staff fed us a lunch — local Hawai‘i food, some of which was shipped in from Hawai‘i like poi and the burgers, hot dogs, and other items which were prepared locally.

There I was halfway around the world from Okinawa (Georgia is 14 hours behind Japan under standard time and 13 hours under daylight savings time) conversing in Pidgin English while being treated to a menu consisting of kalua pig, lomi lomi salmon, ahi poke, and Korean kalbi short ribs.

After lunch, a couple of members shared their memories of King’s Hawaiian in Hawai‘i. One member’s father worked for a local Hawai‘i bank. He shared stories of his father’s conversations with founder Robert Taira, who encouraged and helped him secure a loan from a bank in Califonia.

Another GAwaiian originally from Hilo told us how she remembered as a little girl her father ordering bakery items from the original Robert’s Bakery there and Robert Taira driving around the Big Island making deliveries. Mark’s brother, Curtis, shared his memories of riding in the back of his father’s station wagon on weekends as he made those deliveries. Curtis saw my Kalapana cap and told me he attended the same high school as guitarist and vocalist Mackey Feary.

The aloha spirit is alive and well on the East Coast of the United States, not just because of the King’s Hawaiian goody bag we each received — of branded items like sunglasses, caps and koozies. The newly formed friendship continues to share aloha via invitations to the GAwaiian ‘Ohana to watch Atlanta United FC soccer games in their King’s Hawaiian suite at Merces-Benz Stadium, donations of sweet bread to GAwaiian ‘Ohana annual picnics, and even my recovery period after first my brain surgery in October 2015.

I was pleasantly surprised to be invited to Military Appreciation Day at an Atlanta Falcons football game in November coordinated by Winston; Aunty Shalene (Ota) Rohde from ‘Aiea, who leads the GAwaiian ‘Ohana and happens to be my Sewake cousin’s high school classmate; Uncle Ken Apaka who is cousins with Hawaiian singer Alfred Apaka; and the team’s Corporate Partnership Sales Executive, Michael Burrell, who helped me gain access to the field where I watched the pre-game practice and met Japanese cheerleader Rie O.

Rie hailed from Yokohama and left her life in Japan to pursue her dream of becoming a National Football League cheerleader, serving four seasons.

 Winston visited Hawai’i in March 2016 while I was also visiting my parents. I expressed my gratitude by taking him to a Kalapana performance and backstage to take pictures with the band members and get autographs.

How sweet that Southern Aloha is!

Colin Sewake is a keiki o ka ‘äina from Wahiawä, assigned to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa in December 1994 to fulfill his U.S. Air Force ROTC commitment. There, he met his future wife, Keiko, and decided to make Okinawa his permanent home. Colin is now retired from the Air Force and the Air Force Reserves. He and Keiko have two children and live in Yomitan.