Home Maid Bakery closing leaves sadness for customers and employees

Hard hit by inflation, the COVID-19 pandemic and a downturn in local business caused by the August wildfires, the iconic Home Maid Bakery, “home of the crispy manju,” will be shutting down permanently at the end of this month.

Haʻikū resident Kylee Ellway came in Friday morning with daughter Ember to buy chantilly cake, which she has had for every birthday she can remember. “This is something I’m going to miss,” she said. “I’m grieving here. I love this place.”

Cashier Jane D. Pascua, a 10-year employee, is one of 35 workers who’ll lose their jobs. “I’m so sad,” she said. “I’m trying to find a job.”

The business has been in the Kozuki family since 1960, beginning with Joseph and Monica Kozuki. In the 1980s, the business was taken over and expanded by son Jeremy Kozuki, the business president and chief executive officer who passed away a few weeks ago.

The popular bakery is the go-to place for its sugar and custard-cream-filled malasadas, manju, Maui sweet dinner rolls, bread, cakes, pies, mochi and short-bread cookies.

The death of the family patriarch came as a last straw for a business that’s been struggling to survive recent economic downturns and labor shortages, said Kimberly Molina, one of Kozuki’s three children.

“The bakery took a hard hit during COVID,” she said. “Luckily, we were able to stay open the whole time, and employ all our employees. Then, as things started to pick up again, the fires happened last August. So, unfortunately, it affected everyone on Maui.”

The bakery has more than 100 wholesale accounts, but the wildfires wiped out all of the Front Street business in Lahaina, she said. A sharp post-fire drop in tourism impacted hotels in West Maui and elsewhere. The bakery also has accounts with Foodland, Safeway, ABC stores and Walmart, but it’s hard to compete, as a small business, with larger operations that can offer lower prices.

Molina said she and her brothers, Marc Kozuki and Shane Fuke, all have full-time jobs. Molina works in the hospitality industry in Wailea. Shane is an accountant, and Marc is a financial adviser. “It’s hard for us to manage the operations because my dad was the key to the business,” she said. “He came in every day to make sure operations ran smoothly.”

Marc’s wife, Amy Kozuki, also has been a key person keeping operations going, but “running the bakery solo… it’s too much,” Molina said.

One of the hardest decisions in closing was losing longtime employees, she said.

“They’re our family,” Molina said. Some employees have been working with the bakery since she was born, she added.

When asked if the family might sell the bakery to a new owner, she said it’s premature to say. The announcement of the business closure went public on Thursday. “So, it’s taking it day by day. We’ll see what happens in the future,” Molina said.

Jeremy Kozuki’s recent passing triggered the hard family decision to close, she said. “We have to grieve, but then we have to come back to the bakery and figure out a plan on what we’re going to do as a family.”

After the announcement, social media went “crazy,” and the office phone has been ringing non-stop, Molina said. “Even people on Oʻahu want us to ship products to them, but unfortunately we aren’t able to do that” because baked goods are perishable and crumble.

Few people appreciate how difficult it is to operate a bakery. Molina said it’s a 24/7 operation with bakers coming in late at night and delivery drivers arriving well before dawn at 3 a.m. “Someone’s always in the building,” she said.

Molina grew up around the bakery, so it’s been a big part of her life. “I remember in preschool I’d be helping by putting labels on containers; or just hanging out with my mom in the office,” she said.

In announcing the bakery’s closure, “with deep sadness,” the business thanked “our loyal customers that have been supporting us throughout the years.”