Maui's Home Maid Bakery to close at end of March

Mar. 20—Home Maid Bakery in Wailuku, Maui, will permanently close at the end of the month after 60 years in business.

Home Maid Bakery in Wailuku, Maui, will permanently close at the end of the month after 60 years in business.

Known for its crispy manju, mochi, malasadas and other baked goods, the bakery made the announcement Friday on its social media pages.

"It is with deep sadness, that after 60 years in business, we have to announce that Home Maid Bakery will permanently close the door at the end of the month, " the announcement read. "We would like to thank all our loyal customers that have been supporting us throughout the years."

The closure comes a few weeks after the death of Home Maid Bakery President and CEO Jeremy Kozuki, 76. Kozuki inherited the bakery from his parents, Joseph and Monica, who started the operation in the 1960s.

"My dad's life was his family, the bakery and all the employees here, " Kimberly Molina, Kozuki's daughter, said. "He came in every day. Even when he was tired and stressed, he would show up, make sure things were running properly and help wherever he could. He enjoyed testing out all the new items that we made and all the creations."

Kozuki was in charge of all of the bakery's finances and daily operations, and worked with Molina's sister-in-law Amy, but since his death, Molina said, it's been difficult for her and her two older brothers to keep the bakery running.

"Because we all have full-time jobs and we all have young kids, it's really hard to manage a 24 /7 operation like a bakery, " Molina said. "It's nonstop, and it's hard for a family-owned business to continue this."

Molina said the bakery has workers coming in every evening to make manju. Workers continue late into the night frying or baking, and then delivery drivers arrive at 3 a.m. to take products out on the roads. In the daytime, packers work while the retail store operates.

In addition to the family side, factors like the COVID-19 pandemic, the Aug. 8 wildfires on Maui and the state of the economy also contributed to the decision to ultimately shut the bakery's doors.

Molina said that during the COVID-19 pandemic the bakery "did take a hit financially " but that they were lucky to operate throughout the pandemic. After things finally began to pick up again, the wildfires affected the entire island, affecting much of Home Maid Bakery's wholesale accounts.

"Unfortunately for us, we lost a lot of wholesale accounts on Front Street, on Kaanapali, and wholesale is two-thirds of our operations. It's a big portion of the bakery, so losing the West side really hit us hard, " she said.

The cost of supplies and labor also caused Home Maid Bakery to struggle, especially as the bakery tried to compete with larger stores that could sell their products at lower prices.

"Everyone has been hit with the increase of prices of products. It's hard to compete with the big stores out there, like competing with mainland companies that are shipping frozen bread to the island, " Molina said. "Just making everything fresh daily—products, labor and taking it out for deliveries—is expensive to do locally."

Since Home Maid Bakery made the announcement of its closing, Molina said it's been "nonstop busy." Although she doesn't usually work at the bakery, she stepped in this week to help out and has talked to all of the customers coming in about their stories with the bakery including people who used to work there 20 years ago and neighbors who used to live down the street who walked to the bakery to buy malasadas.

"It's been really touching. I didn't know it had such a big effect on people, " she said. "I was reading comments and DMs online, and people just have stories, like they come to Maui just to get manju and they're like, 'Where are we gonna get our favorite manju and malasadas now ?'"

In response to inquiries about shipping their products, the bakery began offering interisland shipping for its manju and cookies, as well as T-shirts and a collaboration tote bag with local boutique Eden in Love.

Molina said the outpouring of support the bakery has seen from the community has touched her family.

"My entire family, we're so touched by how the community has been supporting us telling their stories to us. It really hit me saying, 'Wow, the support is out there, and they really enjoy all of our products, '" she said. "Unfortunately, at this time the decision that we made is that we have to close our doors at the end of the month. We never know what our future holds, but that's our current decision at the moment."

Home Maid Bakery is open from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at its location on Lower Main Street until March 31. Off-island shipment of manju, cookies, T-shirts and tote bags is available by emailing customer.service @homemaidbakery.com.