[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 178 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7024-S7025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   100TH ANNIVERSARY OF KOMODA BAKERY

  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate Maui's Komoda Store 
and Bakery on their 100-year anniversary. I visited the bakery in 
Makawao last month and met the Komoda and Shibuya families who are 
carrying on the tradition of serving the Maui community.
  In 1916, Takezo and Shigeri Komoda opened a mom-and-pop general 
store, selling bread, saimin, and fresh sandwiches primarily to Makawao 
town residents. By 1932, they expanded their store and began selling 
groceries and other household items. Takezo and Shigeri passed on the 
bakery to their sons Takeo and Ikuo, who ran the store for the next 50 
years.
  While the bakery is what Komoda's is known for today, Ikuo is the 
only member of the family who received formal training in 1947 when he 
traveled to Minnesota to study baking. Over time, Komoda's transitioned 
from a general store to a bakery, serving fresh bread, butter rolls, 
and pastries like stick donuts, malasadas, Chantilly cake, and cream 
puffs. By the 1990s, Takeo and Ikuo considered retiring and closing the 
bakery. However, Takeo's son-in-law, Calvin Shibuya, did not want to 
see the family business close. After training with chief baker Ikuo 
Komoda, Calvin and his wife, Betty, took over the bakery. Their 
daughter, Michele, is now learning the business, the baking from her 
father and the retail side from her mother.
  Komoda Bakery is an institution in upcountry Maui. Each day, people 
line up in the morning to purchase their baked goods. They only make a 
set amount each day, so if you don't go early, they oftentimes sell 
out.
  Many take the delectable treats from Komoda's to neighbor islands to 
share with family and friends in the time-honored tradition of omiyage, 
or gift. When I visited right before Thanksgiving, which is their 
busiest time of the year, the store was bustling with activity, and the 
counters were stacked with fruit, pumpkin, and custard pies.
  Congratulations to Komoda Bakery on 100 years of success. We thank 
the Komoda family and their longtime employees who each day wake early 
to prepare the delicious handmade and homemade baked goods enjoyed by 
generations.
  I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a Maui News 
article, which chronicles the Komoda family's dedication and success.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                   [From the Maui News, Nov. 2, 2016]

      Sweet Success at 100: Komoda Celebrates Century of Good Eats

                           (By Melissa Tanji)

       Makawao.--Komoda Store & Bakery is celebrating 100 years of 
     feeding Maui's appetite, in the beginning with breads and 
     saimin and now with stick donuts and cream puffs that 
     residents and visitors can't get enough of.
       One hundred years in business is a feat rarely achieved by 
     Maui's mom-and-pop stores or for any business, for that 
     matter. The Komodas and their extended family don't know how 
     the years added up.
       ``We can't believe it lasted this long,'' said Betty 
     Shibuya, the granddaughter of the founders Takezo and Shigeri 
     Komoda. She added that her ancestors would be surprised that 
     the family has kept the business thriving for a century.
       Shibuya's husband and the chief baker, Calvin Shibuya, 
     joked that he, himself, felt like 100 years old, even though 
     he's only 73. But his feelings are justified because Mr. 
     Shibuya starts work at 11:30 p.m.--just to begin the baking. 
     He doesn't end his day until around 4 p.m. at closing time.
       But he's not complaining. He said his schedule is similar 
     to what the Komoda family endured for decades.
       Even at 73, Calvin Shibuya pledges that he and his family 
     would keep the business chugging along as long as they are 
     able to keep churning out donuts from the old fried bread 
     dough recipe along with butter rolls, pies and buns and other 
     baked goods.
       ``I've always said we'll (be open) as long as we stay 
     healthy,'' he said.
       This week, the Komoda family is celebrating its milestone 
     with the public.
       The family has been giving away 100 free stick donuts to 
     customers on a first-come, first-served basis. (The store 
     opens at 7 a.m.) This will continue on Thursday and Friday. 
     (The store is closed today, as usual.)
       On Saturday, 300 stick donuts will be given out. At noon, 
     there will be a performance by Zenshin Daiko, a taiko drum 
     group. A 100th-anniversary dish towel is on sale, and 
     customers who spend $40 get a commemorative potholder.
       Nearby, the Makawao History Museum at 3643 Baldwin Ave. is 
     hosting an exhibit based on the anniversary. It's open from 
     10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except for Sundays when it opens at 
     11 a.m.
       T. Komoda Store was founded in 1916 as a general store 
     where the current Polli's Mexican Restaurant is on the corner 
     of Makawao

[[Page S7025]]

     and Baldwin avenues. There was some bread baking, which later 
     expanded to saimin and sandwiches, the family said.
       In 1932, the family purchased its current spot along 
     Baldwin Avenue. The family said it was more of a general 
     store catering to Makawao town, selling everything from 
     fabric, lighting fixtures and groceries.
       As World War II loomed before Dec. 7, 1941, Takezo and 
     Shigeri Komoda anticipated the loss of what they had because 
     they were not American citizens. So, they transferred the 
     property and business to Takeo Komoda, their oldest son and 
     his wife, Kiyoko, who were U.S. citizens, according to Gail 
     Ainsworth. She does research and writing for the Makawao 
     History Museum. (Takeo and Kiyoko were Betty Shibuya's 
     parents.) The store founders had eight children, all of whom 
     at some point had a hand in the business.
       In the early days, the family served food, such as saimin 
     and egg sandwiches, Betty Shibuya said. But eventually that 
     was phased out.
       In 1947, Takeo Komoda's brother, Ikuo, went to baking 
     school in Minnesota. He was the only one in the family to 
     receive professional training. Ikuo Komoda is credited with 
     developing the cream puff and stick donut. It was under Ikuo 
     Komoda that Calvin Shibuya trained. He got involved in the 
     business in the 1990s because the Komoda brothers were aging 
     and looking for someone to take over. The family considered 
     closing the business, Calvin Shibuya said.
       Shibuya had retired from the U.S. Air Force and was 
     contemplating a second career as a commercial pilot.
       ``I didn't want to see the business close,'' Calvin Shibuya 
     said. He told the brothers not to close the business and 
     stepped in to help.
       ``That would be a shame if the business shut down,'' he 
     said.
       Ainsworth called the Komoda family hardworking, though she 
     added that is typical of mom-and-pop businesses.
       ``I think they were astute,'' she said. ``They transferred 
     their property to their son when they needed to, prior to 
     World War II. They sent another son (Ikuo) to baking school 
     and expanded their bakery business. They adapted to the 
     community as it changed. As people started to shop at large 
     grocery stores, they de-emphasized their store operation.''
       Indeed, the family adapted and survived the influx of large 
     chain grocery stores, along with specialty bakeries on Maui. 
     They still sell snacks, sodas and hot dogs, but 90 percent of 
     the business is the bakery, Calvin Shibuya said.
       The Komoda homestyle and handmade pastries are a favorite 
     to generations of Maui residents.
       On Tuesday, Shaun Lyons was in the store, a place she had 
     been to as a kid, and now a grandmother.
       Lyons, born to the Baldwin family who lived at Haleakala 
     Ranch, remembers how her parents made her sit on a scale next 
     to the front doors as others went shopping. Lyons remembers 
     her family buying groceries and other necessities on credit 
     at the store and paying a monthly bill. There were no plastic 
     credit cards then.
       ``It was so convenient,'' she remembers.
       At one point the Komoda family also had a grocery delivery 
     service, which in some places was common.
       ``I think it's so fantastic,'' Lyons said of the 
     centennial. ``I love all the Komodas and the Komoda family.''
       On Tuesday, Lyons was buying some hamburger buns and a 
     Chantilly cake her 46-year-old son loves. This time, the cake 
     was for her grandson (her son's son), who was celebrating his 
     5th birthday on Tuesday.
       ``This is a great place,'' she said.
       Customer satisfaction and enthusiasm for Komoda's baked 
     goods drive Calvin Shibuya and the rest of the family to work 
     before sunup and until almost sundown daily.
       Typically, Calvin Shibuya starts at 11:30 p.m. making 
     coconut Danish and turnovers. Around an hour later, he begins 
     the mixes for the bread and the soft moist butter rolls and 
     cinnamon rolls.
       His daughter, Michele Shibuya, is learning the trade and 
     helps her father cut the glob of dough for the butter rolls. 
     Then with a spatula, the butter is spread and, by hand, sugar 
     is sprinkled on the rolls.
       Two other employees begin their day at 1:30 a.m. to help 
     with the baking.
       Usually around 2:30 a.m., Calvin Shibuya begins his work on 
     the stick donuts. Typically, around 100 dozen are made every 
     day. On weekends that number doubles.
       All by hand, the donuts are put on sticks.
       Shibuya said the only mechanical appliances the bakery has 
     is a mixer and a dough cutter and shaper for their hamburger 
     and hot dog buns. The cutter and shaper are new additions, 
     maybe put in around 10 years ago.
       Shibuya said the contraption cut down on 75 percent of the 
     time he and others put in to make the buns. Previously, it 
     involved cutting the dough and putting in on a scale.
       Asked why he doesn't automate more of his equipment to help 
     with the baking, Shibuya says the way it is now, ``this is 
     the only way I know.''
       When the Komoda brothers were living and working in the 
     1980s and 1990s, the bakery was churning out 100 to 150 dozen 
     cream puffs a day. These days, Shibuya makes around 75 dozen 
     as the main baker. But the cream puffs shells are still made 
     one by one and placed onto pans with ice cream scoopers.
       Shibuya had hoped that Ikuo Komoda, the chief baker, could 
     have lived to see the 100th anniversary, but he died last 
     year at the age of 86. His mother-in-law, Kiyoko Komoda died 
     in August at the age of 95.
       Michele Shibuya said her grandmother, Kiyoko, was a fixture 
     at the bakery and even in her senior years was still at the 
     Makawao business putting together pastry boxes.
       Early in the morning when the baking is done and the bakery 
     opens, Calvin Shibuya continues to work as his wife and 
     daughter and others handle the retail operations.
       By mid-morning, Calvin Shibuya is making the cream for the 
     cream puffs and long Johns, all to start the process for the 
     next day.
       ``At the end of the day, if everything goes well. It's very 
     rewarding,'' Shibuya said.

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