Film likely inspired name of departed Yum Yum Tree

Many of us here in Hawaii fondly remember Yum Yum Tree. It began as a coffee shop with yummy pies at Kahala Mall where Chili’s is now.

For me it was a great place to take a date after a movie when I was going to the University of Hawaii. It wasn’t until many years later that I learned where the name came from.

The story starts with John Reuben McIntosh, who owned the Snack Shop in Corona Del Mar, Calif., in 1948. He opened several before a friend who worked for the ocean shipper Matson suggested starting one on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki.

"John was one of the greatest innovators in business that I’ve ever met," says former partner James L. Gray. "After a few years, John suggested we open a steakhouse in Newport Beach, Calif., based on Buzz’s Steak and Lobster in Waikiki. He liked the simple menu and casual style."

Raymond Valentine "Buzz" Schneider had been a maitre d’ at Canlis, a fine-dining institution for many years on Kalakaua Avenue. He left to open Buzz’s Steak and Lobster and Buzz’s Original Steak House with the idea of fine dining in a casual setting.

McIntosh named his new restaurant Reubens — his middle name. It opened in 1960 and was a big hit. Soon there were three in California, one at Kahala Mall, one in Kona and one on Kauai.

The Kahala Mall location was sold to Jolly Roger and became Spindrifter, named for the spray that comes off the bow of a ship. It closed in the 1990s, and a Barnes & Noble bookstore took over the space.

"We were building a sandwich shop in Kahala Mall," Gray continues, "when John bought Vi’s Pies in California. Halfway through construction we shifted the concept to pies, and the Yum Yum Tree was born."

I was able to track down McIntosh many years ago and talked to him on the phone, a day before he was set to go on vacation in Alaska. He told me he didn’t recall exactly where the Yum Yum Tree name came from.

"It probably came from the 1963 Jack Lemmon movie ‘Under the Yum Yum Tree,’ but I’m unsure," McIntosh says. "A manager suggested it."

The Jack Lemmon movie was about a playboy who dated many women. Bachelorhood was likened to living under a "yum yum" tree.

Yum Yum Tree did well but the small kitchen hampered things. Gino Boero, who worked there for more than two decades, recalls not having enough room for the pies when they came out of the oven. "We’d stack them on boxes, shelves and anywhere we could find a place."

"We used to have a Pie of the Month," recalls Biff Graper, who worked for 34 years with the chain. "At district manager meetings we’d taste six different pies and vote for the one we liked best. It was a weight-gaining experience."

McIntosh also founded the Coco’s Bakery restaurant chain on the mainland, naming it after Los Cocos bar in La Paz, Mexico.

"Spence Weaver had a Coco’s here, so we couldn’t use that name in Hawaii," McIntosh recalls.

There are 115 Coco’s Bakery Restaurants in the western United States today. They are owned by the Zensho company of Japan.

McIntosh sold the six Yum Yum Trees in 1987 to Trans/Pacific Restaurants, which at one time operated 28 restaurants in Hawaii, including the Jolly Roger, Monterey Bay Canners and Sizzler. The last remaining Yum Yum Tree, at Ward Center, closed in 2005.

Bob Sigall, author of “The Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.