Serial entrepreneur Wally Amos wants to see how the cookie crumbles one more time.
Amos, known for his namesake company, debuted this month his latest iteration as The Cookie Kahuna at Ala Moana Center.
"I’m ready to come out of the gate one more time," said Amos, 76, who began selling his cookies June 4 at Boardwalk Treats, a candy store in the Ala Moana food court.
Amos said this low-profile version of his once-renowned cookie empire suits him just fine.
"I was selling at farmers markets and the Princess Kaiulani Hotel. I was selling everywhere and it was killing me. I was baking; I was delivering; I was doing everything. It was absolutely too much, so I quit all of that."
The Waikiki resident, who in the 1980s lost ownership of his Famous Amos company and subsequent use of his moniker and image, has reinvented himself more than a half-dozen times since then with a string of ventures involving cookies and other baked goods.
"My dream was to sell original handmade cookies," he said, adding that he struck a deal with the Patisserie Bakery, which now makes all his cookies while he promotes and sells them.
Ever the optimist, Amos said he expects this new venture to catch fire.
"I’m setting up now to do some real business, to make some real money and spend some with the people that have always helped me. I don’t have that money yet, but it’s right around the corner."
He said he plans to launch online sales in about two weeks at TheCookieKahuna.com.
Famous Amos, the business he established in 1975, currently uses a different recipe from his original creation, he said. The Famous Amos brand is now owned by the Kellogg Co.
Amos, a former talent agent at the William Morris Agency, started his own show business company in Los Angeles and in 1970 began leaving cookies as calling cards with his clients and friends.
With the financial help of singer Helen Reddy, her husband, Jeff Wald, and Marvin Gaye, Amos opened his first cookie store in 1975 on Sunset Boulevard. He moved to Hawaii two years later, opening a store on Keeaumoku Street and subsequently other locations internationally.
In later years the company ran into financial trouble, and Amos gradually lost portions of his ownership and the right to use the names "Famous Amos" and "Wally Amos" in connection with food products.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Famous Amos company changed hands at least five times.
Amos launched other cookie businesses in the following years, including Uncle Noname, Aunt Della’s Cookies (named in honor of his aunt, who first baked him chocolate chip cookies), The Cookie Man, Uncle Wally’s Muffin Co. and Chip & Cookie, which lost him nearly $1 million. He was forced to close two Oahu locations when the cash ran out.
Meanwhile, Amos has been active in promoting literacy throughout the country through his foundation, Read it LOUD!
Amos said that his previous successes and failures taught him the most important lesson in life: to never give up.
"Failure is not failure, but an opportunity to begin again more intelligently," Amos said, paraphrasing Henry Ford. "I love that quote. On my worst day I never thought I should quit. You are guaranteed to fail if you quit. But if you find the tenacity to keep going, eventually you will succeed."
