Kenny’s Restaurant, an institution in Kalihi for some 49 years, will serve its last meal July 5.
Second-generation owner and operator John Fujieki, 66, said "the Lord is telling me to ‘take care of your health,’" he told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, after suffering health problems earlier this year.
The family’s third generation is involved in the business but not ready to take over.
His daughter Courtney is the office manager because "she decided she was going to help me," Fujieki said, but she had studied to become an engineer "and I think it’s time for her to move on," he said.
The bottom line is, "the family wanted to close," said Fujieki.
The family remains part of a hui of entities that owns the shopping center on land leased from Kamehameha Schools.
In recent years Fujieki’s family sold its interests in Star Markets, another business his father and uncles started in 1954. His grandparents were the first Hawaii merchants in the family, starting the business with Kakaako Meat Market in 1929.
Generations of kamaaina fondly recall the old Kenny’s television commercial, which started with a warbly piano instrumental and ended with vocalists singing "Kenny’s, at the Kam Shopping Center in Kalihi."
A later commercial starred local celebrity fisherman and "Fishing Tales" host Mike Sakamoto touting Kenny’s fresh-catch selections.
The restaurant is known for its traditional chop suey mix of local favorites from teri burgers and traditional burgers to oxtail soup and prime rib, and so much more, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
"They have the best mahimahi ever," said public relations practitioner Mona Wood-Sword, principal of Ikaika Communications LLC. "They use egg batter. It’s not like one of those deep-fried things," she said.
Wood-Sword has been going to Kenny’s since she was "a little girl," she said.
"Every Sunday after church, that’s where we would go for breakfast. … Mrs. Takai was our waitress for 30 years. I literally grew up with it," she said.
"When Kenny’s Burger House closed down, we were so sad, but we thought at least the restaurant is still here," she said.
Her childhood habit carried into her professional life as an adult, often meeting with clients at the restaurant.
"We’re already in mourning now, but we’re all planning to get together and eat here at least two or three more times, just to get our fill," Wood-Sword said.
The restaurant and former hamburger place, also at the shopping center, were established by Fujieki’s father, John Sr., who was the majority owner, along with partners Herbert Souza and Kenny Kaneshiro. The restaurants were named after Kaneshiro.
The menu was adjusted over the years, keeping many of the favorites but adding lighter, more health-conscious fare. The changes had a positive effect on the restaurant’s bottom line, "but I don’t know, we still have to close," Fujieki said.
The closure decision affects both the flagship restaurant in Kamehameha Shopping Center, open since 1966, and the Kenny’s Express quick-service operation in the Royal Hawaiian Center food court, opened in 2008.
The Waikiki store will close July 4, a day earlier than the flagship.
After service at the Kalihi restaurant July 5, "we’ll use the rest of the week to clean up and get it ready for the next restaurant," Fujieki said.
The company had explored a sale of both locations, and the Waikiki unit is "under contract," he said. "We’re waiting for them to get it all signed," he said.
"We looked at four different restaurant companies" for the flagship store, "and we saw some great interest" but as of Monday there were no deals in place.
The closures affect some 48 employees at the Kalihi restaurant and nine in Waikiki.
Altres, the company that provides Kenny’s with human resources services, will be helping employees find new jobs or make other transitions, he said.
Employees were told about the planned closure some three months ago, Fujieki said. In recent days workers began sharing the news with customers, including Wood-Sword.
"I just wish somebody else would take it over … and keep it the same, because who wants a new thing? We want Kenny’s," she said with a laugh.
