HILO >> Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim has been around, he says, for 78 of Suisan Co.’s 110 years in business.
Kim remembers summer days in the 1950s when he would get together with friends to split a large ahi at the waterfront.
“You could go to Suisan when the boats came in, and you could buy a whole ahi for less than 50 cents a pound.”
For Kim, that’s what it means to have a company as part of Hilo for so long.
“People of a community look for stability from something that is of that place. Suisan represents all of that.”
The original Suisan was a fish market founded in 1907 by the Sui San Kabushiki Kaisha hui of 50 Japanese immigrants. One of the members, Kamezo Matsuno, eventually bought out the others, and the company has been in family hands ever since.
Kamezo’s son, Rex Matsuno, became president in 1967 but began charting the expansion of Suisan beginning in the 1950s. He led an ambitious diversification, from fish into frozen food and eventually into all manner of fresh produce, packaged food, dry goods and other nonfood products necessary to the food service industry, such as cleaning products.
Suisan now reports gross annual sales of $82 million and employs 185 people from fish cutters to computer analysts. Wholesale customers number more than 1,000 and include supermarkets, restaurants, resorts, schools, health care and government facilities. More than 5,000 items are now listed in its wholesale inventory.
Rex Matsuno retired in 2014 and died last year. His grandson, Steve Ueda, is the current president.
Suisan is “symbolic of the community,” Kim said.
“What a warm feeling it is to glance at the Suisan sign that’s still glowing out there in the dark.”
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