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Byron Yoshino, CEO of Pharmacare Hawaii, learned a lot from his mother and father about how to succeed in business: working smarter (not just harder), perseverance and the importance of quality customer service — but he had his own ideas about building the family legacy.
It was his grandfather Naonobu Yoshino who started the line of family pharmacies in 1927 by opening Yoshino Drug Store on King and Kaheka streets. His son Richard (Byron’s father) wasn’t content with inheriting the business, but opened his own Value Drug Ltd. in Kalihi in 1953, followed by three more branches.
Byron Yoshino wasn’t very enthusiastic about carrying on the family tradition when he was young.
“I didn’t want to work that hard,” he said. “A lot of times I never saw my father because he was working from morning to evening.” He said his father never took off Christmas or New Year’s.
He wanted to become a physician and also considered dentistry, but finally chose to become a pharmacist and worked in his father’s store for a short time.
But Byron Yoshino looked beyond the limits of retail merchandising and launched a pioneering home-infusion company. He did so on the recommendation of a good friend from pharmacy school who had formed his own infusion company at Stanford Medical Center in California. Yoshino saw it as a new and exciting opportunity.
“Like my dad, I wanted to forge my own path and have my own business,” he said.
With partner and fellow pharmacist Rick Sakurada, Pharmacare Hawaii was established in 1983, incorporating his father’s two remaining Value Drug stores into the company. Yoshino and Sakurada were looking for a niche market that was more service-oriented, he said. Their new company provided IV antibiotic and parenteral nutrition for patients in their homes, which until then had been available only in a costlier hospital setting.
In 1986, they opened an office in Hilo, which was a milestone that led to serving the entire state. In 2004, the main location on Koapaka Street started offering infusion services in the office, in addition to a person’s home. By 2010, Pharmacare had several locations, mainly on Oahu.
Today Pharmacare has eight locations and employs a staff of 200, including almost 40 pharmacists, nurses, dietitians, enrollment specialists and delivery personnel. The company’s diversified services range from community pharmacies and a home infusion and specialty pharmacy, to a nutrition support division and a long-term care pharmacy.
Continued growth for the company is expected: Yoshino said an office is under construction on Maui, and plans are in the works to open a location on Kauai by the end of this year.
Byron Yoshino’s mother, Jane, has played a key role in the family businesses over the years. She said her biggest challenge was helping with billing and paperwork at her husband Richard’s drugstore while taking care of their three young boys.
When Pharmacare was formed in the ’80s, there was no system in place for Byron Yoshino to be reimbursed by insurance companies for infusion. Jane Yoshino — now in her early 90s — assisted in processing these medical claims, which entailed going to each doctor’s offices to get signatures on forms and other documentation. After her husband retired, he would drive her to the doctors’ offices and they’d also deliver medicine to Pharmacare patients.
“We understood the value of customer service, to go above and beyond to make it a great experience,” Byron Yoshino said. “Mom was very outgoing. Talking with people was never a problem with her. She felt strongly about helping me, so that was motivating her as well.”
Yoshino said his mother’s friendly personality was a real asset, drawing on her background as a singer. In the 1950s, she used to perform locally under the name Jane Itai; she had a huge hit called “Ginza Kan Kan Musume” with the Club Nisei Orchestra.
Byron Yoshino’s parents’ business acumen and work ethic resonated with him.
His father, Richard, had established decades of valuable connections in the health community, which helped Yoshino gain cooperation from health insurance companies and others in the medical industry when he was just starting his business, he said.
His father, now deceased, always said, “You can’t just work hard, you gotta work smart.” Yoshino also recalled that his father told him that successful people look ahead to the bigger picture and pay attention to detail. While his mother’s mantra was to never give up.
“Mom would say you have to have ‘iji,’ it’s a Japanese word, it’s like grit,” he said. “You gotta be determined and never give up, a fighting spirit.”
Yoshino is cognizant of how far Pharmacare has come, but he was confident from the beginning about its prospects because of the cost-saving and convenience of servicing people in their homes.
“We’re pretty fortunate, very lucky. We have really good people — a very loyal, hardworking staff,” he said.
He and Sakurada realized early on that their employees were one of their most important assets. By providing good salaries, benefits and flexible schedules, they made sure they treated their staff well so they would stay on for a long time. A few of them have stayed on for about 30 years, and it’s been rewarding to see them advance in their careers, he said.
When Pharmacare was able to hire one or two drivers, they would receive compliments about their customer service and patients would offer tokens of appreciation.
“I was always amazed at what they brought back from the patients’ home — some pastry or food or flowers — people were always so grateful and generous,” he said. “They would bring it back and share it with the staff, and I know they still do that.”
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Pharmacare Hawaii
>> Main office: 3375 Koapaka St., Suite G320
>> Info: 836-0223 or pharmacarehawaii.com
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