Buzz Schneider had a talent for starting things. His first restaurant, Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster, opened in July 1957 in Waikiki. In the following decades there would be over 20 restaurants in his orbit.
I was happy to see that Buzz’s Original Steak House in Lanikai reopened after COVID-19 and seems to be thriving. Let’s take a look at this interesting entrepreneur.
Raymond Valentine “Buzz” Schneider liked steak and he liked lobster. In July 1957 he opened his first restaurant serving just those two entrees, along with a salad, and, if they wanted an appetizer, an artichoke, because he liked them. “I’m average, so I figured everybody else would like them, too.”
It was a one-man operation. “I greeted the customers, took their orders, broiled the steaks and lobsters, and served them,” Buzz said.
His ex-wife, Bobby Lou Schneider-Yeackel, said, “When I graduated from college, my boyfriend took me to a new restaurant, Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster on Beachwalk Avenue. I eventually ended up marrying Buzz.”
Steak and lobster
“Buzz liked steak and he liked lobster,” Bobby Lou said, “but did not intend to combine them in a single dish. But people started ordering them together, and that’s how steak and lobster originated.”
Buzz’s was one of the first to offer a steak-and-lobster dinner in Hawaii, and one of the first steakhouses here to offer a salad bar.
Most steakhouses in the 1950s were upscale. Many required coats and ties for men. Buzz offered good food in a casual environment. The public took to it so he expanded. In 1959 he opened the Beachwalk Broiler, Buzz’s Ice Cream ‘n’ Confection and the Pizza-torium at the International Market Place.
With Bobby Lou’s father, Richard Furtado, he opened Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster in Hilo. “We opened just in time to get smashed by the April 1960 tidal wave,” Buzz recalled. A few months later they reopened.
In 1960 he opened Buzz’s Prime Rib ‘n’ Clam on Kalakaua Avenue. It was managed by Julie Franco, Bobby Lou’s sister.
Plate lunches were gaining in popularity, so he opened Buzzburger Drive-In at Moanalua Shopping Center. It was the first place in Hawaii to sell A&W root beer. It was there until 1975.
The Red Vest
Also in 1960 he opened The Red Vest on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki. It was named for a famous portrait of Kamehameha I wearing a red vest he had purchased from a visiting ship. A copy of the painting hung in the doorway. It offered fine dining in a dark cavern or wine cellar atmosphere.
The following year, 1961, he started two new places. The Iron Mask, at 115 S. King St., was an attempt to bring a touch of New York to downtown Honolulu.
“We gave downtown what we considered a real mainland-type operation. It just wasn’t supported. Downtown just wasn’t as much a big city in outlook as a lot of people thought it was,” Buzz said.
Another Buzz Schneider creation, the Peanut Farm on Sand Island Access Road, was the opposite of the Iron Mask.
“We’ll have sawdust on the floor, serve beer and maybe a banjo group to play,” Buzz said. “He’s aiming at the 20-29 age group but says he won’t turn away the fat and 40,” another commented.
Both failed to catch on.
Lanikai
In 1962, Buzz bought the Lords of Lanikai steakhouse for $25,000 and reopened it as Buzz’s Original Steak House. It had 10 tables. “In the beginning Buzz cooked and bartended, and I waited on tables,” Bobby Lou recalls. “In the first few years, we never did more than 30 dinners a night and sometimes only 10-12.”
Gerry and Eileen MacDonald lent Buzz a lot of money and came to own several of his restaurants, such as Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster on Beachwalk; Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster (Lahaina), which became Buzz’s Sugar Cane Inn; Buzz’s Quarter Deck (in Waikiki); and Buzz’s Wharf on Maui (Maalaea).
In 1968 Schneider opened Buzz’s Original Steak House in Pearl City.
Pirate Bully Hayes
“Buzz liked sandwiches, so we opened Pirate Bully Hayes in Kailua in 1972, where Uahi Island Grill is today.” Two years later they opened a second Pirate Bully Hayes at the Marco Polo on Kapiolani Boulevard. A third one opened near Buzz’s in Pearl City in 1976.
William Henry “Bully” Hayes (1827-1877) was described as the “last of the buccaneers.” The three Oahu restaurants had nautical themes.
Between 1980 and 1984 they opened Buzz’s Original Steak House, at 2535 Coyne St. in Moiliili; Buzz’s Original Steak House Kona; and Buzz’s Fish House at 33 Aulike St. in Kailua. It featured crab legs, clams, sauteed scallops, cioppino, sashimi and sandwiches.
Buzz was a pioneer. He was creative but wasn’t as good at running restaurants as he was at starting them. He lacked a core management team that could run his restaurants profitably. Most closed or came to be owned by others.
Buzz and Bobby Lou got divorced, and he retired from the restaurant business. He died in 2006. Bobby Lou, now 87, oversees the running of the hugely successful Lanikai restaurant.
Chuck’s Steak House
Bobby Lou said Buzz influenced other restaurateurs, including Chuck’s Steak House.
Roy Kelley, who owned the Reef and Edgewater hotels, was Buzz’s landlord in the late 1950s. His daughter, Jean, was married to Chuck Rolles.
“Chuck had returned from college, and he and Buzz became good friends. Noticing that Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster was gaining in popularity, Roy Kelly offered him another location, with an increased rent. Buzz turned down the offer, so Kelley gave the location to his son-in-law.
“That was the beginning of Chuck’s Steak House. It was a very similar menu and format to Buzz’s.” At one time there were several in Hawaii and over 60 across the U.S.
John Reuben McIntosh, who founded the Yum Yum Tree, based his Reuben’s chain on Buzz’s, liking its simple menu and casual setting. He had three in California and one each in Kahala Mall, Kona and Kauai.
There were others who began working at Buzz’s Steak ‘n’ Lobster and moved on to be successful restaurateurs: Joey Cabell opened the Chart House, Huggo von Platen-Luder opened Huggo’s in Kona and Ed Greene opened Jamison’s by the Sea in Haleiwa and several other restaurants.
Bill and Hillary dine in
The president and first lady, Bill and Hillary Clinton, dropped in on Buzz’s in 1994 unannounced.
The staff had no idea they were coming, Bobby Lou said. The Secret Service scanned new arrivals to the restaurant, and a crowd outside stopped to see what was happening, but no one bothered them inside the restaurant.
The Clintons were staying at a guest cottage on the Kaneohe marine base. Their impromptu dinner made headlines around the country and raised Buzz’s visibility. The table they sat at today has a plaque commemorating the dinner.
The Obamas dined there, too, on at least two occasions: 2013 and 2016.
Met bride at Buzz’s
Daniel W. said: “I met my bride at Buzz’s in Lanikai in late 2002. I was stationed at the Kaneohe Marine Base and was living near Kainalu Elementary School.
“One night I called Buzz’s to see if I could get a seat for dinner in the middle of the week at the last minute.
“Lucy, the bartender, answered the phone and told me the place was full, but there were open seats at the bar, so I headed there in a hurry.
“There were a few open seats, so I hopped up on a bar stool and ordered dinner and a mai tai.
“A little while later a few nurses, all single, from Castle Medical Center hopped up on the open bar stools next to me.
“After much pleasant conversation, the nurse sitting next to me headed off to the ladies’ room while her girlfriend passed me a handwritten note on a Buzz’s napkin that I still have and covet to this day. It had her best friend’s info, phone number and a local Thanksgiving dinner invite.
“These nurses traditionally held a Thanksgiving gathering for single nurses and their friends. We hit it off, and a month or so later went on a date. I married her several years later.
“We have been together for the past 20 years now. We have celebrated our anniversary, and many other annual occasions, at Buzz’s in Lanikai each and every year, and hope to continue this tradition for the next 20+ years, Lord willing.
“I have told anyone who wants to hear my story: My wife picked up a sailor, a U.S. Marine specifically, at a bar in Lanikai, Hawaii.”
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Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
