Love’s Bakery closes its doors after 170 years
Maui residents, delivery drivers recall bakery’s bread with fondness
Love’s Bakery officially closed its doors on Wednesday, wrapping up nearly 170 years of producing classic white and wheat loaves, old fashioned and powdered doughnuts, hot dog and burger buns, bagels and English muffins that became a staple in many households, lunchboxes and family cookouts.
The iconic local bakery had announced March 1 that it planned to shut down and lay off more than 231 employees after losing about 20 percent of its revenue last year due to COVID-19.
Messages of love, nostalgia and gratitude flooded the internet this week as Love’s folded its operations on Maui, Kauai, Oahu and Hawaii island. On Maui, delivery drivers and grocery store owners bid farewell to the beloved brand.
“You and your truck was like a mini store, you distributed your goods, you picked up your returns,” said Maui’s lead delivery driver Dominic Torrecer, who’s been with Love’s since September 1993. “You got to know the people at the stores and restaurants really, really well.”
Although Wednesday was Torrecer’s official last day, he said that final closing duties and vehicle returns wrapped up on Saturday.
“You can never predict what’s going to happen,” he said. “The last few days, I’ve missed a lot of my restaurant accounts and the people inside the stores and everything like that.”
While everyday shoppers were still purchasing Love’s products amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said earlier this month that it suffered major financial losses while commercial buyers from the hospitality and food industry were also struggling.
Even though it’s the end of an era, the brand and label will live on.
An agreement with Franz Family Bakery, a fourth-generation business founded in 1906 that now operates bakeries in seven states, will save Love’s brand, though the locally owned facilities and jobs will still be lost.
The family-owned bakery business based in Portland announced Monday that it is now licensed to produce bread and other bakery items on the Mainland for Hawaii stores under the Love’s name.
Hawaii Foodservice Alliance partnered with Franz in shipping Love’s products.
For every Love’s product sold, Franz and Hawaii Foodservice Alliance will donate a portion of the proceeds to nonprofits that support local communities in the Islands, according to the company.
Torrecer said he doesn’t know what will become of the iconic recipe after the transition, but noted that there are a few local bakeries still left on the island that residents can support.
Over his 27 years in the delivery business, he’s seen the growth of Love’s operations, sales and equipment, including when the company switched from cardboard carrier boxes to baskets after rain soaked and damaged a lot of the product.
Torrecer, who was a police officer and lifeguard before joining the Love’s crew, started out as a relief driver and eventually moved up to the lead driver, where he was in charge of the most lucrative route, which included Costco.
He added that his job took him “all over the island,” where he made genuine connections with many workers and businesses he delivered to along the way.
“The main thing I’ll miss the most is, basically, is you are independent. You order your own bread, you’re responsible for certain stores and everything,” he said. “Most of my coworkers did the same thing, but we worked pretty much as a unit still, like if somebody were short on something, like hamburger buns, you could reach out to another driver and he would do whatever he could to save the day.”
Needless to say, employees worked hard for the Maui County community so that they could get their Love’s fix.
“Basically we did everything. Some of the guys, like me, worked seven days a week,” he said. “We merchandised the product on the weekends, we did everything we could to help sustain the company, putting in a lot of hours and everything else.”
All you need is Love’s
In 1851, Scottish baker Robert Love moved to Honolulu with his wife and three sons from Australia after an 80-day voyage, according to the company website.
By summer, Love pursued his dream of running a business by getting a retail store license that permitted him to operate a bakery and sell products. And then, in 1853, he opened the first Love’s Biscuit & Bread Co. on Nu‘uanu Street.
Over the years, operations grew with the demand for bread and crackers. Love’s Co. eventually expanded to the Neighbor Islands, building a brand that families statewide know and cherish.
Megan Nakashima, president of the mom-and-pop grocery store Pukalani Superette, said Wednesday that every sandwich she ate growing up on a school field trip was made with Love’s bread.
“My brother loved the powdered donuts — his face would be covered in the powder,” Nakashima said. “It was guaranteed that Jayson’s face would be covered in powder. Every time.”
She has a milk cap collection of local businesses, including Love’s, which has now become “way more precious.”
Pukalani Superette records show that the business started selling Love’s in 2006, but Nakashima said the store’s historian Barbara Silva, and most tenured employees, noted that they couldn’t remember a time when the shelves weren’t stocked with the brand.
“She started working at the store in 1965 and recalls Love’s being around back then,” Nakashima said. “Love’s Bakery has achieved what we as a company always strive for, and that’s to be part of people’s everyday lives. With the loss of Love’s, you’re already seeing bittersweet love letters to a brand that most people probably took for granted.” Now with Franz running product operations, Nakashima said that PukSup will continue to sell a small amount to start.
“It all depends on how our customers decide to shop,” she said. “They may opt for another local bakery, which we have a few that we offer, or they may choose Love’s because of nostalgia. It is up to them.”
Because Love’s Bakery was such an established brand in the community, she said she’s interested to see if a local bakery will “step up to try to fill that void for this island.”
“And will other islands also see their bakeries doing the same?” she added.
Love’s Bakery bread and other products have also been in Foodland stores since the first location opened in 1948, and have been available to Maui customers since Foodland Kahului opened in 1970.
“We know our Maui customers islandwide from Kahului and Wailuku, to Upcountry, Kihei and Lahaina, really love Love’s, and we’re sad to say goodbye to one of our favorite and oldest local business partners,” said Sheryl Toda, vice president of marketing and corporate communications.
Among the many memories, Toda said that local grocers will most miss the Love’s employees who delivered products to the 32 stores every week over the years.
“Their warm smiles, caring and friendly ways and friendships made with our employees will be sorely missed,” she said. “Their employees are what made their company so special.”