Business Monday: Punalu‘u Bake Shop donates last of its sweet bread after Lala severe damages from Lala

The Punalu‘u Bake Shop in Nā‘ālehu was known for its sweet bread, which originated from a traditional family recipe.

The place was so popular it drew about 200,000 people a year, with the business’ website claiming it was the most visited bakery in the state of Hawaiʻi, located midway between Kailua-Kona and Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park on Route 11. It also Is the most southern bakery in the United States.

But with Hurricane Lala severely damaging the bakery a week ago, general manager Zachary Kennedy decided the last 16 pallets of the delicately sweet and moist Hawaiian sweet bread would be donated to community members in need in the Ka‘ū District.

“That was the last of the Punalu‘u bread for a while,” Kennedy said on Wednesday. “It made sense that it would go to the community and not to the stores.”

Located off Highway 11 in the heart of Nā‘ālehu, the bakery has been serving customers and providing jobs to the Ka‘ū community for the past 31 years. It even became a popular site for recharging electric cars.

But when the Category I hurricane skirted the southern portion of the Big Island on Aug. 15, it brought winds and floodwaters that encased homes in several feet of mud, unearthed the Nā‘ālehu Cemetery, and brought catastrophic damage to the bake shop.

Kennedy said he was home in Ocean View when Lala hit.

At about 9:15 p.m., he said he got alerts on his phone from the alarm company saying windows and glass were broken, doors were kicked in, “and not only on the top bakery, but also the office and bread bakery, all at the same time.”

Kennedy knew something wasn’t right. He believed it was one of two things: the electronics were fritzing or the bakery was hit by something large.

When he got on his StarLink the next morning, he saw pictures of the shop and tried to get into Nā‘ālehu, but he was stopped before he could reach the bakery, being told “no one was allowed in.”

“It took me another day to get down here, and when I saw it in person, the photos did not do it justice,” Kennedy said.

On Wednesday, the entire property was encased in several feet of mud and debris. Beams on the building were broken and windows were shattered. There was 5 to 10 feet of rubble scoping up to about15 feet at the top.

Above the bakery was the Nā‘ālehu Cemetery. Coffins and human remains were washed up in the area and Hawai‘i National Guard crews have been working to recover the bodies of loved ones.

“I didn’t think it would be to this level. It’s just absolutely catastrophic,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said while it will take time to rebuild, “we are 100% going to rebuild.”

Kennedy said he’s reviewed social media comments that described Punaluʻu Bake Shop as “the heart of our community.”

“It’s been here since 1991, providing delicious bread to locals and visitors,” Kennedy said. “For me, though, this is one of the largest employers in our community.”

The reason why this place exists, he added, is to give several dozen jobs to the local community. Otherwise, they would have to commute to Kona or Hilo.

“This gives people the opportunity to stay in their community,” Kennedy said.

Sweat bread was first introduced to Hawai‘i by Portuguese sugar workers during the 19th century, and has become a time-honored favorite among residents and visitors, the bakery’s website said.

When a family recipe was adapted and prepared at a resort restaurant in Punalu‘u on the Big Island in the 1970s, the sweet bread was an instant hit. To keep visitors and kama’aina supplied with this popular favorite, the Punalu‘u Bake Shop was opened in 1991, the website said.

The bakery offered macadamia nut sweet bread, guava sweet bread and dinner rolls, taro sweet bread and dinner rolls, cinnamon raisin macadamia nut sweet bread, kalakoa (a colorful blend of taro, mango and guava) and macadamia nut shortbread cookies.

While the bakery is rebuilt, Kennedy said the business will “take care of our people … We’re more than a business. We’re a family.”

Kamakani Dancil, 51, who lives down the road on Niu Street, said he found stuff from the bakery that washed in his yard.

“The drinking bottles, the stuffed animals, some of the coffee and packages,” he said.

Dancil said the destruction of the bakery is a big loss to the community because a lot of people living in the neighborhood work there.

“Hopefully they can come back,” Dancil said. “I think they can.”

While there has been support for the bakery, Kennedy said he’s run into some issues.

On Aug. 18, he caught two men on the property looting. When he told them to leave, Kennedy said they matter-of-factly told him: “We’re just here to take some electrical components.”

Kennedy said the bakery also has been further vandalized by kids coming into the dilapidated building, spray-painting and breaking whatever mugs and trinkets aren’t already shattered.

“It’s just making more hazards,” he said. “It’s really sad.”

Kennedy is asking people to stay off the property.