Hawaii Bakery Sweet on Franchising

Leonard’s Bakery, an icon in Hawaii, has accidentally stumbled into franchising and seems to like it. The Honolulu Advertiser has an article about Leonard's first franchise in Yokohama, a city that is part of the Tokyo-Yokohama sprawling (and crowded) metropolis. Here’s the background you need so that you can read the Advertiser article from the same point of view as us Hawaii old-timers: Virtually everyone in Hawaii who was born and grew up here has enjoyed Leonard’s malasadas. The bakery was founded in 1952 by Frank Leonard Rego Sr., the grandson of Portuguese immigrants who came here when Hawaii was still a kingdom (it was overthrown by Americans in the islands in 1893). Leonard Sr. has passed on and Leonard Jr. is now the president. A malasada is a doughnut-like confection without the hole in the middle. It’s a traditional Portuguese confection that was brought here when the Portuguese emigrated to Hawaii in the late 1800s. When you get your order at the counter, Leonard’s somehow always manages to have it at just the right temperature for eating right away. Leonard’s is also well known for their Portuguese sweet bread (pao doce) and the artistry of their decorated cakes. Their talented and creative cake artists will design a birthday cake or some other special occasion cake to your specifications. Looking at birthday and other cakes in their showcase while you’re waiting for your order is always a treat, and yet their prices seem to be in keeping with ordinary cakes from other bakeries. In more recent years the Japanese have discovered Leonard’s Bakery. Japanese-language tourist magazines and online websites advise them to eat the malasadas right there in Leonard’s parking lot (there’s no dining in, and Japanese tourists almost never come by in a rental car) while it’s still hot, so that’s what you see them doing when you drive by or drop in. Here’s the Advertiser article on Leonard’s: Bakery sweet on franchising