Ted’s Bakery
Food Service
THE TED’S BAKERY STORY
The foundation of Ted’s Bakery began on the North Shore of Oahu in 1956, when Takemitsu Nakamura built a grocery and gas station called Sunset Beach Store on a plot purchased with his father, a respected farmer in the local community.
Over time, with the help of Takemitsu’s sons Ted, a baker at the Kahala Hotel with a flair for creative flavors, and Glenn, a math teacher with business expertise, the next generation of the Nakamura family began helping out full-time at the grocery store. The brothers took a part of the market and opened a small “Ted’s Bakery” within the Sunset Beach Store.
Ted’s Bakery was instantly a hit. And as demand for Ted’s baked goods grew, food operations became the focus of the business. The bakery started to sell plate lunches along with their world-famous pies. Surfing was growing in popularity across the globe and the North Shore of Oahu quickly became the destination for the international surf community. As the number of visitors grew, Ted took a chance on transitioning the Sunset Beach Store completely into a bakery and eating establishment, and officially launched the first Ted’s Bakery in 1987.
For over 30 years, Ted’s Bakery has served its celebrated pies, cakes, and pastries along with sandwiches, lunch plates, smoothies, and coffee drinks—fueling hungry surfers, loyal local customers, and visitors from around the world.
“Our employees are truly an extension of our family. They are at the heart of the quality food and service we provide every day to the local community and visitors from around the world. ProService Hawaii helps us quickly and professionally take care of our teams’ needs and support our growth so that we can focus on doing what we do best.”
– Torey Nakamura, General Manager of Ted’s Bakery
The Challenge
After more than three decades in the business, Ted Nakamura began to look to his kids as the future leaders of Ted’s Bakery. He started training his daughter Torey, a college graduate working on her MBA, to oversee operations while his younger daughter, Caylen, completed culinary school.
And just as Ted and his brother had split responsibilities to help their father, Torey and Caylen soon emerged as the next duo to blend their business savvy and baking skills in support of the family business. While this continued tradition was a great advantage for Ted’s Bakery, and Ted’s business was booming, the new growth opportunities ahead also presented some new challenges.
As General Manager Torey Nakamura explains,
“A large part of our business has been steadily growing in our wholesale operations of supplying cakes and pies to markets across the island. Meeting that demand, along with the daily demand for quality service at our eatery, requires a growing amount of time and attention. As I started to take on more of the business responsibilities, I quickly realized we needed an HR partner to take that administrative burden off our plates and also provide guidance throughout the ever-changing compliance requirements.”
THE SOLUTION
Torey heard about ProService Hawaii’s reputation within the local business community and signed on the HR experts for help. The ProService team immediately alleviated administrative burdens by taking on payroll management, providing guidance on working with OSHA, and ensuring Ted’s Bakery remained compliant while managing a busy period of growth for the business.
“The level of safety training and management development that ProService provides is truly invaluable,” says Torey. “To know that you and your team are expertly trained and are able to keep compliant to avoid any costly misunderstandings offers great peace of mind.”
Having an HR partner that could support the ongoing needs of their employees was also important to Torey, “Many of our employees have been with us for years, often 10 or 20 years, and they are a part of our family,” notes Torey.
“Having professionals at ProService that can help us to quickly answer any employee questions quickly and with care, while also helping us to develop the best workplace culture we can possibly have, is incredibly important to us.”
THE OUTCOME
Today, Ted’s retail bakery, hot food service, and wholesale operations continue to grow. While much has changed as Ted’s has transitioned from a simple operation staffed mostly by the Nakamuras to a bustling business with over 60 employees, the level of quality, freshness, and care that patrons the world-over have come to expect hasn’t wavered. With ProService as partners, the future of Ted’s Bakery remains bright.
“ProService gives me the time to focus on the future while maintaining the quality of our past. The first ingredient in our food at Ted’s has always been love, and being able to keep that commitment to our loyal customers and employees is what it’s all about.”
