HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Maui food institution is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
Four Sisters in downtown Wailuku began selling Filipino breads and pastries in 1983 made by Stanley and Rufina Magbual, immigrants from the Philippines who raised 12 children with help from the small business.
The business is named for their daughters — Elizabeth, Mila, Melen and Bobby, But it was son Arnold and his wife Marjorie who took over the business nearly two decades ago, following his father’s footsteps.
“He had to find a way to feed us. So he didn’t forget his training of being a baker in the Philippines. So he started making his pandesal and he used to sell them every morning at HCNS bus stop back in the day and word got around. And then he goes to deliver in the afternoon house to house,” he said.
“Then 20 years later, he retired. That’s when my wife and I took over the bakery from my parents,” Magual said. “They said I was the only one that was capable of doing the job.”
Arnold, a graduate of the Maui Culinary Academy, continued to make his father’s classics, like pandesal and ensaymada, and added local specialties — like manapua, malasadas, cinnamon rolls. Spanish rolls and banana bread — to appeal to a wider audience.
The bakery is most famous for its melt-in-your-mouth butter rolls.
On weekends, the bakery sells as many as 200 boxes of a dozen each morning.
Magbual said sales really boomed during the pandemic.
Now they do three times the volume they did pre-COVID.
“We got to thank COVID for that, I guess,” he said.
Breads are comfort food, and at that time, a lot of places were closed, like a week or two weeks. And people got to eat. We did not close for one day, not even for one day.”
Four Sisters also hosts fundraisers throughout the year for the community, including its popular Thanksgiving drive. And like under his father, the successful small business helped the couple send their own two children to prestigious colleges, such as Stanford University.
Four Sisters Bakery is located at 1968 E. Vineyard St, in downtown Wailuku and open weekdays 6:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturdays 6:30 a.m.-1 p.m. and Sundays 6:30 a.m.-9 a.m.
Call (808) 244-9333 for more information.
Catering is also available. To order, call (808) 205-7981.
Source : HawaiiNewsNow
