Ohia Bakery was created in 1988 when its founder Andrew Vliet wanted good tasting Portuguese sweetbread. When no good bread was found in local stores, Andrew spent the next year perfecting his recipe which became to be known as Moloka`i Sweetbread. He would talk to local kupuna and ask them how they prepared their traditional Portuguese Sweetbread. Andrew spent over a year making countless batches of dough and baking bread. Trials, errors and lots of taste testing went on. The name “Ohia Bakery”, is derived as Andrew was living on the West Ohia Ahupua`a at the time he created the recipe.
Over the next few years, Andrew looked for ways to sell his bread and would often be baking for local organizations on Moloka`i for fund raising events. Being there were only 6,000 residents on the island, Andrew decided to fly to Honolulu where there were there was a larger market. He would fly to Honolulu every Thursday, buy ingredients from local suppliers and bake at a rented kitchen. He would go to the local swap meet to sell his bread on Saturday and Sunday. As he started selling more and more bread, demand increased and he moved operations to Honolulu full-time to meet the demand. For several years, he shared a bakery with a company that made cookies. He would bake one day and deliver the next.
As demand increased even more, he needed a larger space and more equipment. He moved operations to his own space to meet these needs. He would bake on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday and deliver the bread on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. During this time, the business name was changed to Moloka`i Sweetbread, LLC.
With the lease not being renewed, the bakery closed for a period of time until a facility was located. This shutdown did cause an interruption in sales, but sales were re-established rather quickly. The new location had adequate space to meet any foreseeable quantities and space to expand product lines. The Sweetbread was now being offered in several variations with the introduction of the sandwich loaf and the dinner rolls. The Aunty Leilani Cookie brand was resurrected and we began selling cookies. A recent acquisition of bakery Le Bon Pain introduced the traditional Japanese white bread. This new location also brought an end to internal distribution.
Ohia Bakery, LLC is now being brought back into the market with the transition of operations from father to son, from first generation to second generation. Things will be in flux as all the changes take place. It is important for the son (Pieter) to go back to the original roots of the recipe/business and what was started by his dad. His strong belief of continuing what his father started and to perpetuate all of his hard work and to keep the spirit of the traditional "mom & pop" places alive and well for the future generations to experience.