The 41-year-old company continues the flavors Hawaiians grew up with.
Most locals recognize the orange guava passion in the plastic cups with foil lids served on airline flights. But they might not know that Island Maid Inc. also supplies many flavors of syrups and drinks to 7-Eleven stores, Zippy’s, Highway Inn and dozens of other restaurants as well as shaved ice companies like Matsumoto’s, Island Snow and Waiola.
The company was founded in 1981 by Benjamin and Lilian Tsunoda and proudly remains a local family business.
“My dad was very creative and my mom is very organized, which made them the perfect pair to start and run a business together,” says his daughter and vice president Tina Tsunoda.
They formed the company after recognizing the airlines’ need for in-flight beverages. They first supplied Mid Pacific Air, Pan American and United before expanding to serve Aloha and Hawaiian airlines, as well as hospitals and private schools. They distribute an average of 12,000 glasses of fruit flavored drinks per day.
Island Maid also sells direct to the public at its Waipahu headquarters, but currently only via curbside pickup.
After Benjamin’s death in 1998, Lilian ran the business herself as a single mother of three children: Tina, Kevin and Lance Tsunoda. She is now semi-retired and her children run the business.
In 2008 – the same year Tina Tsunoda joined the company – Island Maid acquired the Harders brand of local syrups and flavorings.
“We kept all of their original recipes that they had since 1933,” says Tina. “These are all local tastes that people grew up drinking drinks and eating shaved ice with, so we knew the importance of their flavors.
“We all wanted to help our mother, and we’re so glad we did, because we’re able to continue the legacy of Island Maid and continue what our parents started.”
She attributes the company’s success to the loyalty of its employees – about a dozen of Island Maid’s 17 employees have worked there for more than 10 years. She says they helped the business through the pandemic, when Island Maid experienced a significant loss in airline sales due to so many canceled flights.
The Tsunodas appreciate the company’s charitable work and donate to the Hawaii Foodbank and the Hawaiian Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. They also donated syrups to the Make-A-Wish Foundation so sick children could create their own bowls of shave ice.
“We are a small family business; we’re not very flashy,” says Kevin Tsunoda. “Everyone on our team works extremely hard to keep this business alive, to keep the family recipes alive, and to keep the flavors of Hawai’i alive.”
