After taking over several kim chee companies from owners who were about to call it quits, Mike Irish earned the name, “kim chee king” of Hawaii, with Halm’s Kim Chee the standout brand.
But the half-Korean local guy, who acquired some fire in his gut even before he became such an entrepreneur, didn’t stop with kim chee. Irish, 65, went on to buy 10 more local companies, all under Halm’s Enterprises label, in addition to Keoki’s Lau Lau and Diamond Head Seafood Co., a fresh fish wholesaler.
Giving old-time businesses a second chance at life was right in line with Irish’s ingrained habit of refusing to give up, a stubbornness he developed when doctors told him he would be paralyzed from the neck down after injury in a college football game. It was a real struggle, but he regained mobility.
How it began
Halm’s Enterprises started with the purchase of Parks Brand Products in 1984, which began as a stall in Chinatown in 1938. The small Korean sauce company relocated to Liliha Street in 1960, said one of three daughters who came to work for Irish later. He bought Parks when it was going out of business at the urging of Alice Yang, the owner of Chicken Alice. She needed one of their sauces to make her renowned Korean spicy chicken wings, and Irish wanted to help because Yang was like an older sister to him.
Business built on fighting spirit
Mike Irish, founder of the thriving Halm’s Enterprises, wrote his own version of a rags-to-riches tale starting when he was 8 years old, hustling odd jobs after school and weekends in Chinatown to build a nest egg.
His mother, who was divorced and raising six kids, worked as a maid in a Waikiki hotel, and “I didn’t want her to do that the rest of her life. Sometimes she had to borrow lunch money from the neighbors.” He was determined to help her carry the financial burden, and resolved to find ways to make enough money to assure his own security in life — “I always wanted to be successful.”
Irish’s mother died when he was 13, and his father stepped in to take care of the children. But his dad also experienced financial straits as a contractor and hotel developer. His investments alternately paid off or took a dive, and the last deal “took him all the way down,” forcing his father to declare bankruptcy around 1978.
That motivated Irish even more to build some business capital, but he would be careful to invest it wisely instead of spending it.
Irish’s first love was real estate but he realized he had to have a steady income to finance his small realty projects. He saw the opportunity in acquiring small mom-and-pop kim chee companies with established customer bases, and the rest is Halm’s Enterprises history.
There’s another major factor driving Irish’s enterprise. The Kalani High School graduate was playing football for the University of Hawaii, but suffered an injury so traumatic that doctors told him he would be a quadriplegic for life. But Irish stubbornly refused to accept being paralyzed, and with anger and denial fueling him, he struggled to move any part of his body. He stunned everyone when he was able to walk after five months of rehabilitation, then underwent surgery and spent two years in a body cast before making a full recovery.
Now he’s satisfied with his position in life — “This is a pretty good deal!” says Irish. “Coming from being paralyzed, everything God gave me from then on was uphill.”
In the first few years Irish worked right alongside his small staff, stirring the sauces, mixing batches of kochujang (red pepper sauce), bottling, boxing and delivering. Looking back, it was “a lot of fun,” except for the kochujang fumes, Irish said.
He bought Halm’s Kim Chee in 1985 from second owner Lawrence Kang, who bought the company in 1965 from the original owners (they founded it in 1955). “Uncle Lawrence,” who invented much of the machinery to make kim chee, worked for Irish for three years while in his 80s. Kang taught Irish a lot about the business until he was weakened by illness. Parks and Halm’s were consolidated within a larger Kaimuki facility, and Irish hired more employees.
How it expanded
Acquiring Halm’s opened the gates to prosperity. While delivering his products to stores, Irish would run into owners of companies like Kohala Kim Chee and High Max Kim Chee, who heard he had taken over Parks and Halm’s. One by one, they asked him to buy them out because their children weren’t interested in taking over, he said. With each company, Irish inherited some of the workers, who brought their valuable expertise.
In the end, Irish took over eight kim chee brands, six sauces and two takuan (pickled daikon) labels. Staffers make 3 to 4 tons of product a day and products comprise more than 60 percent of the kim chee/pickled vegetable market in Hawaii. “Everything is still done by hand,” he added.
Irish adopted the Halm’s name when he formed Halm’s Enterprises because he didn’t think Irish Enterprises would be a great name for a company associated with kim chee.
He kept the names of all the individual products and their original recipes, to preserve the distinct flavors of brands that had earned their spots on stores shelves. Irish knew how important it was to customers, as “these are the flavors you remember when you were kids.”
He still tells families who originated the recipes to speak up if the products are not up to their standards. “We still get calls from people with comments like: ‘the won bok kinda hard,’ ” he added.
Halm’s Enterprises also produces miscellaneous items like barbecue sauces and chili water, comprising 18 to 20 percent of the company’s profit. He put everything under one roof in a large facility in Kalihi in 2000, including sister companies Keoki’s Lau Lau (bought in 1997) and Diamond Head Seafood Co. (around 1994), which also fell into his lap. It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Loyal staff
Irish considers his 175 employees his business’ most prized asset: “This happens because of them. These people have always been with us.” Many are veterans of over 20 years, and they’ve recruited their family members to join him.
One laulau maker brought in her four kids and a granddaughter. One worker from Kewalo Pickle Co. started with Irish when he was 50, and now is 73 years old; his uncle is 90 and still makes deliveries, Irish said. And with so many years of practice, they’ve become even faster and more proficient.
“And one thing we try to promote, is we don’t want unhappy people (because) happy people make great food. … If we do something that’s wrong, let me know.” And he always tells his staff: “Make what you would want your mother or father or grandmother to eat. If it’s not something you would serve your family, why would we serve it to anybody else’s family? So it all has to be the best.”
“Old Friends” catches up with longtime local food producers. It runs on the third week of each month. Email suggestions to crave@staradvertiser.com or call Pat Gee at 529-4749.
