Aunty Nani’s Cookies
Aunty Nani’s Hawaiian Cookies: Baking Up Sweet Treats for Hawaii’s Past and Future
When she was growing up, young ladies were expected to be seen and not heard. Now, Edith Ho, well past retirement age, is working hard on her own start-up cookie business, where her labor of love can be heard, seen, but most importantly smelled every day throughout the Pacific Gateway Center’s Culinary Business Incubator (CBI). When she slowly walked into the interview room with the help of her cane, Edith might not be the type of person you’d expect to have her own brand of high class Hawaiian sweets. But once she started talking, anyone could see that this lady has enough fire to power all the ovens at CBI!
Aunty Nani’s Hawaiian Cookies were baked into business in 2004, and Edith, often referred to by her namesake “Aunty Nani,” has risen to be one of the CBI’s most veteran entrepreneurs with over a decade of experience. An illness forced her to put her dream temporarily on hold, but after recovering she jumped right back into it, selling everywhere from trade shows, to KCC’s farmers market, to direct sales as far away as the Mainland. Once you’ve bit into one of Aunty Nani’s unbelievably crisp Mac Nut Chocolate Chip cookies, it’s not hard to believe word of her product has traveled across oceans. In fact, she attributes her success in no small part to her ability to make not just cookies, but conversations - real relationships with her customers that have them coming back for more.
“It keeps me young”, Aunty Nani points out, “This is my third act but I’m not tired, even though I haul my cookies all over all by myself. I just love talking with my customers, selling - I’m happy!” In a rapidly aging society, loneliness among kupuna (seniors) can be just as big a killer as smoking. But Edith doesn’t have to worry about that. Thanks to her small business, she can be seen both chatting and baking up a storm with her helper and friends at CBI every day. She has also been able to give back - donating to help support shared kitchen maintenance and using banana’s grown locally by human trafficking victims at the PGC Kunia Farms in her signature Poi Banana Bread.
Everyone’s Aunty in the PGC ohana, this pillar of Kupuna Power is not going to slow production any time soon. Her next big step? Getting educated about nutrition labeling through PGC’s Social Enterprise Program (SEP) so she can sell to big name stores like Whole Foods. When asked about her ambitious aspirations, she has these words of wisdom to share; “You can’t take money with you. I’d rather leave a name for myself.”
“Selling cookies keeps me young! This is my third act but I’m not tired, even though I haul my cookies to all the trade shows and markets. I just love talking with my customers, selling- I’m happy! You have to put everything into your business and love it. The business always comes first.” - Edit Ho
Find Aunty Nani’s Hawaiian Cookies at the Kailua Farmers Market every Thursday from 5:00pm-7:30pm or order directly from Aunty herself at (808) 223-2565 or auntynanihawaiiancookies@gmail.com
You can find Aunty Nani at this year’s Honolulu Festival at the Hawaii Convention Center on March 7-8, 2020.
Follow Aunty Nani on Facebook or Instagram for updates on available products and where to find her!