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The grocery store dinner roll giant operates a unique-looking full-service eatery that has fed locals since Mochi doughnuts, rainbow-hued paradise cakes and more variations of the international company's signature bread than one could dream of grace the bakery section at the entrance. A giant pineapple statue welcomes patrons to the cavernous dining room, where servers in Hawaiian shirts navigate around a floor-to-ceiling tropical aquarium to serve island staples like loco moco and spam musubi, plus French toast made with King's Hawaiian sweet rolls.
Though the headquarters of King's Hawaiian moved from Honolulu to the mainland—and more precisely, Torrance, home to a large population of Hawaii transplants—in , seemingly few Angelenos are aware that the grocery store bread company calls greater Los Angeles home.
A factory near the in Torrance makes much of the packaged baked goods available in SoCal, while a second facility in Georgia also produces a few distinctive items and other baked goods, primarily for the East Coast. Outside of the South Bay, even fewer seem to be aware that the iconic supermarket brand has two L. Both eateries have become mainstays for South Bay residents in search of a casual everyday meal, as well as former islanders looking for a taste of home.
The restaurant's retail manager Steve Kane, a Hawaii transplant himself, says he can always tell when diners are from Hawaii: "Because we call it King's Bakery, not King's Hawaiian," he adds, alluding to the bakery's outpost on King Street in Honolulu, which Robert Taira started in the early s.
