New York man sues King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls after discovering they were made in California

A New York man filed a class-action lawsuit against sweet roll baker King’s Hawaiian after discovering that the company has no baking operations in Hawaii.

Yonkers resident Robert Galinsky said that he was “misled” by the company when he purchased a package of King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls expecting them to be made in Hawaii.

The complaint stems from messaging on the packaging. The front of the package reads “Hilo, Hawaii” in big block letters. But a label on the back clarifies that the Hawaiian rolls are actually baked and distributed out of Torrance, California.

Galinsky said that King’s Hawaiian “is the leading seller of Hawaiian Rolls and essentially invented this category of food,” according to Top Class Actions, noting that “for many consumers, ‘authenticity has overtaken quality as the prevailing purchasing criterion.'”

According to King’s Hawaiian’s website, the packaging is an homage to the company’s early days on the Big Island, when Robert Taira, a Hawaiian-born son of Japanese immigrants, opened Robert’s Bakery in 1950. Expanding the business and moving to Honolulu’s King Street in 1960 led to a name change, and in 1977, the company built its California location to access the larger continental market.

Galinsky conceded that “reasonable consumers understand that the term ‘Hawaiian Rolls’ by itself, does not denote a roll made in Hawaii any more than a ‘Moon Pie’ can claim to have been baked on the moon,” but the prominent inclusion of “Hilo, Hawaii” on the front package “caus[es] consumers to believe the Product is made in Hawaii.”

“[King Hawaiian’s] fraudulent intent is evinced by its failure to accurately identify the Product’s immediate place of origin — where it’s made — as opposed to where the company is originally from — when it knew doing so would mislead consumers,” Galinsky said.

The lawsuit also pointed to legal action taken by King’s Hawaiian against other bakeries that have attempted to use the term “Hawaiian roll” and similar color schemes on their packaging, according to Newsweek.

Hawaiian roll lovers may also be disappointed to discover that the sweet baked goods themselves aren’t Hawaiian, either — but rather are a variation on Portuguese sweet rolls.

King’s Hawaiian is not the first company to face complaints about marketing their product based on appeals to geography. Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed against Hawaiian Host Candies because its products are also produced in California.

King’s Hawaiian did not respond to a request for comment. Hawaiian Punch also did not respond to a request to comment when asked whether it anticipated a similar suit. Hawaiian Punch, now owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, was invented in California.

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