• Diamond Bakery introduces crackers to New England • Marriott’s Spirit of Aloha road tour heads to Japan and U.S. Diamond Bakery introduces crackers to New England Hawai‘i’s Diamond Bakery is introducing its locally made Saloon Pilot crackers to residents
• Diamond Bakery introduces crackers to New England
• Marriott’s Spirit of Aloha road tour heads to Japan and U.S.
Diamond Bakery introduces crackers to New England
Hawai‘i’s Diamond Bakery is introducing its locally made Saloon Pilot crackers to residents in Maine this month.
In a new distribution agreement, Hannaford Stores has agreed to carry Diamond Bakery’s Saloon Pilot or hardtack crackers along with its original soda crackers. As of last Thursday, grocery shoppers in 75 Hannaford stores in Maine will find the Hawai‘i-made crackers on its shelves.
Diamond Bakery, established in Hawai‘i in1921, has kept the legacy of these crackers alive in the islands for the enjoyment of residents and visitors since it first opened its doors as a family-run business.
But it marks a historical turning point as well.
Saloon Pilot crackers have a long and venerable history in both Hawaii and Maine. These sea biscuits or hardtack, commonly called Saloon Pilot crackers, is unleavened bread, one of the oldest and most primitive of foods. Sea biscuits were a staple for long sea voyages due to the ease of storage and ability to survive rough handling on the high seas.
In the 15th century, sea biscuits were mass produced by European commercial bakeries for crews of merchant ships. The cracker probably fed Captain James Cook’s sailors in the 18th century when the first Europeans discovered the Hawaiian Islands. It is believed that Diamond Bakery’s founders got a recipe for these crackers from merchant seamen from Maine.
Nearly nine decades later, the crackers are making a return voyage to Maine, where New Englanders have missed the product since Nabisco discontinued its Crown Pilot cracker line several years ago.
It amounted to “a gustatory disaster” along the U.S. eastern seaboard, where a regional favorite is steaming soup or chowder over layers of crackers.
News of the cracker scarcity reached Diamond Bakery in Honolulu. To make a long story short, Maine’s Hannaford Stores have agreed to carry Saloon Pilot crackers, and the first shipment or four containers of Hawai‘i’s best-selling crackers is on its way to Maine.
Marriott’s Spirit of Aloha road tour heads to Japan and U.S.
Buoyed by the success of its Spirit of Aloha promotional bus tour that visited thirteen cities on the West Coast, Mid-West and East Coast earlier this year, Marriott Resorts Hawai‘i has announced plans for new promotional road trips in Japan and the Southwestern states in partnership with Japan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Marriott will team up with Japan Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Polynesian Cultural Center on the Japan tour that will launch in September with stops in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Niigata. The continuation of the U.S. tour will set off in January 2010 in Phoenix and end in Salt Lake City a month later with stops in Tucson, Albuquerque, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis, Omaha, and Denver. Hawaiian Airlines and the Polynesian Cultural Center will partner with Marriott for the tour.
Marriott’s first road show traveled 6,775 miles in a 45-foot executive motor coach with wrap-around Hawai‘i beauty images and included dancers and musicians from the Polynesian Cultural Center and participation by Hawaiian Airlines. Maui’s Camile Velasco, former American Idol finalist, entertained and promoted Hawai‘i and Marriott in television, radio and consumer appearances, while hotel general managers and sales executives met with travel agents and travel wholesalers. Web site and social marketing, including a daily blog also helped boost coverage of the trip.
