Pacific Business News
Christy L. Cain
July 27, 2001

Manufacturer picks up scent for success

Two little pills a day keeps the smell away, according to the founders
of Hawaiian Organics, a local company that is trying to make a buck
out of fighting odor with their year-old product called BodyMint.

What started out as a joke has led business partners Eddie Onouye,
Rona Yim and Claire Tanouye to such success that their product is
offered in almost every grocery store in Hawaii.

The group focused on finding a natural product that would control odors
from the mouth to the feet and came up with BodyMint. This past week
BodyMint become available at two high-end retailers on the mainland.

The active ingredient in the all-natural tablet is chlorophyllin, a natural
derivative of green plants. The dietary supplement's cost ranges from
$14 to $20 a bottle for a one-month's supply of 60 pills.

After three years of working with several biochemists and testing the
product on their family members and friends, the trio contacted
Advantage Webco Dodge Hawaii, one of the largest grocery
store distributors in the state, to distribute their product.

Percy Higashi, assistant vice president at Advantage Webco, says,
“I told them if they could sell 15 or 20 bottles at the Great Aloha Run
last year than I'll take their product to the president and represent
the line for them.”

In three days at the fair, 112 bottles were sold, and BodyMint was
picked up by the distributor.

The product is selling so well that Higashi says it’s becoming a necessity
for consumers. Yim says the product is changing peoples’ lives.

“We have met people who have suffered psychologically and socially
from their body odor,” Yim says. “One consumer said she wouldn't go
to events because of her odor and then she took our product and is
now confident and goes out to social events.”

Yim and Tanouye both graduated from law school at the University of Hawaii
at Manoa about 15 years ago and began to stir up business ideas together.

"I was joking around one day saying it would be nice to have one thing
you could take that would cure it all," Yim says, "I went to Claire and said,
`I have this idea, I can't guarantee we'll make money but we ought to do
something we want to do.’ And then we approached Eddie for his business
knowledge.”

Onouye also owns the Hawaiian Ice Co. and felt that BodyMint
was a great business opportunity because he had never heard of
this type of product.

“We have sold more than 7,000 bottles per month this year,”
Onouye says.

While the product is offered in grocery stores and drug stores in Hawaii,
it will be sold at two high-end retailers: Fred Segal in Los Angeles and
Henri Bendel in New York.

Onouye believes this is the best strategy to get the product started
outside of Hawaii.

“It is easy to advertise the product in Hawaii,” Onouye says. “You know
who is hearing your radio ads and seeing your television ads, but on the
mainland it is difficult. I wouldn’t even know where to start advertising for
places in New York or L.A.”