By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

Wearing dress shorts and a T-shirt, the man sharpening scissors looks like any other worker at the Waipahu manufacturing plant of ABC Seating Inc. Tong Nae Chong, a Korean immigrant who came to Hawai'i penniless in November 1974 and built a multimillion-dollar business, still doesn't mind getting his hands dirty.

Chong, 68, realized his American dream despite a language barrier. He understands enough English today to get by but prefers speaking Korean. As his son, Samuel Chong, notes, "Father can order the basic menu at Zippy's, but it becomes a problem if they ask him if he wants chives on his potato."

The senior Chong is president of ABC Seating Inc., the umbrella company for two businesses in 'Aiea — ABC Furniture on Iwaena Street and the new ABC Mattress Center on Kauhale Street — and also Ohana Industries in Waipahu. The company, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary on Oct. 27, ranks among the top four furniture businesses in Hawai'i with C S Wo, Inspiration and Scan/Design.

With 40 employees locally, ABC Seating's operations include retail, wholesale and manufacturing of bedding and furniture products.

Tong Nae Chong and his wife, Chong Nam Chong, of ABC Seating Inc. are proud of the 25-year-old Jacuzzi Brothers compressor that Mr. Chong purchased when he started his furniture business. The machine still works perfectly. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

"The difference between Korea and America," he said through Samuel Chong, "is the economy in Korea is unstable. The person who can grab the most becomes the winner. In America, the economy is settled. There's no overnight success. You have to go step by step. The only way to succeed is hard work."

When Tong Nae Chong, his wife and five children came to Hawai'i, they had no money and none could speak English. Chong's sister, Maureen McDurmin, and younger brother, Kwi Nam Chong, provided the family with housing for three months until they moved into a Kalihi Valley Homes unit, where they lived for three years.

Finding a job, however, was nearly impossible for a man who could not speak English.

"A Filipino guy named JJ had a maintenance business and he gave father a job," Samuel Chong said. "This man trusted him and gave him full authority to run his cleaning business. Father would take all of us and we would help him clean up every night for one and a half hours. Eventually, father got a job in maintenance at Sears."

Those early days in Hawai'i were depressing and frustrating for Chong, said his friend Eugene Moon.

"He wasn't earning enough to feed his family and he told me he would sit on a street bench at night and shed tears because he didn't want his young children to see him crying," Moon said.

While working at Sears, Chong observed a photo plaque recognizing an employee for 20-plus years of service. "Father told us that at that moment, he said to himself 'I'm not going to be that person, I'm going to find a better opportunity,'" Samuel Chong said.

Tong Nae Chong's big break came a short time later. Cha Mu Woung, a Korean immigrant, came to Hawai'i from Virginia and moved into a nearby Kalihi Valley Homes unit in 1976. Woung started an upholstery business and gave Chong a job. "He learned to do upholstery, cutting and stripping and figured out he could do this himself," Samuel Chong said.

Despite working minimum-wage jobs — about $2.50 per hour — Tong Nae Chong managed to save $3,000.

In 1977, he used that money to open his business on Mo'owa'a Street in Kalihi. Kwi Nam Chong, former owner of ABC Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, gave his brother space at his shop site, which is why Tong Nae Chong named his business ABC Upholstery.

"I was playing soccer in Korea and my father calls to tell me I got to come home because he opened a business," said Daniel Chong, a Kaimuki High grad and the eldest of Tong Nae Chong's children. "I was gone less than a week and he opened a business."

The first job order was memorable, Daniel Chong said.

"I had to go to Mililani to pick up a couch," he recalled. "We didn't have a van so I had to put the couch on the roof of our sedan. I tell you, if I didn't come back with that couch or if had fallen off, I would have died."

After purchasing a second-hand compressor for $700, Tong Nae Chong did not have enough cash to buy fabric to do the job. "Father went to Western Pacific and got the fabric on a promise to pay $200 for it," Samuel Chong said. "He got $500 for doing the (couch) job, paid the $200 he owed for the fabric and made $300. From that first job, he had money for fabric and gas."

Today, Tong Nae Chong's three sons — Daniel, 43; Ron, 41; and Samuel, 39 — and their spouses as well as one of his twin daughters, 36-year-old Michele Gandy, are employed by ABC Seating Inc. Denise Mitchell, the other twin, is married to a military man and living in New Jersey.

Chong Nam Chong, who did the cutting and sewing when her husband first opened his business, remains a hands-on worker at the company's Waipahu plant.

It says a lot about the company's founder that the second-hand compressor he started the business with still works and is occasionally used.

Looking back on the hard times, Tong Nae Chong is grateful for the public housing and food stamps he received. "I pay my taxes because of what the government did for me," he said. "I give back now so the government can help somebody else."

Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.