For most Hawai'i residents the name Diamond Bakery brings back memories.

They remember eating the thick and crunchy soda crackers while sick in bed or munching on them while drinking hot cocoa with their grandma.

In a few months, Diamond Bakery hopes that folks on the Mainland will develop their own memories of its products as the locally owned company launches a marketing effort in several states.

Brent Kunimoto, Diamond Bakery president, said the company is developing its marketing plan but will likely focus on the West Coast as well as some "heartland" states when it begins sales next year.

Diamond Bakery is celebrating its 85th anniversary this month and is the only company that produces soda crackers, as well as other types of crackers and a line of cookies, in the state.

But taking a successful product to the Mainland is always a challenge for Hawai'i companies.

"We're going to go about it in a prudent way, meaning we're not going to just throw things out there and see what sticks," Kunimoto said. "If you spend enough money to cast a wide net and see where the fish are, if you can do that in a cost-efficient way, that's actually the better way to go because you learn quicker than trying to go sequentially. It's better to cast wide, see what happens and immediately focus on those areas that are showing potential."

He said Diamond Bakery has done some Mainland sales on a smaller scale, primarily in West Coast Asian stores where former Hawai'i residents tend to shop. But he said the company wants to reach out to people who have little or no ties with Hawai'i.

"We've been on the Mainland for a number of years, but not with the same kind of push that we're looking for now," he said. Kunimoto said Diamond Bakery is looking at getting into large grocery stores as well as specialty food stores.

Mainland sales account for about 10 percent of the company's annual revenue, and Kunimoto said he hopes to double that in the next five years. Diamond Bakery is a privately owned, family business, and Kunimoto declined to reveal sales figures.

He said Diamond Bakery plans to advertise in traditional media and at events such as food and trade shows. The company is also taking advantage of the popularity of the Internet. Last December it began to market its products on the Web.

"Technology can really help us accelerate the awareness and trial of our product," he said.

As the Mainland marketing effort moves forward, Kunimoto said he expects Diamond Bakery to make adjustments as needed. He said being able to adjust to changes in taste, technology and the economy is what made the company successful.

After more than 50 years at the same South King location in McCully, the company moved to Kalihi in 1974 and spent thousands of dollars on a state-of-the-art, 120-foot oven and other equipment.

Throughout the years, the owners and their descendants also looked to experts outside of their families to improve the company's products and profitability.

In 1927 when the founders were having problems perfecting their crackers, they brought in master baker Sam Dunphy to improve their recipes.

In the 1970s, the owners again went out of the family circle and hired executives to lead the company.

"They had the foresight to bring in people to help the company grow who had expertise in areas that perhaps the family members didn't have," Kunimoto said. "They were not waiting until, 'Oh, we're in trouble and let's do it.' But, 'We're at the top of our game so let's do it.' That was a very humble and very wise thing that they did."

Diamond Bakery, which began with Japanese immigrant owners Hidegoro Murai, Kikutaro Hiruya and Natsu Muramoto, now employs just under 100 people.

The company also added new products, such as low sodium, low fat crackers and cookies, for the health conscious. In the past few years Diamond Bakery retooled to produce animal crackers in the shape of Hawai'i sea creatures that are baked with Maui sugar and Hawaiian honey. Diamond Bakery will rely on these products when it begins its Mainland push.

Kunimoto, 48, is a Punahou School and UCLA graduate and has been the bakery's president for more than five years. He recalls as a kid walking past the original factory where the Zippy's restaurant headquarters now stand and enjoying the smell coming from the bakery.

Many longtime Diamond Bakery employees also have fond memories of eating the baked products long before they came to work for the company.

Mechanic Brad Lum, 55, has been with Diamond Bakery for 28 years, and he said he grew up on the soda and "creem" crackers.

"My grandmother would feed us soda crackers and tea when we were sick," he said. "We used to buy them in a tin can and eat it as a snack. Plain. If you had time, you would put butter on them."

As part of her job, production supervisor Pat Sarabia used to taste-test the products, and although she has spent hours sampling the goods, she said she's never tired of eating them. Sarabia, 60, has been with Diamond Bakery for 20 years.

Sarabia said her grandmother taught her to dunk a butter-covered soda cracker in hot chocolate, a method she has passed on to her grandchildren.

"This was our big snack thing, not like today's kids, they have all these extra goodies," she said. "Even my grandkids like to dunk it in. When you dunk it in, it kind of melts a little bit, and it tastes real good."

Kunimoto said he hopes someday he'll hear people on the Mainland sharing similar stories of their experiences with Diamond Bakery treats.

"Everybody has their own story. People have told us about their grandmothers, their grandfathers and sometimes they start getting emotional," Kunimoto said. "Our purpose is to share heart-warming aloha. We never said that 85 years ago, but it's what has happened and now we're trying to capture that in words and continue that in what we do."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.