Sandra Lee made her late husband's dream come true, fulfilled her own business ambition and raised three college graduates through sheer perseverance and self-sacrifice.

As she approaches her 58th birthday next week, the president of Island Manapua Factory is looking forward to the end of 18-hour workdays, seven days a week, having accomplished all but one of her goals: finding a successor among her three children.

The anointed one was the oldest son and second eldest of her three children. But Steven Lee, 31, has chosen another path and opened his own business, Peak Performance Athletics.

"I grew up in (the manapua business) and I considered (taking over) for a long time," Steven Lee said. "But I wanted something else and recently told her, 'Mom, I have to do my own thing.' "

Accepting her son's decision, Sandra Lee decided to sell the business she and her husband started from scratch in 1980.

NO MAJOR CHANGES

Lee announced the sale of Island Manapua's production factory/retail outlet and fee-simple property at 811 Gulick Ave. in Kalihi, as well as its retail outlet at Manoa Marketplace, to Dragon Pacific Investment, owners of Regal Diner at McCully Shopping Center. Terms of the agreement, reached June 22, were not disclosed.

Lee's last day as owner of Island Manapua is Saturday but she will remain on site for about two weeks to help with the transition. The new owners will keep the name Island Manapua and don't expect to make major changes, Lee said.

"The price was not important," Lee said. "What inspired me was it was a family business and I felt it important to sell to a close-knit family that could do the job themselves."

What Dragon Pacific bought is a profitable business which makes its own products and sells an average of 2,200 manapua daily at its two sites, and 25 employees who have been with the company for more than 10 years, including one who started out with the Lees.

The Manoa outlet's sales average 1,200 manapua daily and regularly goes up to 1,500 on Saturdays and holidays.

GETTING STARTED

Until 1998, the company was a wholesaler, filling orders statewide. Today, the company makes about 5,000 manapua daily for its own retail needs.

Despite the hardships, the years have been kind to Lee. She and her husband, David, met at his mother Sam Moi Lee's Chinatown restaurant, Ting Yin Chop Suey, and set out on their own in 1980 to start a business.

"David was interested in wholesale but couldn't do it in Chinatown," Sandra Lee recalled.

They found a factory location on Gulick Avenue but discovered they needed a license from the Department of Agriculture to produce products containing meat and their plant would be inspected daily.

"I think we were the first certified manapua wholesaler in Honolulu," Sandra Lee recalled.

The Lees went ahead and founded Island Manapua.

"My concept was retail and in 1983, we opened the Manoa store," she said. "It's my pride and joy. My little office was the perfect size for a crib."

David Lee died suddenly in 1984, leaving his wife at a crossroads.

"When my husband passed away, I had to choose whether to sell or continue," Sandra Lee said. "I felt it was his dream and by selling, I might not recover what we had put in. It was still a fledgling business, but I decided to continue to fulfill his dream."

'NO REGRETS'

Sandra Lee can recall taking only one real vacation since 1980. That was when her daughter Deana graduated from Punahou in 1992 and headed off to college at Yale.

The days of building the business were long and hard. Island Manapua made all its products by hand until 1990, when it became automated. Until then, everyone had to pitch in, including the children.

"I think I made my first manapua when I was 7 years old," Steven Lee recalled.

Steven Lee and his mother both recall with pride filling the largest single order ever for the company — 10,000 manapua for the Maui Jaycees.

"I'd say I'm lucky that I made it," said Sandra Lee, noting the contribution of her younger brother Kenneth Kwock, who ran the production end of the business after her husband's death. "I have no regrets. It was the right decision (to continue). If I had to do it again today, I would go the same route."

Her 33-year-old daughter is an attorney; Steven a business owner and volunteer athletic trainer at Kalani High School; and youngest child Ryan, 24, recently graduated from the University of Hawai'i and plans to become an actuary.

To thank her customers, Lee is offering 15 percent discounts on all purchases from today through Saturday. That's 15 percent off, even for a single manapua, she said.

And, aside from a planned trip to Las Vegas in mid-July, Sandra Lee is in no rush to do anything.

"I'm going to be a lady of leisure, do nothing," she said with a laugh.

Steven Lee says his mom, a two-finger typist, now has the time to expand her recent interest in modern technology

"She doesn't use a computer but I think she wants to learn," he said.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.