B. Hayman Offers Industrial Mowers and Strong Customer Service

2025 SmallBiz Editor’s Choice Award winner: President Al Kakazu says his main job is to make the customers’ job easier.

If you have a lot of grass, B. Hayman can provide the tools to keep it looking great.

The 149-year-old company sells and services mowers of all sizes and all the other equipment needed to maintain turf, plus golf carts, utility vehicles and industrial equipment.

B. Hayman’s customers include golf course owners, landscapers, the government – think parks and school athletic fields – hotel owners, farmers, condo associations, cemetery owners, and other people and organizations with large lawns.

“We’ve always had a strong focus on customer service,” says President Al Kakazu. “We strive to treat our customers with utmost respect by understanding their unique needs. Our job is to make their job easier.”

The aio family of companies acquired B. Hayman in 2004 when aio owner Duane Kurisu was operating Hawaii Winter Baseball. You may fondly remember the league as a place for up-and-coming players from the mainland, Japan and South Korea to hone their skills, including future Hall of Famers Ichiro Suzuki and Todd Helton. (Like B. Hayman, Hawaii Business Magazine is part of aio.)

The company’s history goes back much further. Benjamin Hayman founded his wagon and buggy company in Los Angeles in 1876. In 1969, the company came to the Islands and settled in Waipahu; its headquarters is still there. By the time it arrived, the company had stopped selling wagons and buggies and had entered the turf equipment business.

Along with its Waipahu location, the company has an office in Kona.

Despite being as old as it is, Kakazu says the company stays on the leading edge of its field. “Even in our business, we see how artificial intelligence and technology are changing our industry, with smart mowers that can detect where to mow or where to spray. We are in the infancy stage of a growing autonomous operation and alternative energy movement,” he says.

“Manufacturers continue to expand their product lines with this revolutionary equipment, and we want to embrace this change and stay ahead of the game.”

Part of the company’s secret sauce is taking care of employees, who often stay long term, Kakazu says.

“We need good people to be able to provide good service, and our whole goal is to provide excellent customer service to our customers, and that starts with the employees.”