by Mary E. Knippel

Inviting surfboard decor at Nano’s. Photos: Mary E. Knippel

Oct. 1, 2010 — A bit of Coastside history is alive once again at 523 Main St. in Half Moon Bay, where Nano’s Yogurt Shack serves up flavorful family treats for kids of all ages. “We opened this store as a fun place for families to go to,” said the shack’s co-owner Rebecca Seeley-Kavaliku, who opened the store with her husband, Nano Kavaliku. The store is named for the couple’s 3 1/2-year-old son, Nano. “We just decided that we’d been thinking about it for three years and now was the time to do it before the second baby comes,” she said. Continuing a family legacy, Nano’s occupies the same location where Seeley-Kavaliku’s parents, Mike and Rebecca, operated Mom and Pop’s Yogurt Shop almost 25 years ago.

A Bay Area native who has lived on the Coastside since the age of 11, Seeley-Kavaliku worked in the yogurt shop as a high school student and now enjoys seeing people she has grown up with coming into the store with their families after school and in the evenings. “We’re offering a lot of the things that my parents had,” she said, “but with our own style.” As customers step over the threshold, Nano’s Hawaiian influence greets them with surfboards poised ready to catch a wave, colorful child-size beach chairs and a palm tree and beach mural completing the scene.

Back yard patio.

In addition to health-conscious yogurt choices, the menu also features root beer floats and old-fashioned hot dogs. Plans are in the works to add Hawaiian Shave Ice and the same style open-faced San Francisco foccacia sandwiches her parents used to serve.

“I went to school for engineering,” said Seeley-Kavaliku, “but I didn’t like being at a desk all day. I’m happy I went to school because I use my engineering fixing things.” In fact, she turned her fix-it attitude into a living as the owner of Gourmet Appliance, which she also owns with her husband. They met when she trained him at another appliance service business. “Now, he’s in charge of the service department and I have babies,” she laughed.

“The yogurt shop is our stress reliever,” said Seeley-Kavaliku. “We also wanted to build something for the future, something good for us as locals, for the town — and the tourists. Everything has a kid-size option. No one is trying to make you buy anything you don’t need or want.”

College football brought Nano Kavaliku to the mainland from his home in Hawaii. Following a football injury, he moved from Kansas to the Bay Area seeking employment and a warmer climate. “I’m a Hawaiian boy,” Kavaliku said. “Kansas was too flat — and no ocean for surfing.”

A yummy treat!

“Going to Nano’s is something to do with your kids on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening,” said Michelle Silva, Gourmet Appliance associate and occasional helper at Nano’s. “Families come in and the kids are so excited to have their own pint-size chair. The patio out back is lovely with the garden, and even a little picnic table.”