Seiju Ifuku, the founder of Rainbow Drive-In, learned to cook while in the Army serving with the famous 100th Battalion during WW II. He participated in campaigns in Italy and France. After the war, he worked at the famous Kapiolani Drive-In, now the site of Wailana Coffee Shop and Condominiums, then, together with Ayako, opened a smaller version of this as Kalakaua Drive-In, currently the site of Cheeseburgers in Waikiki, at the corner of Ala Moana Blvd and Kalakaua Ave. In 1961, in the midst of major economic changes in Hawaii, they took a chance and opened Rainbow Drive-In in Kapahulu, a small, local community at the entrance to Waikiki. They opened serving 50 cent chili with rice and $1.00 barbeque steak plate lunches alongside 25 cent hamburgers and 14 cent French fries – all food that was geared to the working person and the Waikiki beach crowd.