Allan Nation, the baker, was selected by Jonny the minute he left school - and he reckons he served one of the longest apprenticeships in history - lasting about 30 years until his father died.
"I was his apprentice right up until he died about 10 years ago. He never really saw me as a baker in my own right because he was always the boss."
Second son Steve was snaffled by dad the minute he finished school to manage the shop or to be "front of house".
Steve said it never ceased to amaze him how people from all over the world who had holidayed and skied in the area held vivid memories of the huge cream-filled eclairs.
Attending the Munich Beer Festival in Germany, the brothers were asked where they were from.
"We said a small place in New Zealand you won't have heard of called Ohakune. The guy said 'oh yes, the place where you can get the best chocolate eclairs ever'."
Business is always brisk in their little shop, with customers spilling along the counter all the day from 6.30am to 6.30pm seven days a week.
The brothers said even though their father ran the business 12 months of the year they decided that opening and working hard and long over six months during the ski season was a better idea.
They close shop late November and reopen Queen's Birthday weekend (June) the next year.
And Allan says they've never looked back.
"And even with six months off, there's a million things that need attention during our off months."
Allan starts work at 2am every day with a local woman helping him, Steve arrives at 6am to open up while Allan heads home mid-morning (across the driveway) for a catch-up nap before returning in the afternoon to prep for the next day.
The vast once coal-fired ovens (now electric) line one wall and, although this kitchen is far from designer with no gleaming stainless or colourful chic dishes, it is spotless and imbued with the ambience of comfortable home cooking with the steel-vaulted ovens keeping the place warm for hours after they have been switched off.
Allan said the ovens were a historical feature now and were originally installed in 1939.
During World War II, the ovens were used to cook all the bread and goods needed at the Waiouru Army Camp.
"They are the best ovens - I won't be changing them."
But there is no apprentice for this baker - just a couple of local assistants.
"Because you have to sign up an apprentice to work for 12 months, I can't because we're only open six months."
Last Sunday, they scored a record in sales with 1000 chocolate eclairs being sold.
"But we sell between 400 and 800 eclairs a day anyway," Steve said.
As well as the celebrated eclairs, there is also a huge market for their doughnuts, raspberry cream buns, melt-in-the-mouth jelly cream cakes and home-made pies.
The filling for the pies is delectably home-made with real meat,veg and lip-smacking gravy.
Steve believes their success is also due to keeping prices at a realistic level and always ensuring the top home-made quality of their food.
"That's what people really like and that's what they remember ."
A customer, Aucklander Olivia Bonifant said it was too easy to become addicted to the delicious baking.
"Three friends and me bought a huge box full of chocolate eclairs for our drive home to Auckland ... we were all sick when we got home - it was way too much, but soooo delicious."
Local people mourn the shop's closing in November and they waste no time along with tourists, travellers and skiers in getting in there again at Queen's Birthday weekend and tucking into the shop's specialities such as doughnuts the size of tennis balls oozing with cream.
These are the grand goodies that have sealed the fame of the Nation brothers and their dad, Jonny, who fired up the ovens and rolled out the dough more than five decades ago.
The brothers even tried to sell the old Skiers Inn. It was put on the market as a going concern when their father died but attracted no interest.
That's when they made the decision more than seven years ago last year, to run it for six months during the Mt Ruapehu ski season.
They still use Jonny's recipes and the results speak for themselves because they are something no one can really replicate.
