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| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | Quezon City, Philippines (1945) |
| Number of locations | 133 |
| Area served | Philippines and U.S.A. |
| Key people | Maximo Gimenez (founder) |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Products | Fried chicken Philippine cuisine |
Max's of Manila, popularly known as Max's Restaurant is a Philippine-based restaurant serving fried chicken and Filipino dishes.
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History
In 1945, after World War II, American occupation troops stationed in Quezon City, Philippines were befriended by Maximo Gimenez, a Stanford University-educated teacher. A few came to his nearby house for a drink or two, until they insisted that they pay for their drinks.
Maximo decided to open a cafe which served chicken, steak and drinks. He was joined by Mercedes his wife, and Felipa, his sister-in-law. His niece Ruby managed the kitchen, joined by her husband Claro. Ruby's fried chicken proved popular with G.I.s. and soon they were joined by locals patronizing the establishment.
Encouraged by her mother to expand the menu and serve more Filipino food, Ruby set up the Baclaran branch along Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque. It was decided that the restaurant would be named "Max's" which was Maximo's nickname.
Max's Restaurant has continued to grow and expand ever since and has come to bill itself as "the house that fried chicken built".[1]
Locations
Max's Restaurant currently has 125 branches in the Philippines. The chain also has 8 branches in the US: 5 in California (Glendale, Sacramento, South San Francisco, Vallejo, and Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry), 2 in Hawaii (Waipahu and soon to open in Iwilei, Honolulu) and 1 in Jersey City, NJ (soon to open).
Advertisements and in popular culture
In earlier television and cinema advertisements, the restaurant usually portrayed itself as a place for Filipino family get-togethers. It also established its slogan "Sarap to the bones!" ("Delicious to the bones!")
More recently, a popular series of television advertisements told the story of a Max's employee who had been the childhood love of a popular TV celebrity, played by Piolo Pascual. The series showed scenes of the two characters as children, as adults accidentally meeting at Max's, and then finally the denouement of the story where the celebrity recognizes the employee from their childhood. This commercial became so popular that it launched the showbiz career of Isabel Oli, the model who played the employee. [2]
Aside from its advertising, the story of how Max's Restaurant started has entered into popular culture. It was portrayed in the episode "Sino si Max?" of the long time running Filipino drama series Maalaala Mo Kaya.
Products
Its specialty is its Max Fried Chicken, cooked in its distinctly simple way, it differentiates itself from the starch laden fast food alternatives. Aside from the fried chicken, the restaurant also offers standard Filipino dishes such as kare-kare, sinigang, crispy pata, dinuguan, and lechon kawali.
Pollution Concerns
On August 17, 2007, Max's Restaurant, Jollibee, McDonald's, KFC, Chowking and KSK Food Products, manufacturer of the popular corn snack Boy Bawang joined the roster of the top 26 Laguna de Bay polluters, according to the Laguna Lake Development Authority. The establishments were "honored" with the "Pasaway sa Lawa" (prodigals of the lake) Award.[3]
External links
References
- ^ About Max's Restaurant
- ^ Biography for Isabel Oli, http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2062782/bio, retrieved 2008-01-23
- ^ "Top fast food chains among worst Laguna de Bay polluters". Breaking News (Inquirer.net). 2007-08-17. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view_article.php?article_id=83203. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
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