Max's Restaurant Philippines

Max's of Manila, popularly known as Max's Restaurant, is a Philippine-based restaurant serving fried chicken and Filipino dishes.

History

In 1945, after World War II, American troops stationed in Quezon City became friends with Maximo Gimenez, a teacher who had graduated from Stanford University. Some soldiers came to his nearby house for a drink or two, until they insisted that they pay for their drinks.

Gimenez decided to open a café which served chicken, steak, and drinks. He was joined by his wife Mercedes, sister-in-law Felipa Serrano Sanvictores, his niece Ruby who managed the kitchen, and her husband Claro. Ruby's fried chicken proved popular with G.I.s. and locals also began patronising 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. They decided to name the restaurant "Max's" after Maximo.

Max's Restaurant bills itself as "The house that fried chicken built". In 1998 it started franchising.

LOCATION:

Max's Restaurant currently has over 127 branches in the Philippines. The chain also has branches in the U.S. states of California, Hawaii, and New Jersey, and its first Canadian branch in Toronto, Ontario. A store opened in Vancouver, British Columbia in March 2012. More branches will open soon in Sydney, Australia, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Queens, New York.In popular culture.

In earlier television and cine

ma advertisements, the restaurant usually marketed itself as a place for Filipino families to get together. It also established its slogan "Saráp to the bones!" ("Delicious to the bones!").

More recently, a popular series of television advertisements told the story of a Max's employee who was the childhood love of a popular TV celebrity, played by Piolo Pascual. The series showed the two characters as children, then as adults accidentally meeting at Max's. The denouement of the story is when 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.

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?" ("Who is Max?") of the long-running Filipino drama anthology Maalaala Mo Kaya.

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