Tess Laus of San Fernando, Pampanga felt a sense of responsibility to help her province recover after it was devastated by the cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo more than 20 years ago, leaving thousands homeless and hundreds of businesses destroyed.
The opportunity to do so came when her husband Levy met with the father of Robert Trota, president and chief executive of Max’s Group Inc. to discuss the company’s plans to expand through franchising.
It was an easy decision for the couple as they saw that there was much potential in working with MGI, especially in helping them achieve their goals of rehabilitating Pampanga.
“When Robert’s father said that they were opening Max’s to franchising, we jumped on the opportunity. The first location we had in mind was the old Villa del Sol branch in San Fernando, and it took us about two months to rehabilitate the store since it was destroyed by lahar,” Laus says.
“We really wanted the Kapampangans to get excited again with the opening of Max’s Restaurant, as we want them to have a place where they can all feel at home and enjoy delicious, real food with loved ones,” she says.
Laus and her husband truly appreciated how Max’s and MGI have always placed tremendous importance on quality assurance for both food and service, and the commitment they have in ensuring that franchisees did the same.
As their store reached greater success, the Lauses opened three more Max’s Restaurant branches: one in Cabanatuan, another in Clark, and one more branch in San Fernando, this time in SM City Pampanga.
When MGI expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of the Pancake House Group, the Lauses did not hesitate to get on board, opening two Pancake House branches, one Yellow Cab, and one Dencio’s all within the span of eight months, from October 2017 to June 2018.
This year, MGI is focusing on a franchising-led business model to drive expansion and improve accessibility. By franchising its core brands with partners such as the Lauses, the move will leverage on Max’s Group’s brand equity, operational expertise, and scale to propel store network expansion and bring its loved brands closer to more customers.
MGI is the Philippines’ largest operator in the casual dining segment. It has a network of over 600 stores in the country and more than 50 international stores in the US, Canada, China, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Its family of restaurants include Max’s Restaurant, Max’s Corner Bakery, Pancake House, Yellow Cab Pizza, Krispy Kreme, Jamba Juice Teriyaki Boy, Dencio’s, Kabisera, Sizzlin’ Steak, Le Coeur de France, Maple and Singkit.
