This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on April 29, 2022.
According to FoodBud, citing DFI's 2021 annual report and earlier reporting from 21st Century Business Review and Jiemian, Hong Kong's Maxim's Group has evolved from a single high-end Western restaurant into a multi-brand foodservice operator spanning bakery, Chinese dining, quick service, airline catering, Starbucks, Shake Shack and other international brands.
Founded in 1956, Maxim's had operated through multiple cycles by 2022. In 2021, DFI reported Maxim's full-year sales of US$2.46 billion, about RMB16.2 billion, with a network covering mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. By the end of 2021, Maxim's had 1,801 stores.
DFI's annual report highlighted the long-term growth room for Shake Shack in mainland China. Under Maxim's earlier agreement with Shake Shack, the partners committed that the cumulative China store count would reach 79 by 2031.
Maxim's was founded in 1956 by brothers James Tak Wu and S.T. Wu as Maxim's Restaurant, a high-end Western restaurant in the basement of Lane Crawford House in Central, Hong Kong. Its differentiated operating model, food quality and service made it popular.
The competitive environment changed after 1962, when five-star hotels such as the Hilton and Mandarin opened and their upscale Western restaurants became major destinations. Rather than compete head-on, the Wu brothers shifted from high-end Western dining into Western-style coffee shops. In 1966, Maxim's opened its first coffee room, Maxim's Boulevard.
The group also identified demand for Western pastries and bread, opening a Western-style bakery in Tsim Sha Tsui and producing pastries, fruit tarts and cakes. During the 1966-1967 Hong Kong disturbances, Maxim's fast-food and bakery businesses were affected, but growth resumed as the economy recovered.
A major expansion opportunity came with Hong Kong's MTR. The first section of the Kwun Tong Line opened on October 1, 1979. In 1982, the MTR Corporation invited bids for in-station bakery space because eating and drinking were not allowed inside trains and concourses. Many operators were uninterested, but Maxim's took the sites as the sole bidder and quickly opened Maxim's Cakes outlets in stations including Mong Kok, Prince Edward, Wong Tai Sin, Choi Hung, Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong.
By the end of 1985, Maxim's had 33 bakery shops in MTR stations and 37 outside stations, for a total of 70 across Hong Kong, making it the largest bakery chain in Hong Kong by store count at the time.
In the mid-1980s, traditional Chinese festive foods such as rice dumplings, mooncakes and New Year cakes became increasingly popular in Hong Kong. Maxim's entered the mooncake market in the mid-1980s, hiring experienced Chinese pastry chefs, emphasizing ingredient quality and selling in limited quantities.
When Maxim's mooncakes launched in 1986, production was only 100,000 boxes. The product sold out quickly, supported by product quality and Maxim's distribution network.
In 1971, Maxim's opened its first Chinese restaurant, Jade Garden, on the fourth floor of Star House in Tsim Sha Tsui. The group introduced several operating changes to traditional Chinese restaurant practice:
At the time, restaurants were rarely located above the ground floor. Landlord Hongkong Land offered favorable lease terms because it wanted Maxim's to draw traffic to upper floors and lift the value of Star House. Jade Garden soon became a leading Tsim Sha Tsui restaurant.
After the 1974-1976 recession, Hong Kong's economy began to recover in 1977. As unemployment fell and consumption improved, dining-out demand also recovered.
The article links Maxim's airline-catering entry to the normalization of China-U.S. diplomatic relations. China and the United States announced on December 16, 1978 that they would establish normal diplomatic relations from January 1, 1979, exchange ambassadors from March 1, and set up embassies in each capital. After negotiations, the two sides agreed to launch direct flights in May 1980.
China's civil aviation authorities initially contacted Japanese and Swiss airlines about catering, but those plans did not proceed. On April 12, 1980, S.T. Wu obtained Foreign Investment Review Certificate No. 1 from the Foreign Investment Administration Commission of the People's Republic of China. Beijing Air Catering Co., Ltd. was formally established on May 1, 1980, and supplied meals for the China-U.S. route.
The company introduced international catering equipment, technology and management, producing airline meals that combined international standards with Chinese characteristics.
In the early 1990s, Hong Kong experienced a confidence crisis during Sino-British negotiations over its future. Some companies reduced investment or moved registration out of Hong Kong. Maxim's continued investing locally.
After Hong Kong's return on July 1, 1997, the Asian financial crisis spread from Thailand across Asia. Hong Kong's stock market fell, interest rates rose, companies closed, unemployment climbed and consumer spending weakened. Maxim's still pursued diversification, opening the healthy food concept Eating Plus in October 1998 at International Finance Centre Phase I in Central.
In 1999, it opened several new concepts, including Canteen, Mezz, Exp and Thai, while updating the older image of Maxim's Fast Food and Maxim's Cakes. In 2000, it introduced Starbucks, while also opening Funtasia at Citygate in Tung Chung, Jade Garden at Exchange Square in Central, and Lippo Chiu Chow Restaurant at Lippo Centre in Admiralty.
The group also introduced themed restaurants such as Hello Kitty Cafe and Ultraman. These had short life cycles and limited profit contribution, but reflected management's willingness to test youth-oriented concepts.
When third-generation successor Michael Wu first met Starbucks executives, the Seattle company had already studied Maxim's background and business. After negotiating cooperation terms and the operating model, the two sides signed an agreement at the end of 1999.
On May 2, 2000, Maxim's announced the opening of three Starbucks stores in Hong Kong: Exchange Square in Central, Hysan Avenue in Causeway Bay and Hutchison House in Central.
Maxim's adapted Starbucks to local consumption habits. Compared with U.S. Starbucks stores, Hong Kong stores were allowed to sell Western foods such as bread, fruit tarts, pastries and sandwiches; use larger stores with more seating; and adopt softer lighting and music. The first three stores recovered their investment costs and turned profitable within one month, according to the article. From 2000 to 2006, the store count rose from 3 to 60.
Starbucks initially entered Hong Kong in 2000 through a joint venture with Maxim's, and Maxim's later became an investment partner for Starbucks in several southern China cities. Over the following decade, Starbucks expanded quickly in China and gradually bought back equity in the joint ventures. As one condition of those transactions, Maxim's came to operate more than 100 Starbucks stores in Hong Kong and Macau.
Michael Wu was quoted as saying it was reasonable to sell shares back to Starbucks at the right price. The rapid success of Starbucks in China convinced him of the power of leading international foodservice brands in the mainland market.
From 2005 to 2006, Maxim's obtained franchise rights in Hong Kong and China for international brands including Japan's Genki Sushi and the U.S. brand Lawry's The Prime Rib. Wu observed that mainland Chinese consumers preferred imported restaurant brands to feel authentic, so he favored reproducing the original store experience as completely as possible.
Maxim's later brought in Lawry's The Prime Rib in 2006, mid-market European concept simplylife in 2007, The Cheesecake Factory in 2014 and Shake Shack in 2017. Its portfolio covered price points from burgers costing tens of yuan to Western banquets costing thousands of yuan.
The group's selection logic focused on brands liked by young consumers, brands with a sense of fashion, brands aligned with future consumption upgrading, and brands with sufficient market potential.
Not every experiment worked. Maxim's opened multiple Hello Kitty Cafe locations during the character's popularity wave in Hong Kong. The stores initially drew crowds but quickly turned loss-making and eventually all closed. For Wu, this showed that reaching young consumers was not as simple as following a trend.
As Wu put it, fixed assets were not the most important part of foodservice; brand and management were. He built a mechanism for regular face-to-face communication with project leaders, meaning that as Maxim's opened more new stores, he spent more time communicating with colleagues.
FoodBud's closing assessment was that Maxim's repeatedly captured opportunities, kept faith in the China market and continued investing even in downturns. Under third-generation leadership, it also expanded beyond mainland China into Southeast Asia.
Maxim's obtained Starbucks agency rights in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. It entered Vietnam as a Starbucks franchisee in 2013 and Cambodia in 2016. In 2017, it signed a Starbucks franchise agreement to develop Singapore. In 2019, Starbucks sold its Thailand retail business to Coffee Concepts Thailand, a joint venture between Singapore-listed Fraser and Neave and Maxim's Group; Starbucks realized US$600 million in pretax gains from the deal.
The article describes Maxim's playbook as introducing well-known brands into Hong Kong, building brand impact there, then entering mainland China through first-tier cities in South China, East China and North China before moving into lower-tier markets, while also expanding in Southeast Asia.
Note: IPO, equity, transaction and forward store-count figures are historical, based on the source article and cited 2021 materials.