With 21 locations in North America, 180 in the Philippines, and 4 in the Middle East, Max’s Restaurant knows who their guests are and what they want. In fact, that’s been the key to their success since day one.
In 1945, American troops occupying Quezon City in the Philippines became friends with Maximo Gimenez, whose home served as a reliable place to enjoy a drink and some camaraderie. Inspired by this ritual, Maximo opened a proper café, and soon Ruby, his niece and a café employee, created a new chicken recipe that attracted not only the troops but also the public. Soon, Max’s became “The House That Fried Chicken Built.”
Today, Max’s maintains a strong connection to guests thanks to powerful technology and effective marketing.
Care Pantojan, Marketing Manager for Max’s North America, knows that Filipino fried chicken attracts guests who want a different cuisine than the standard fast-food fare. Whether those guests are searching specifically for Filipino fried chicken or something outside of the usual burger chains, he wants Max’s to show up in search results. Improving SEO was top of mind when Care chose to partner with Popmenu for select locations in the United States and Canada—and that partnership has paid off.
In 2024, Max’s earned more than $2,000,000 in commission-free online orders with Popmenu thanks in part to the increased visibility Popmenu’s website provides them in search engines. First, a Popmenu interactive menu means each dish has its own unique page, which is more content for Google to index. Plus, guests can leave reviews for each dish, which both helps other guests choose a meal and tells Google that this page has fresh, relevant content. Those features are built into the platform and put Max’s on a path to higher organic rankings.
Those on-site reviews are also valuable because they affect the customer journey. When a guest looks at the menu to browse dishes, they are also seeing how much other guests liked it. It helps shift their thinking from “Is this restaurant good?” to “Will I like this specific dish?” and move them toward placing an order.
Care also ensures he’s attracting guests by using the right keywords throughout his website—from dish descriptions to the About Us page. After consulting his keyword analytics tool to identify the keywords bringing guests to his site, he logs into Popmenu and adjusts language in a matter of seconds thanks to a simple user interface that doesn’t require any coding skills. Plus, the updates happen in real time.
Enhanced SEO was a crucial first step to get guests in the door, but Max’s wanted to keep them coming back. No matter how great the cuisine is, restaurants are competing to capture consumer spend—and not just with other restaurants. That’s why building a personal connection is so important to Care, and having access to comprehensive, real-time data about nearly 75,000 guest contacts makes that possible..
Max’s has proven that the right combination of marketing and guest data gets results without adding more work to their plate: Max’s email open rate (60.5%) and click-through rate (8.3%) are significantly higher than the industry average, and their automated campaigns have driven more than $330,000 in revenue. All without anyone at Max's having to lift a finger.
For example, Max's sends an automated message to guests after they place an online order and explains they will be entered into a drawing for $500 if they leave a dish reveiw. That email has generated more than $31,000 in sales. Also, when a customer hasn’t placed an order in a while, Max’s sends an automated email to come back and place an order—which have earned more than $74,300 in sales.
These messages perform well because Max’s is reaching out to guests with relevant messaging at the right time, which means they're more likely to open them and take action. As a result, Max’s not only earns more revenue but also strengthens a personal connection with their customer base, improves SEO for their website, and rewards guests.
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