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Max’s is one of the oldest and most popular restaurant chains in the Philippines, and five siblings who immigrated here with their parents in 1996 are convinced it will be a hit with Winnipeg’s 80,000-plus Filipino community.

It’s slated to open in the fall of next year, and a spokesman for the family-owned Winnipeg company that has acquired the Philippines-based chain’s master franchise rights for Manitoba — Alibin Group Inc. — said it hopes to open up to two more Max’s outlets in the city in the next five years.

The 4,500-square-foot, full-service restaurant will be located in a commercial strip mall to be built at 1255 St. James St., which is south of the Costco store.

A local Filipino family is bringing a taste of their homeland to Winnipeg next year with the opening of the city’s first Max’s Restaurant.

Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/10/2017 (505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 10/10/2017 (505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local Filipino family is bringing a taste of their homeland to Winnipeg next year with the opening of the city’s first Max’s Restaurant.

The 4,500-square-foot, full-service restaurant will be located in a commercial strip mall to be built at 1255 St. James St., which is south of the Costco store.

It’s slated to open in the fall of next year, and a spokesman for the family-owned Winnipeg company that has acquired the Philippines-based chain’s master franchise rights for Manitoba — Alibin Group Inc. — said it hopes to open up to two more Max’s outlets in the city in the next five years.

Max’s is one of the oldest and most popular restaurant chains in the Philippines, and five siblings who immigrated here with their parents in 1996 are convinced it will be a hit with Winnipeg’s 80,000-plus Filipino community.

That’s why, five years ago, they formed Alibin Group Inc. and approached Max’s Group Inc. (MGI), which owns the Max’s Restaurant chain, about acquiring the franchise rights for Manitoba.

"In 2012, I reached out to Max’s Group Inc. in Asia and said, ‘Listen, I love Max’s. I remember it growing up," said Hipolito Alibin Jr., Alibin Group managing director and CEO. "‘How about I bring home that fond memory I have to Winnipeg?’"

Alibin said he pointed out the size of the Filipino population in Winnipeg — it’s the third largest in Canada and the largest on a per capita basis — and the fact it has been growing at a rate of between 4,000 and 5,000 per year in recent years.

"It was a no-brainer. There is a market for Max’s to come here," he said.

He said it took until 2016 to get the go-ahead from MGI because the company was in the process of introducing the restaurant chain in a number of other Canadian markets, including Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary.

"Our tie-up with the Alibin Group will anchor the success of this endeavour," MGI president and CEO Robert Trota said in announcing that Alibin Group had been awarded the Manitoba franchise rights.

"They are equipped with the necessary knowledge and business acumen to foster our shared vision."

The Winnipeg restaurant will be the anchor tenant in a new commercial strip mall, which will be part of a larger retail development that also includes the soon-to-be-closed Wholesale Sports store and a Tim Hortons coffee shop.

The development is the work of another family-owned company, Neptune Properties Inc.

Neptune president Calvin Polet said the strip mall will be about 10,500 square feet.

The other 6,000 square feet hasn’t been leased yet, he said, and it could end up being filled by anywhere from one to four tenants.

Polet said construction of the one-storey strip mall is expected to get underway shortly, and the shell for the building should be ready for development by April or May. It will likely be next fall before Max’s Restaurant is ready to open, he said.

Alibin, a chartered account who also owns a corporate development/corporate finance firm called Trivenity Corp., said he and his siblings hope the restaurant can open in September or October. They’re also hoping it receives the same kind of reception the Philippines’ largest restaurant chain — fast-food giant Jollibee — received last December when hundreds of people lined up in frigid temperatures for the opening of the its first Winnipeg outlet at 1406 Ellice Ave.

Alibin noted Max’s serves a different segment of the market than Jollibee. The Winnipeg outlet will be considerably bigger than any of the other Filipino eateries in Winnipeg, he said.

"There are a lot of great Filipino restaurants in the city, but they’re very small."

While Max’s specializes in Filipino food — rice dishes, egg rolls, noodles, fried chicken and pork bellies — Alibin thinks it will appeal to non-Filipinos.

Alibin said if Max’s is a hit here, the Alibin Group would like to bring other Max’s Group restaurant brands — it has 14 — to Winnipeg. However, it’s way too soon to say which ones or how far down the road that might be.

"The vision has always been to become the company that brings all of these great Asian franchises to Manitoba," he said.

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Polet said the types of tenants that could fill the remaining space in the new strip mall include retailers and service-oriented businesses such as an insurance office or a medical office.

He said Neptune, which owns and manages 29 commercial properties in four provinces and Minnesota, has started marketing the Wholesale Sports building, even though the store isn’t expected to close until Dec. 28.

He said the size of the store — about 33,000 square feet — is unusual for the Winnipeg market.

"There have been a number of 20,000-square-foot spaces, but for a retailer that could use 35,000 square feet, I don’t know that there are a lot of options," he said. "We’re not overly concerned about the prospect of re-leasing it."

Know of any newsworthy or interesting trends or developments in the local office, retail, industrial or multi-family residential sectors? Let real estate reporter Murray McNeill know at the email address below, or at 204-697-7254.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca