Max Hamburgers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB | |
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| Type of Company | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1968 in Gällivare, Sweden |
| Headquarters | Luleå, Sweden |
| Key people | Richard Bergfors, Chairman/CEO; Curt Bergfors, Founder |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Products | Burgers and other fast food |
| Revenue |  40 billion SEK (2004) |
| Employees | 1500 (2005) |
| Slogan | Hamburgare på Svenska ("Hamburgers in Swedish") |
| Website | www.max.se |
Max Hamburgerrestauranger AB (Max Hamburger Restaurants Incorporated) is a fast food corporation which was founded by Curt Bergfors in Gällivare, Sweden in 1968. Bergfors' oldest son Richard Bergfors is the current president since 2002.
Max was until the 1980s the largest hamburger restaurant chain in northern Sweden, with only a single restaurant outside of Norrland (on Drottninggatan, Stockholm), but this changed during the 1990s and 2000s when Max Hamburgers expanded to become a nationwide fast-food chain. By 2005, Max had around 40 restaurants and one "express" restaurant. In Luleå, where the company's main office is located, the fourth Max in the city, Max Express was opened in 2005. This was a new type of Max restaurant.
From 2005 to 2010, Max is planning a wide expansion in the west of Sweden. In November 8, 2005, Max performed a PR-coup by handing out free hamburgers outside of McDonald's largest restaurant in Gothenburg. Max was also the first hamburger restaurant ever to outcompete a McDonald's restaurant, forcing it to close down.
Max's image relies heavily on Swedishness, but at the same token very carefully avoids being overtly nationalistic. Only Swedish pop hits (frequently by Kent) with Swedish lyrics are played and the advertizing features children, but also adults of color, dressed in the Swedish traditional costume.
For four years consecutively, Max have had the most satisfied customers among the nationwide fast food chains in Sweden, beating McDonalds and Burger King by far, in polls conducted by commercial agency ISI Wissing AB. This is possibly due to the fact that Max hamburgers are never cooked before they are ordered, even if it means that an order generally takes somewhat longer to be completed than what is typical for fast food restaurants.
Max does not only offer regular hamburgers but also healthy alternatives like its Delifresh menus, which ranges from 4% to 12.5% fat, served like regular hamburgers in bread and with the usual accessories. The Delifresh menus were introduced before McDonald's "healthier" alternative menus. Max is the only fast food chain in Sweden to offer bean salad as an add-on. It also sells its own brand of salad sauce, which is quite popular.
Max also offers free of charge WiFi-access in most of their restaurants.
