Magic Pan
The Magic Pan was an American chain of full-service restaurants specializing in crêpes, popular in the late 1970s through early 1990s.
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[edit] History
The Magic Pan restaurant company was started at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, California, by Hungarian immigrants Lazlo and Paulette Fono.[1] Lazlo Fono is generally recognized as the man who invented the crepe making machine used in the chain's restaurants, starting in the mid-1960s.
The Quaker Oats Company acquired Magic Pan from the Fonos in 1970, and it became the company's primary restaurant chain.[2] Quaker Oats sold the company[3] to an Oakland, California-based company, Bay Bottlers, in 1982,[4] at which time there were 110 Magic Pan locations throughout the United States and Canada.[5] Bay Bottlers, a Royal Crown/Canada Dry affiliate RC Cola, brought in Kim Andereck as the company's Senior Vice President in 1985. Andereck engineered and implemented an operational strategy that made the Magic Pan profitable over the next three years by tightening management controls, closing underperforming locations, introducing popular entrees and converting some outlets to other food styles, i.e. "Frogg Lane" and "Magic Chicken."[4] However, the crepe fad was in decline by the late 1980s, and by 1995, the last remaining Magic Pan restaurant in McLean, Virginia, was phased out of business.
The concept was re-introduced by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises as a fast-food crepe stand in Northbrook, Illinois, in 2005. This resurrected version of Magic Pan does not have the crepe-making machine, instead using recreations of the original recipes.[6] The revived chain opened a second location in the food court of the Mall of America near Minneapolis, Minnesota.[7]
[edit] Menu
Among the menu items were crêpes filled with spinach souffle, chicken divan, crepe suzette, strawberries and sour cream, chantilly, and "cherry royale".[6]
[edit] Production
The restaurant designed an automated system to make crepes at a crepe station, consisting of a motorized conveyor that would heat metal pans. An attendant would dip the bottom of the pans in the crepe batter, to ensure an even coating.
[edit] Popular culture
- In the King of the Hill, episode titled "Ho Yeah!" (Season 5, episode 13), Peggy befriends the new Strickland Propane receptionist Tammi (guest voiced by Renee Zellweger), a former prostitute from "The OKC" (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), and they dine at a Magic Pan restaurant. Peggy orders Crêpe Suzette.
- In "The English Patient" (Season 8, episode 17) and other Seinfeld episodes, recurring character, Izzy Mandelbaum, operates a chain of crêpe restaurants, the Magic Pan.
[edit] References
- ^ Sylvia Lovegren (2005). Fashionable Food: Seven decades of food fads. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226494074. http://books.google.com/books?id=fZIRc28P5xYC&pg=PT323&lpg=PT323&dq=Leslie+and+Paulette+Fono&source=bl&ots=P4jXgb1KvZ&sig=afhw0u_PkRcQ2uSbInINGgxztx4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPT323,M1.
- ^ "The Quaker Oats Company". Funding Universe. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/The-Quaker-Oats-Company-Company-History.html.
- ^ Stephanie Chavez (1982-06-23). "Quaker to sell its Magic Pans". Los Angeles Times. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/683262662.html?dids=683262662:683262662&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&date=Jun+23%2C+1982&author=STEPHANIE+CHAVEZ&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Crepes+Go+Flat%3B+Quaker+to+Sell+Its+Magic+Pans&pqatl=google.
- ^ a b Richard Martin (1984-03-26). "Friedrich replaces Ryan as president of Magic Pan". Nation's Restaurant News. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_/ai_3194305.
- ^ "Quaker May Sell Its Restaurants". New York Times. 1981-11-12. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFD61E39F931A25752C1A967948260.
- ^ a b Steve Brady (2008-01-21). "The “magic” of the Magic Pan restaurant". http://theprofessornotes.com/archives/261.
- ^ Janet Rausa Fuller (2005-08-23). "Magic Pan crepes returning: Local restaurant whiz revives popular 1970s name at mall stand". Chicago Sun Times. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1587656.html.
[edit] External links
- Magic Pan Crepe Stand - official website
- - Magic Pan Alumni website on LinkedIn
- The Magic Pan Project - Magic Pan Employee Social Network
