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The Magic Pan

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The Magic Pan was an American chain of full-service restaurants specializing in crêpes, popular in the late 1970s through early 1990s.

History

The Magic Pan restaurant company was started at Ghiraldelli Square in San Francisco, CA 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-1960's.

The Quaker Oats Company acquired Magic Pan from the Fono's 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 slightly under 100 locations.[5] The new company, a Royal Crown/Canada Dry bottler RC Cola, brought in Kim Andereck as the company's Senior Vice President in 1985. Andereck was able to make the company profitable by tightening management controls, closing underperforming locations, introducing popular entrees and converting some outlets to other food styles, i.e. Mexican food and "Magic Chicken."[4] However, the crepe fad was in decline by the late 1980s the crepe restaurants were phased out of business.

The concept was re-introduced by Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises as a fast-food mall stand in 2005, without the crepe-making machine, but using recreations of the original recipes.[6] Originally in Chicago, the revived chain opened a second location in the food court of the Mall of America near Minneapolis.[7]

Among the menu items were crêpes filled with spinach souffle, chicken divan, crepe suzette, strawberries and sour cream, chantilly, and "cherry royale".[6]

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.

In The English Patient and other Seinfeld episodes a recurring character, Izzy Mandelbaum, operates a chain of crêpe restaurants, the Magic Pan.

References

  1. ^ Sylvia Lovegren (2005). Fashionable Food: Seven decades of food fads. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226494074.
  2. ^ "The Quaker Oats Company". Funding Universe.
  3. ^ Stephanie Chavez (1982-06-23). "Quaker to sell its Magic Pans". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ^ a b "Friedrich replaces Ryan as president of Magic Pan". Nation's Restaurant News. 1984-03-26. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |autor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Quaker May Sell Its Restaurants". New York Times. 1981-11-12.
  6. ^ a b Steve Brady (2008-01-21). "The "magic" of the Magic Pan restaurant".
  7. ^ Janet Rausa Fuller (2005-08-23). "Magic Pan crepes returning: Local restaurant whiz revives popular 1970s name at mall stand". Chicago Sun Times.
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