Max Mintz ran iconic Chicken Roost
The restaurant was a place for teens, tired shoppers, families
Max Mintz always remembered the day he opened the Chicken Roost in downtown Hamilton on Oct. 1, 1948.
The Toronto native had to sell his suit so he would have some money in the cash register.
“I had no money the day we opened, so I went and sold my suit,” Mintz told The Spectator in 1994. “I got $10 from Sherman’s (second-hand clothing) on James Street North.”
A few hours later, his brother and partner, Benny, brought $45 from the cigar store he owned in Toronto to help run the business on King Street East, between Hughson and John Street (it’s now occupied by Cheapies Records and Tapes).
Their money troubles didn’t last. The Chicken Roost, which closed in 1986, became an iconic restaurant in the history of Hamilton, with its signature chicken on a bun with barbecue sauce, chicken soup, pies and, most notably, ice cream puffs and fudge sauce.
The restaurant became a place to rendezvous for dating teens, tired shoppers and grandmothers and their grandchildren. “Meet me at the Chicken Roost” became a common phrase.
Mintz, who died at 96 on Sept. 29, always sensed he was on to a good thing when he opened the restaurant. For one thing, there was a lineup that opening day, heading west to the recently demolished Kresge department store.
He had worked in a restaurant that specialized in chicken in Toronto and, one time, was passing through Hamilton with his brother and a pal on a return trip from Crystal Beach. They went looking for a place to eat downtown but could only find the Majestic Grill across from the old city hall on James Street North.
“I looked at my brother and said, ‘This is where we’re going to open a restaurant.’ He looked at me like I was stupid. I repeated what I said. The next day I came back to look for a place.”
He never looked back. At the height of the business, Mintz had 56 people working at the Chicken Roost. This included his wife, Samieth, and four daughters, Sharon, Nancy, Joanne and Cynthia. Joanne handled deliveries and Cynthia worked the cash register.
“If I would have been an educated boy, I probably wouldn’t have even tried,” Mintz told The Spectator in 1985, when commenting on the success of the Chicken Roost. “But I was hungry and you gotta be hungry to get anywhere.”
He told paper in 1989, “I met everyone there. That was my starting point. If it weren’t for the Roost, I don’t know where I’d be.”
When he found he was working 70hour weeks in the early 1980s, Mintz sold the Chicken Roost to three partners in 1984, but they ran into financial troubles two years later.
Mintz operated other businesses. In 1982, he opened Maxwell’s on Jackson Street East, just east of Walnut Street South.
The Spectator described it as a contemporary
and classy touch of California (it is now Lo Presti’s at Maxwell’s). Mintz sold it in 1989, and retired from the restaurant business. He kept Mintz Catering Ltd. in operation.
In 1994, The Spectator ran a contest for the best story about the Chicken Roost, and 250 people attended a special dinner in The Spec auditorium. Mintz had to pick the winner, but he was so touched by the poignant memories he declared all of the 100 entrants a winner.
The food served? Chicken on a bun with a side of french fries and icecream puffs covered in fudge sauce. There were loud cheers when the food arrived.
Mintz served on boards for such groups as Hamilton B’nai Brith, Beth Jacob Synagogue, Hamilton Supporters of Israel and committees that aided disabled children.
Mintz is survived by his wife of 72 years, Samieth, four daughters, his sister, grandchildren, great grandchildren and other family members. He was predeceased by his sister Gert and brother Ben, who died in a fire in 1955.