Buzz Watch: Maxim Opens… (wait for it) Steak Houses!

Authored by Jay Baage on October 26, 2006 - 10:49am.

Maxim, the men's magazine famous for featuring sexy women wants to extend its brand to another kind of flesh - a chain of about 15 steak restaurants - Maxim Prime. ”It will not be about overeating, it will be about the social experience of dining," says Stephen Colvin, chief executive of privately owned Dennis Publishing, the magazine's parent company.

Usually, when a magazine wants to boost its bottom line, it does it through licensing new ventures, usually in the Internet space. Progressive Dennis publishing recently announced such a move with the launch of Monkey Magazine. Read more about it in my article about coffee table porn here. Now, Dennis Publishing takes a more unexpected move in opening the steak houses together with financier Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill Management.

And no, those of you who expect scantily clad waitresses or to emulate Hooters, will be disappointed. “In terms of the atmosphere, in terms of the design and also in terms of the food, (the steakhouses) will cater to women as much as men," Colvin told Reuters. "We represent a certain lifestyle and we know that translates - people want to connect with that in different ways."

Maxim caters to 20- and 30-something men with a circulation of 2.6 million which puts it in the top 25 U.S. magazines, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Will it work? Only time will tell. But it’s an interesting experiment that will see how far a media brand can be stretched. Perhaps Maxim can be the exception that proves the rule that you should stick with what you know best – in this case - sexy women.

Joakim Baage