Manchu Wok Inc. is a Canadian

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

that specializes in Chinese

fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine is cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions that originate from different countries, regions, or cultures. They can occur naturally and become aspects of culturally relevant cuisines, or they can be part of ...

. The brand operates 57 locations across eight Canadian provinces and 13 in the US. The chain operates in shopping malls, airports and some US military installations. It is owned by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

-based

MTY Food Group MTY Food Group is a Canadian franchisor and operator of numerous casual dining, fast casual, and quick service restaurants operating under more than 70 brand names, some of them through wholly owned subsidiaries. Headquartered in the Montreal bor ...

. Despite the chain's name, the menu does not feature any dishes from traditional Manchurian cuisine and instead serves mostly

American Chinese cuisine American Chinese cuisine is a cuisine derived from Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. The dishes served in many North American Chinese restaurants are adapted to American tastes and often differ significantly from those ...

and

Canadian Chinese cuisine Canadian Chinese cuisine (french: Cuisine chinoise canadienne) is a popular style of Canadian cooking original to take-out and dine-in eateries found across Canada. It was the first form of commercially available Chinese food in Canada. This co ...

History

The first store was opened by Dr. Jack Lew and other Hong Kong immigrants in 1980 in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. Lew hired food service equipment consultant Alfred Grech, a Maltese immigrant, to design and help with the building of the first 33 stores. In 1992, Lew sold the company to Scott's Hospitality Inc. At the time of the sale, there were 113 Manchu Wok units in Canada and United States. Under new ownership, there were 237 Manchu Wok units in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom by April 1992. By 1996, there were 245 Manchu Wok when parent company Scott's Hospitality was acquired by Laidlaw Inc. In 2000, Laidlaw sold the company to a group of investors headed by Ken Fowler and

Café de Coral Café de Coral Holdings, Ltd. () is a fast-food restaurant group that owns and operates fast-food chains and restaurants, including Café de Coral, Super Super, The Spaghetti House, Oliver's Super Sandwiches, Ah Yee Leng Tong, and others. Foun ...

. At the time of the sale in 2000, there were 74 locations in Canada, 119 locations in the United States and 2 in Poland, making it the largest Chinese restaurant chain in Canada and the second largest in North America.

Business activity outside North America

Although most of the company's business activity is located in North America, the company briefly had franchises in the United Kingdom and Poland in 1992 and 2000 respectively which have since closed. In 2003 and 2004, Manchu Wok expanded its operations to US military bases in Santa Rita,

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

; and

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, respectively. It also has two locations serving the

U.S. military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

Camp Humphreys Camp Humphreys ( ko, 캠프 험프리스), also known as United States Army Garrison-Humphreys (USAG-H), is a United States Army garrison located near Anjeong-ri and Pyeongtaek metropolitan areas in South Korea. Camp Humphreys is home to Des ...

and

Osan Air Base Hanja:) , partof = , location = , nearest_town = Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province , country = South Korea , image = Osan Air Base 51 FW F-16 A-10 Flyby.jpg , alt = US Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon and A-1 ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, There are also locations at

Ramstein Air Base Ramstein Air Base or Ramstein AB is a United States Air Force base in Rhineland-Palatinate, a state in southwestern Germany. It serves as headquarters for the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and also ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and U.S. Army Base, Grafenwohr, Germany.

References

External links

* {{Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food chains of Canada Fast-food chains of the United States Chinese restaurants Companies based in Markham, Ontario Restaurants established in 1980 1980 establishments in Ontario

History

Business activity outside North America

See also

References

External links