READY To Reset How Maxine’s Has Kept Its Shine Written by Meaghan Branham Photography by Julie Fletcher sk Kirt and Maxine Earhart how they’re feeling these days, and you might get a more thoughtful response than they’d have given you at this time last year. “My answer sounds a lot more like the kind of thing you’d hear from a weatherman now,” Kirt Earhart laughed. “I’m feeling fair to partly cloudy, but optimistic about a chance of sunshine.”
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The owners of the popular Maxine’s On Shine restaurant, which was founded eight years ago and quickly earned a spot in local hearts for its exuberant atmosphere and gourmet food, have had to adapt this year along with other small businesses. The food and beverage industry has been hardest hit, with some owners of restaurants and bars going months without pay for themselves and their employees. To navigate the rapidly changing “new normal” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Earharts have gotten creative — in classic Maxine’s form.
The Reset Kirt Earhart described the way he and his wife adapted: “There were and are periods of stress, but eventually you say, ‘You know what, let’s hit the reset button.’ And then it became a chance to expand what Maxine’s means to us and to our community across the board.” That reset period first began when they made the call to close the doors for two weeks, a move that came even before the official order from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on March 20 for all restaurants
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to move to take-out and delivery service only. In those 14 days, the Earharts did their research and drew up their game plan. They collaborated, learned and brainstormed with the help of local officials like State Representative Anna Eskamani, Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, along with resources from groups including the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and City of Orlando Main Street leaders Lisa Cuatt and Joanne Grant. The help of that community geared them up to serve their own community, and they emerged ready for the reset — with a new market, a quickly crafted liquor store of sorts, and a delivery service, something they had never included before. “We had never encouraged pickup or delivery,” Kirt Earhart said. “Maxine’s is about the experience. We wanted everyone coming in as they would to the parlor of a friend’s home.” That sense of experience wouldn’t change, they decided, it would just become mobile. Working with Fleet Delivery, they fine-tuned a service that allows their customers to “make a reservation for a dining experience in their own home, where we provide the food,” Kirt Earhart said. The customers get to set the vibe and pick their meal, and they can even opt for contactless delivery. When customers go out to the Maxine’s
van to grab their food from the sill of the pick-up window, “there’s Maxine’s face with a wine glass in one hand and the fork and glass in the other,” Kirt Earhart said. Sometimes they might even see one of the Earharts making the delivery. Maxine’s Market was another brainchild of the couple. More than just a callback to the 1940s roots of the restaurant’s building — which used to be home to locally owned Friedman’s Grocery, another community favorite — the market became a way for people who didn’t feel comfortable going to the grocery store, or couldn’t find what they were looking for, to pick up whatever they might need while they were collecting their to-go orders. For a bit of time, they also set up the Tasty Beverage Emporium, where guests could order beer, wine and liquor and pick them up to take home.
Next Steps Eventually, the Earharts faced the prospect of reopening the doors to guests. The beginning phases of Orange County’s reopening plan included allowing restaurants to allow guests in at 50% and eventually 75% capacity. That presented a unique challenge for Maxine’s, a restaurant small enough in square footage that in 2018 it campaigned for — and got passed — a bill that would allow establishments of 1,500 square feet and an 80-seat capacity to obtain a liquor license, down from the previous requirement of at least
