Maxi’s serves up the First Grade Special
June 12, 2024 | By Sandy Yusen | Correspondent 
Staffer Ashley Proteau serves the pint-sized diners. Photo by Gordon Miller
On a recent weekday morning, Maxi’s Restaurant was hopping with breakfast diners packed shoulder-to-shoulder along its legendary counter bar.
But these were no ordinary customers. The hungry crowd of 6- and 7-year-olds – all Brookside Primary School first-graders – was on a field trip that’s become a new end-of-school-year tradition.
The idea for the adventure began last year when Brookside teacher Amy Bryant and her colleagues brainstormed ways to celebrate the end of the year with their students and connect them with the Waterbury community. Bryant mentioned the conversations to her husband, Maxi’s owner Tom Bryant, who offered up Maxi’s as a destination.
“I said, are you serious?” relayed Bryant.
She initially worried about the logistics, and decided to test the idea first with her class of 16 second-grade students. The pilot field trip was an instant hit.
“We just had such a blast. It was so much fun and the children loved it,” Bryant recalled.
The Maxi’s team enjoyed it, too. “It worked out perfectly because they all fit right at the bar and during the week we’re not so busy that it would get in the way of business,” Tom Bryant explained.
This year the event expanded to include Bryant’s first-graders and the other grade one classes led by teachers Tom Thurston, Rachael Burns and Martin Casey as well. Over three successive days in late May, all four first-grade classes – with 60 students in all – set out on foot from the school, safely navigating the crosswalks and roundabout, and bellied up to Maxi’s counter to enjoy a full breakfast at Maxi’s on the house.
“Everyone had a wonderful time – it was such a hoot,” Amy Bryant said.
To streamline service, Maxi’s created the “First Grade Special” which included scrambled eggs, a pancake, homefries and bacon, along with a choice of juice or hot chocolate with whipped cream served in Maxi’s classic white mugs.
The surge of young diners filling the counter stools was no obstacle for the kitchen crew and waitstaff, Tom said, given that they often handle weekend crowds of over 300 customers per day.
The teachers also took advantage of the educational opportunities of the outing. “All of the classroom teachers, before we go we practice restaurant manners, how to order. We made it something that 6- and 7-year-olds learn to respectfully ask for something and use your polite voice and say thank you,” Amy Bryant said.
Maxi’s remained open to the public during the field trip visits, too.
“We had taught students about being respectful and when we’re in a restaurant with other customers we’re using our restaurant voices. And they did great,” Amy Bryant said. “They were so well-behaved it was amazing. It didn’t seem to disrupt anything other than taking up all of the spots at the counter.”
Some customers were curious about their dining companions. Bryant said that an older gentleman came up and asked a teacher, “Are these all your kids?”
What surprised the adults the most was how excited the students were to go out and have breakfast. For some students, it was their first visit to a restaurant, while others had been to Maxi’s before and said it was one of their favorite places to eat.
“I was amazed at how much the kids loved it and how much it meant to them,” Tom Bryant said.
Hearing positive feedback from students has inspired Tom Bryant to offer a free breakfast at Maxi’s as an annual event for all of Brookside’s first graders. “It’s not that hard to do, it makes the kids happy, and why not just make it an annual thing?” he said. “I didn’t really appreciate how much they’d appreciate it until we did the first one. If I had started it 12 years ago, I could say that every kid in the school system from kids starting out to graduating would have had their first year breakfast at Maxi’s.”
For the teachers and restaurant crew, the effort was easy and worthwhile to create a special morning for the youngsters. “It’s just a very simple, quick little end-of-year trip that was a lot of fun and meaningful for all the students,” Amy Bryant said.
Overheard chatting over their breakfast, however, the students were more effusive.
“Who cooks this food anyway, it’s so good!” one student said to his teacher in between bites.
“I sure like eating here,” another said to their seatmate who agreed and replied, “This is one of the best days of my life!”