Max’s Tap House
Guess which boy is Ron…
"When we took over it was a nice I guess disco. It was just a poor excuse for a disco I guess but that's what it was. But I was always into music. I loved music and that's what I wanted to do. So I started booking bands and you know, we went from local bands to regional bands to everybody. From Smashing Pumpkins to David Cassidy," said Ron Furman, owner and founder of Max's Tap House.
Ron and his family are originally from Baltimore and at the age of twelve got into the Max's business. From taking artifacts from historic buildings and repurposing them for his facility, Max's Tap House has a unique character and a top place to have a good time in the heart of Baltimore.
"If we can find use from something we used it. If you look at the first floor in the back that's all bowling alley that came out of the Old Southway Bowling Alley in Federal Hill. The second floor, the floor, and the walls all came out of the Secrets Distillery, the warehouse that was over in Dundalk before they tore it down. What was really neat when we cut the wood, you could actually smell the whiskey in it. It had a great aroma," said Ron.
Today Max's is the largest tap house in Baltimore as it holds over 68 taps and they even built the largest bar, over 55 feet.
Kristan asked Ron why he named his business Max’s?
“My grandfather's name was Max. And you know, originally it was Max's on Broadway. Ron's on Broadway didn't sound very good. So, yeah and my grandfather was an entrepreneur. He was in the auto parts industry and he started working out of a station wagon and built a pretty big company at one time. Loved him to death. But yeah, it's funny, because when I was 18, I worked in a bar and he used to tell me it was not a respectable job. Yeah. I think you'd be proud of me, though,” said Ron.
Ron also dabbled into other business ventures that either failed or were great successes that he couldn't sustain for the long term.
“I did open a second place one time across from Camden Yards. I thought it was going to be more like Max's. But I found the people that are going to the ballgame, are looking to eat and go to the ballgame. When there's no ballgame, there are no people. It was some tough years. I decided after that, that I was going to have one place and do it really well. That's all I needed. Yeah. I always tell people, my ego opens the second place, not my brains. But you know, you got to try something. So I've worn a lot of hats, one time we had a tobacco shop next door, which is now where the store is, and in the bar, but it was more than just a tobacco shop. It was, you know, we had lots of collectibles, beer, collectibles, tobacco, and femora. A lot of cool posters that you see that are still around here, some of the stuff you saw up in the office. So when you came in, there were just all kinds of stuff. It was a neat Hangout, and then times changed. I guess it was 2015, I started a candle company. I, which I have a patent on a design that we recycled the beer bottles and had some real smart packaging, and yeah, and it was all about recycling, giving back, and trying to employ people and give money to in fact, Leaving Tomorrow was the charity that we gave money to. We, in the end, I think we were in about 500 retailers across North America,” said Ron.
Ron and his family also give back continually to his local community. He brought up a fun event he did with the owner of Nacho Mamas. Kristan saw old signage of this event in all of the halls of Ron’s facility.
“It was called Battle of the paddles. 'Scunny' McCusker from Nacho Mama's may rest in peace. He was doing a fundraiser where he would paddle to Ocean City and one of my employees bought a kayak and called me up and said, “Hey, Ron, I hear you got a kayak.” Well, I think I had been on it twice and he said, “Let's challenge Scunny to a kayak race.” So I called Scunny said, “I'm not doing that again but I'll leave from somewhere else.” He said, going through up the bay and down Ocean City, it was too much. So we did it for Believing Tomorrow, which provides housing for families that have kids that are going through, you know, serious diseases. Ee decided to leave from Quantico, which man coming down the Potomac and up the bay, 166 miles and Ron tore his rotator the second day. I had four months to train for it. I was in the best shape of my life. It was good, but we raised a lot of money. I think it was a great thing that we did. Yeah, but please, nobody listening to this challenges me to anything. I'm old now. I'm done. Maybe a wheelchair race,” said Ron.
Kristan learned more about Ron’s passion for Baltimore, the musicians that had performed at Max’s on Broadway, his time growing up in Maryland, and so much more.
To learn more about Ron’s craft visit his website and Instagram.