After completing an apprenticeship at Barends Patisserie Max headed to Switzerland to further his training. Another three years of working and attending Richemont trade school there did not put him off the hard yards of the bakery business. Back home, after six weeks Max in 1989 purchased Aroma, a run down quasi health food shop and bakery for $30k at 96 Aro Street. The whole family chipped in to give the place a clean and paint. It wasn’t flash but business started cranking from day one.