Michael Wu has radical plans for an SAR icon. Karen Cooper reports

Brothers ST and Jimmy Wu - 87 and 77 years old - may be easing into a back-seat role these days at Maxim's Caterers, the food empire that they founded 44 years ago, but the family's presence still looms large at the group.

So perhaps it comes as no surprise to see yet another Wu at the helm. ST's grandson, Michael Wu Wei-kuo, replaced ST as managing director from the start of this year after several years as financial officer then chief financial officer.

What is a surprise however is that Michael is just 29 and is confounding the traditional perception of Maxim's as a caterer to the masses, and a fairly unadventurous one at that.

His appointment was also no foregone conclusion, as ST, now honorary chairman, was quick to make clear when I met up with him after interviewing Michael. Nepotism, he stressed, plays no role at Maxim's and family members are forced to prove their worth before entering the fold.

In fact Michael, who lived in New York for the first 10 years of his life while his father worked as an engineer for IBM, had no intention of joining the family firm at all.

As ST tells it, his grandson was on the verge of joining Merrill Lynch in New York. The investment bank was offering US$31,000 a year plus a US$12,000 bonus (effectively almost HK$28,000 a month). Not bad for a first year out of university.

'But I told him: 'Don't sign this. Wait till I explain',' he said. 'Southeast Asia and China will be the future for a bright young man. If you want to have a good position, Asia will have more opportunities.