Jimmy John's
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jimmy John's (founded by Jimmy John Liautaud of Lithuanian orgin) is a franchised sandwich restaurant owned by Jimmy John Liautaud. The restaurant was founded in 1983 and has since grown to nearly 500 stores[1], with many locations in college towns. Their sandwiches are advertised as made to order in 30 seconds.
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[edit] History
After founder Jimmy John Liautaud graduated second-to-last in his 1982 Cary-Grove High School class, his options were joining the Army, college, or starting a business. He chose the latter.
Inspired by Pizza Stop, Liautaud's father loaned him $25,000 to start his own hot dog business. If the business was successful, he would own 52% of it and his father would own 48%. If it failed, he would join the Army.
After Liautaud realized it would cost nearly twice as much as the loan to start a hot dog business, he ventured down the sandwich shop route. A nearby neighbor told Liautaud that the secret of a successful sandwich was in the bread. He started baking bread in his mom's kitchen, bought the most expensive meats from Dominick's and had several family members vote on the top four sandwiches he created.[2]
The first Jimmy John's opened in a garage in Charleston, Illinois on January 13, 1983, with used equipment, without a menu or outdoor advertisement, selling the four sandwiches and 25-cent Cokes. After giving samples out around town, his business began to thrive. He especially catered to college students at Eastern Illinois University. After two friends backed out as managers, he ran the store himself for the first few years, working seven days a week from open to close.[3]
In April 1985, he bought out his father's side of the business and became sole owner. He opened his second store in Macomb, Illinois, and, after manager William "Billy" Burns was killed in a car accident, he ran the second store himself for a few months. Liautaud went on to honor Burns by naming the popular menu item "Billy Club" after him, which is a Jimmy Johns staple to this day.
He would later open several more stores, and he developed a prototype before franchising began in 1993.
In October of 2006 Joe Munz, a Jimmy John's delivery man, was robbed and killed in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee. This sparked a city-wide debate on the importance and legality of delivery boundaries.[4]
[edit] Current success
Jimmy John's now sells 18 types of subs. The restaurant has grown to over 400 outlets in about 20 states. Liautaud projects the chain to grow to at least 1,000 shops by 2009. About 95% of the current restaurants are franchise-owned. Jimmy John Liautaud owns 67% of the company, and in January 2007 sold a 33% stake to Weston Presidio, a San Francisco-based private-equity firm. [5]
Jimmy John Liautaud and Milio's Sandwiches founder Mike Liautaud are cousins, running competing sub shops. [6] Both chains offer delivery of their sandwiches.
[edit] Trivia
Since many Jimmy John's shops are located in college towns, many of the decorations in the shops are designed to appeal to that market, with witty phrases like "the customer is usually right", "your mom wants you to eat at Jimmy John's", "Free Smells", "bread so French it must be liberated!", and "smokers will be beaten with a large ferry weiner", which is a campy version of the classic "no smoking" sign. Many of these signs are designed to look rustic, with old fashioned text and, in the case of a metal sign, faux rust.
[edit] External links
- Jimmy John's website
- "Jimmy John's born from tough love" McHenry County Business Journal article
