Jimmy John's

Jimmy John's is a franchised sandwich restaurant owned by Jimmy John Liautaud. The restaurant was founded in 1983 and has since grown to nearly 754 stores, with many locations in college towns. Their headquarters is located in Champaign, Illinois.

History

After founder Jimmy John Liautaud graduated second-to-last from Elgin Academy in 1982 high school class, his options were joining the Army, college, or starting a business. He chose to start a business. [http://www.jimmyjohns.com/history.html] Inspired by Portillo's, 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 mother's kitchen, bought the most expensive meats from Dominick's and had several family members vote on the top four sandwiches he created.

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.

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 "Billy Club" sandwich after him, which remains a popular menu item. He would later open several more stores, and he developed a prototype before franchising began in 1993.

Current statistics

Jimmy John's now offers 25 different sandwiches [ [http://www.jimmyjohns.com/menu/menu.aspx Jimmy John's Menu] ] and has over 682 stores in 35 states. [ [http://www.jimmyjohns.com/company/history.aspx Jimmy John's History ] ] Liautaud projects the chain to grow to at least 1,000 shops by 2009. [ [http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0701040131jan04,0,2294609.story?coll=chi-business-hed Jimmy Johns stake sold] , "Chicago Tribune", January 4, 2007] 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. [ [http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0701040131jan04,0,2294609.story?coll=chi-business-hed Jimmy Johns stake sold] , "Chicago Tribune", January 4, 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.jimmyjohns.com Jimmy John's website]
* [http://archive.biz-journal.com/archive_detail.php?archiveFile=./pubfiles/mch/archive/2005/December/23/News/1663.xml&archive_pubname=Business+Journal%0A%09%09%09 "Jimmy John's born from tough love"] "McHenry County Business Journal" article