The History of Jimmy John's & Founder Jimmy John Liautaud

What do I love about Jimmy John's? It tastes great It's amazing Awesome Hot, fresh, fast Weirdly fast It really is fast The bread The bread The smell The peppers It's wonderful I love it I can get it how I want It's delicious Once I discovered Jimmy John's, it was all over I didn't even look back Then What is Jimmy John's anyway? The (expletive) man of Jimmy John's Rockstar brand In 1983, faced with the option of joining the military or opening a business, a rambunctious teenager decided to open the doors. to his own sandwich shop instead of lacing up his boots.

I stumbled upon Booby Sandwiches in Carbondale, Illinois visiting a friend and they literally had a Coca Cola cooler and a little table to make and a cash register. It was literally 6 feet by 6 feet with a door and that was it and I said I could make sandwiches so I went back to Cary and I baked bread in my mom's kitchen and within a week I came up with a bread recipe and went to the grocery store. from Dominick and bought cold cuts. I had all these menus from different sandwich shops, I made sandwiches and I came up with six that I liked and I invited my family, they voted for four, so I had four sandwiches that I thought I could try with The Pepe, The Big John, The S&M and The Vito.

Geneveso With four family-approved sandwiches and a lot of enthusiasm, Jimmy set out to open his first store when he was 19 years old. Jimmy signed his first lease in October 1982, a five-year contract for $200 per month. The first Jimmy John's gourmet sandwich shop opened on January 13, 1983 in the college town of Charleston, Illinois. I first discovered I could work. from 8 in the morning until 2:30 in the morning, that was the beginning and then when August came around, I knew what I wanted from my manager. To do it I hired Tyler, he passed the lie detector test. What happened to all the lie detector tests?

I always wondered that and I liked the kid, so I hired him. I just responded to an ad in a newspaper that appeared there and there was this guy and he had his shorts, T-shirt, curly hair, you know, you walk in there and he says, "Tyler, you know, how are you doing?" and he's yelling at you, you know, and he's just already here. He was going to be a rock star deal, so he just wanted to do it right, what the hell else was he going to do? A lot of people think this was all handed to Jimmy and somehow it just happened and he really had nothing to do with it.

Well, I can personally attest that he wasn't like that, so he knew the guys and at the time he was American. National Bank I took Jimmy to see Dick O'Neil and Jimmy true to form Jimmy is a blast "my company is going to grow, we have this, I have this going, we have delivery" boom boom boom Dick looks over I said "he I'll pay the money back" and he says "Okay, son", you know, and everything was fine, he walked out the door and that's it, there's a circle of comfort and there's a line that's uncomfortable and that's where Jimmy seems to live, right on that. edge, he's a walking explosive man (expletive) he was ready to go, no mincing words Jimmy made sure all the stores' advertising was simple and attention-grabbing.

My first paid ad was a full page ad in the Daily Eastern News headlined 'All Restaurants Close in Charleston After Jimmy John's Opens' and then I had ads where the headline was 'Party' and there was a lot of filler and one said 'No grains, no bones, no old bread, no fat, no chips, great sandwiches.' Jimmy John's we deliver' and I would just save my money and run an ad and save my money run and save my money and run an ad, it's just creating this Jimmy John's box where the experience was the same whether I was there or I wasn't there and it was necessary to write the systems into a uniform box and then train people by example by showing them exactly what to do.

The best thing about the company is the evolution. You know, Jimmy always wants to improve. I like it when certified managers come back from corporate training and are excited. You talk about drinking the kool aid. I love seeing their attitudes when they return. It's as if they were reborn when Jimmy's COO left in February 1999. Jimmy responded by personally taking over that position and in August moved his family from Chicago to the college town of Champaign-Urbana and opened an office among his groups. original stores 54 miles from Charleston, Illinois. In February 2001, the sandwich chain reached another milestone by opening its 100th store in Mt.

Pleasant Michigan Quality is a way of life every ham every roast beef my cheese every one of those things is absolutely the best in its class the brand is clean, it's crisp, it's fast, we just set the standard for what we want in an article I learned from Jimmy that it doesn't cost much more to go first class, go first class, do it first class, if you're going to take your employees to eat a steak or cook them a steak, why not let it be top notch? Taking the time to do it anyway, we have everything in life except time for top-notch cooking.

In 2002, the first Sandwich Masters Championship pitted the best Jimmy John's teams against each other to make perfect sandwiches incredibly fast. New options were added to the menu as well as packed lunches, a BLT, a popular turkey bacon club called Club Lulu cucumbers and spicy cherry peppers a lettuce wrapped Unwich and Jimmy John's own brand fries The 500th store Jimmy John's opened its doors in Seattle, Washington in February 2007 for a fast delivery company Nascar was a natural fit and in the summer of 2007 Jimmy John's entered the Nascar scene by sponsoring Nascar legend Kenny Wallace . If people really want to hear the story, I think it's about the people and the culture and the team and how it's grown from within and how there's this amazing farm system, it's like a professional sports organization in 2009, Jimmy John's joined Facebook as another way to connect with fans and build the brand of a sandwich like you've never had before, just make a call and we're at the door, you're like, wow, that was incredibly fast.

Tempe, get your sandwich in Tucson, get your sandwich in Dallas, get your sandwich in Oklahoma, get your sandwich in the company launched online ordering as well as Jimmy John gift cards and built a new test kitchen at headquarters of the company, we do not pretend to be the biggest. we want to be the best our whole philosophy is people operations and profits, as you invest in people and do a good job well, your operations, your profits and everything else will be very easy, there is nothing like this far as I know. At 47 years old, deciding to open a Jimmy John's was a big surprise.

He had been a stockbroker for 25 years. I ate at Jimmy John's on the way to watch my son play soccer. I knew that was the passion of my life. Open sandwich shops. I'm 15 years old. stores now I love being able to wake up every day and have new challenges to conquer and places to go and new people to meet. I realized my dream. Jimmy started with the same passion of making sandwiches and the brand exploded among operators who followed his lead in July. 2010 Jimmy John's sponsored MMA fighter Brock Lesnar captured the title in the world championship fight in Las Vegas in August 2010.

Superbowl MVP champion Drew Brees signed to become a Jimmy John's franchisee. There's no doubt that Jimmy John's is a household name, but in 2011, the love for the brand was evident in baby name books across the country. Jimmy John was named the ninth most popular brand to name a boy, one ahead of the pattern. Jimmy John's joined the Billion Dollar Brands club in December 2011, making it one of the most popular brands. valuable brands in the US in 2012, Jimmy won the Golden Chain Award, the 1,500th store was opened in Logan, Utah, followed by the launch of the triple chocolate chunk cookie and the company went into high gear.

Jimmy John's celebrated its 30th anniversary with 30 years in business. It was time for a new look, the 210's design was born as the company grew, so did the training program. A new training center opened in Champaign, Illinois in August 2013, proving to be a fan favorite. Jimmy John's was rated number one by travelers on Certify's Orderly. report the location of the first military base opened at Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri in January 2014 In the fall of 2014, Jimmy John's proudly donated $1 million to the Folds of Honor Foundation and Kevin Harvick won the Nascar Sprint Cup, which gave Jimmy John's his first Nascar championship. 2015 saw the creation of the sense of immediate high-speed urgency. response team hotline as yet another resource to help franchisees resolve issues incredibly quickly in 2016 mini Jimmys launched as a new catering option, the 2,500th store opened in Kenmore, Washington and Jimmy John's rose to the top No. 1 on Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 with more than 3.5 million fans on Facebook and through apps like Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, the company is connecting with its customers more than ever and the Jimmy John's brand as Kevin Harvick behind the wheel of his Jimmy John's powered race car still beats Kevin Harvick in that 4 car that he is.

They don't take prisoners here early, they've been chasing him all day. Harvick wins! Harvick wins incredibly fast today, he was incredibly fast, which just goes to show that tenacity and hard work beats brains seven days a week, doesn't it? We made a big dent in the sandwich business and now people know who we are, we're going to make it. It sends shivers down my spine, it's incredible, it's one of the best things I've ever been involved in and, frankly, I truly believe we're just getting started.