Jimmy John's

History

After founder Jimmy John Liautaud graduated second-to-last in his 1982 Elgin Academy class, his options were joining the Army, college, or starting a business. He chose the latter.

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 mom'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 the man he hired to manage the store was killed in a car accident, he ran the second store himself for a few months.

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.

Current success

Jimmy John's now sells more than 20 types of subs. The restaurant has grown to almost 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. Since he owns 100% of the company with no debt, he has no plans to sell the business or take the company public.

Jimmy John Liautaud and Milio's Sandwiches founder Mike Liautaud are cousins, running competing sub shops. Both chains offer delivery of their sandwiches.

Copyright 2008 - France BtoB from Wikipédia