Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich

I graduated from Elgin Academy High School in June of 1982. I graduated second to last in my high school class, so my options for college were slim to none. My Dad was a huge believer in the discipline that the Army provides young people. He served in the Army and was stationed in Korea. Both of my brothers served in the Army as well. Military service was a big deal in our household. Naturally, my dad wanted me to enlist after high school, but I really wanted to open a business. My father made a deal with me. He'd lend me $25,000 to start a business, but if it didn't make a profit in the first year, I'd do a stint in the Army. My real love was Chicago street food, specifically Chicago-style hot dogs, like Portillo's serves. The summer that I graduated high school, I visited many hot dog stands in the Chicago suburbs and created a menu from my research as well as a list of the equipment I would need to open. I went to the used restaurant equipment district on West Madison Street in Chicago to buy my equipment. I found out that I needed about $45K to open a hot dog stand. My budget was $25K so that was out of the question. I then stumbled on to Booby's Sandwiches in Carbondale, Illinois. When I walked in, I saw a refrigerator, a meat slicer, and a cash register. Way less equipment than the hot dog stand required. From there I switched to sandwiches, and never looked back. I had to learn to bake bread so I checked out books from the library. I baked and I baked until I got it right. That recipe evolved into the Jimmy John's bread of today. From there I bought deli meats and I started working on a menu. By August of 1982, I had four sandwiches for my menu. I had two cousins at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, so I chose to look there for my first location. I found a site, it was a two car garage that had been remodeled into a pizza joint but it had closed down. The location was surrounded by bars. Perfect! Students drink, they get hungry, I'd stay open late, and I would feed them. Boom! I opened in January 1983. My dad was my partner, he owned 48% and I owned 52%. The first year we did $155,000 in sales and made $40,000 profit. I split it with my dad. The second year, we did $188,000 in sales and made $50,000 profit. I worked 7 days a week, about 15 hours a day, and my salary was $200 per week, which equated to about 2 bucks an hour. In May of 1986 I bought out my dad and Jimmy John's was all mine. By 1994 I had 10 sub shops, I was doing my own accounting, I paid for everything C.O.D., and I had no debt. I was rolling! Ten years, ten stores, and no debt! America, what a country! By 2002, Jimmy John's had grown to 160 locations, but many of the Jimmy John's franchise stores were struggling. To improve the strength of the Jimmy John's brand, we stopped selling franchises for one year to focus on turning around struggling stores. My president and I personally visited 70 underperforming franchises. Through a rigorous process, we reset expectations for existing Jimmy John's franchisees. Of the 70 stores we visited, 63 stores improved and 7 stores closed. We learned from this experience, and raised the standards under which future franchisees would be approved.