Jack's
- This article is about the hamburger chain. For other uses, see Jack's (disambiguation).
Jack's, founded as Jack's Hamburgers in Homewood, is a fast food restaurant chain with 107 locations in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee. The corporate headquarters are at 124 West Oxmoor Road in Homewood. Benny LaRussa is the current chairman of the board. Other officers include Charles Mizerany, president and Billy Wentz, vice-president of operations.
History
The first Jack's was opened on November 23, 1960 by Jack Caddell in downtown Homewood. He was inspired by the early spread of the McDonald's hamburger chain in California and introduced the quick-service concept to Alabama.
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Jack's original menu featured items such as fifteen cent hamburgers and fries, twenty cent shakes, and a twenty cent "Fish-On-A-Bun." Jack's rapidly expanded and by the mid-1960s, there were at least nine locations in Birmingham area, plus one store each in Jackson, Mississippi and Charleston, South Carolina.
Jack's targeted most of its advertising at children. Part of this advertising was sponsoring local children's television shows hosted by Cousin Cliff, Bozo the Clown, and Sergeant Jack. Many Birmingham residents still remember the early Jack's jingle:
- Jack's Hamburgers for 15 cents
- are so good...good...good,
- you'll go back, back, back
- to Jack's, Jack's, Jack's
- for more...more...more.
The jingle was composed by Henry Kimbrell and produced by Ed Boutwell. Jack's continues to use an abbreviated version in their advertising today.
Jimmy Moreland became one of the chain's first franchise owners, and took over as chief executive of the chain when Florida Capitol bought it from Caddell in 1970. The next decade saw the company expand from 17 stores to almost 80 locations in five states. Increased competition from national chains forced the closure of numerous locations through the 1980s.
During that period, franchisee Benny LaRussa, a Bruno's grocery store manager and company executive, began expanding his operating territory from the single location he had operated in Dora since the 1960s. In 1979, he purchased a franchise territory of 13 Jack's stores. From then until 1988 he expanded his territory to 33 stores, almost all of the locations still in business. In 1989, LaRussa purchased sole franchise rights for the Jack's concept from owners Dick Reese and Don Ghareeb. He also supplies Jack's and many area Subway restaurants from his Southeastern Food Merchandisers wholesale grocery business.
Another longtime franchisee, Wayne Reaves, built the Anniston-area market back up with a cluster of stores owned by his Manna Enterprises.
By 2006 there were approximately 76 Jack's locations across four states, mostly company-owned. Jack's Family Restaurants, Inc. remains a privately-held company Manna Enterprises as its sole franchisee. The chain builds ties within the stores' communities, including elected officials, school and athletic leaders and other business owners. Each location has a hostess on staff to tend to dining room patrons. The typical Jack's restaurant makes 45% of its revenue at the lunch hour and 35% from breakfast service. Its customer base is older than the average fast-food chain.
The original Jack's in Homewood was recently renovated and, since the construction of SoHo Square, occupies a newly-privileged spot directly in front of the new Homewood City Hall.
Trademark design
Jack's restaurants were originally walk-up stands with a slanted roof and vertical orange and yellow stripes on each side. The original signs featured "Jack's" in five individual white rectangles with the word "Hamburgers" on a separate sign underneath. In the late '60s, the chain began converting their walk-up stands to full, dine-in restaurants. Most upgraded restaurants featured faux stone walls. In the mid '70s Jack's began using new signage featuring the name written on an angle in white inside a red circle; the word "Hamburgers" was dropped. In the early 2000's, Jack's changed the logo from the original, all capital font to a mixed-case font. It still appears on the familiar red circle, but the circle is smaller so that the text extends outside of it.
Current Greater Birmingham locations
- #144, 5701 Veterans Memorial Drive, Adamsville
- #162, 1800 19th Street North, Bessemer
- #189, 21359 U.S. Highway 11, Caffee Junction
- #008, Sumiton Shopping Center, Dora
- #146, 201 Walker Chapel Road, Fultondale
- #210, 2259 Mount Olive Road, Gardendale
- #001, 2831 19th Street South, Homewood
- #166, 3429 Lorna Road, Hoover
- #168, 1724 Crestwood Boulevard, Irondale
- #129, 3204 U.S. Highway 78, Jasper
- #004, 80 Alabama State Highway 195, Jasper
- #174, 4468 Center Point Road, Pinson
- #145, 27 Park Road #200, Pleasant Grove
- #165, 2890 Pinson Valley Parkway, Tarrant
- #167, 1460 Gadsden Highway, Trussville
- #134, 219 Louisa Street, Warrior
- #191, 30085 Highway 79, Locust Fork
Former Greater Birmingham locations
This list is incomplete.
- Alabaster (1960s)
- 304 3rd Avenue West, Birmingham (1960s)
- Eastwood Mall, Birmingham (1960s)
- Five Points West, Birmingham (1960s)
- Bessemer (1960s)
- 1716 6th Avenue South, Medical Center (1970s)
- 5192 Old Springville Road, Chalkville (closed mid-1980s)
- 2301 Center Point Parkway, Center Point (1960s)
- 1594 Montgomery Highway, Hoover (closed mid-1980s)
- 3064 Warrior River Road, Hueytown (closed mid-1980s)
- Roebuck (1960s)
- 163 Main Street, Trussville
- Vestavia Hills (1960s)
References
- Hayes, Jack (January 28, 2002) "Jack's: Service with a smile brightens fast-food chain's future as it re-emerges as a Southeastern force." Nation's Restaurant News.
- Jack's Hamburgers at Birmingham Rewound
- Williams, Roy L. (August 15, 2010) "On the record: Benny LaRussa of Birmingham's Jack's Family Restaurants." Birmingham News
External links
- Jack's website