Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Team SFO Kicks-off Q1 with Great Communtiy Service

As you all know each Jillian’s & Jakes location must participate in one meaningful Community Service effort each quarter.  At the beginning of each year at our Annual New Year Managers meeting I pair the entire management team to head up one or more initiatives per quarter.  

To kick-off Q1, RaeAnne Turner ESM and Gil Frias AGM selected a great effort. Jillian’s of San Francisco Adopted a City block.  In conjunction with the City of San Francisco Public Works Department the team cleaned up an area just down the street from the club. The main area is the over and underpasses to HWY 101 and a major transportation route out if the city.  So on March 27th they, Gil and RaeAnne and a few trusty warriors headed down to the fwy area to start.  The team picked up garbage, swept, removed and painted over graffiti and the general clean up of the area are just a few of the important jobs they completed. 

Many people stopped to watch the team in the “Jillian’s Volunteer” shirts and thanked the team for helping keep our city clean.  In the coming weeks there will be a sign posted that the block has been adopted by Jillian’s of San Francisco.  it will also serve as great exposure as this route exiting the city is very heavily traveled.  I was blown away by this effort and even more grateful for the effort once I found out the team will continue with this effort once a month.  Wow, is all I can say!  We have once a month clean up and from last year we have continued with on-going Volunteering at the world famous Glide Memorial Church Soup Kitchen (seen in the Will Smith movie Pursuit of Happiness).  

Thank you team for giving your on-going efforts to the community and city at large. You are all truly making a difference in this world one person at a time.  

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Presidential Celebration in SFO

Across this great nation there is a celebration of change and new beginnings.  We too in SFO also held an early morning Inauguration Viewing Event. Many woke early to a host of events around the city. Our group of 100 or so was here early for breakfast and cocktails to celebrate. From couples, families, servers, off duty team members, even a school class and our delivery drivers all stood in silence as the Oath of Office was taken.

Many continued to celebrate and planned on returning for our big replay party tonight. It was electric in here and seeing it on the 50ft Video wall, is truley awesome!!! As the public address took place you could see many shed tears of joy as we enter this new era in Washington. “The times be a changing” (quote from Babe Ruth) and on this day many are proud of what we have accomplished and what we will accomplish in the years to come. Hats off to all of you, I’m sure you all had great viewing parties.  God Bless America.

San Francisco’s 2008/2009 New Years Eve Party

San Francisco’s New Years Eve Party was a time to celebrate. With guest from all over the Bay Area including many international guests traveling from Dubai, Hong Kong and London.

The atmosphere was a vibrant and fun with the most amount of fun counting down the New Year with the countdown footage from this past Summer 2008 Olympics - the drummers with the clock counting down in lights. Truly very captivating to see on the big video wall.

The night was a great success. The team did an awesome job of executing the event and many were very, very happy with the party. Happy New Year to you all. May your dreams come true in 2009.

Giving a Little this Holiday Season goes a long way……

I was approached by a grade 6 student who, in her spirit of giving was collecting Penny donations to help the Homeless and Children’s Charity this Holiday season. 

 Being touched by this young persons leadership and her own subscription to, “Embrace Opportunity, Everything Matters and especially Make a Difference”, I could not be more compelled to help her in her mission.

This holiday season with poor economic time everyone is being touched by program cuts, lay-offs and housing situations to name a few.  The thank you letter below says it all.  I ask this season if you can help those less fortunate in any way please do what you can….you will Make a Difference in someones life this holiday seasson.

Happy Holidays

Jillian’s of San Francisco gives back in a big way!!!!!

Team San Francisco’s Q4 Community Initiative was headed by AUM Bryan Galope and Supervisor Timor Mobarak and this quarter we donated our time to the World famous Glide Memorial Services Foundation.  

Gilde helps many in need, especially in these hard economic times and is located in a very depressed part if the City. Poverty, drug abuse, violence, and despair persist in San Francisco as they do across the country. By working to combat these problems, Glide serves as an oasis in a desert of hopelessness, marching to the edge where victories for social justice are won. Glide is a place where old, destructive ways of being are thrown out and new ones created. Where names are named and love is celebrated and a simple call goes out to all races, classes, genders, ages, and sexual orientations: its recovery time. It’s time to love unconditionally. 

Our team stepped up in a big way by preparing food, serving food on the front line and offering friendly conversation to those in need. This experience touched our team so deeply that we have committed to Glide that a team from Jillian’s of San Francisco will participate once a month in the meals services program or wherever we may be needed. This is a very moving effort and I encourage all those that read this to visit Glide at http://www.glide.org/. As I reflect on the teams mission this past quarter my emotions choke me up and remain tender.  Helping people to this magnitude speaks volumes and to the entire team both past volunteers and future, thank you for believing in people and being nonjudgmental. Your devotion to our core values, the donation of your time and the passion in which you have dedicated yourself to this cause has Made a Difference, you have Embraced Opportunity to help others, You Made it your own, you WOW’d Everyone and because Everthing Matters you given your time for a year. All I can say is - I’m proud of you all and Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Below you will find a series of photo’s chronicling the team’s day at Glide.

Team San Francisco helps Project Open Hand

Team San Francisco teamed up with Project Open Hand to help the elderly and those suffering from AID’s.

During the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival our team helped staff booths, gave out chocolate samples….ate many and sold water all benefiting Project Open Hand.

There was great spirit among the team and who would have turned down donating time at a Choclate Festival?  The event was held at the World Famous Ghirardelli Square at Fishermans Wharf on a great, warm sunny San Francisco Day.

The Event raised $60,000 for the cause. The money will be distributed to different shelters around the Bay Area.

Thanks Team for helping give back.

Team San Francisco gives back.

One of the Q3 initiatives Team San Francisco took on was working a water station during on of the many Marathons the City of San Francisco hosts.

The team woke early and headed out to the streets at 4:00am to set up and ready the station for the many runners…..estimates have the race at 2500 plus runners.

The team was responsible for providing water to the runners and need to be on there game as pods of hundreds of racers grabbed for water while running past the station.  After 6 hours the team successfully provided all runners with water.

It was a great day and the team enjoyed a great day of fun and laughter.  Thank you for volunteering your time and we’ll see you at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival……more to come on this.  Enjoy the pictures below.

Wow, what an accomplishment!!!

San Francisco’s own Jenny Sullivan (Bartender) took on the fight against Aid’s in the “San Francisco Run for the Cure” on July 27th.  

This race held every year in major cities around the world has participants sign up to run a Marathon!  Yes, a full blown Marathon.  This was Jenny’s very first Marathon ever. She trained hard, day in a day out. The team here in SF helped with donations, moral support, continued encouragement in this huge undertaking. Not only did Jenny finish the race she also raised $2000.00 in donations. Great job Jenny, we are very proud of you for not giving up and completing this great ‘Run for the Cure”. 

 Jenny finished the Marathon is 4hrs and 30min and has continued to train for future races. You’re a champ and congratulations!�

Take me out to the Ball Game

This year San Francisco entered a team in the San Francisco Co-Ed Baseball League.   Coach Chris Caleca and AGM - Gil Frias lead the team.

This past week the team came back from to win the game 9-8 after being down 8-2 in the sixth inning.

This is a great opportunity to bring some of our team together outside the workplace.

More to come………………..stayed tuned

Q2 Giving back to the Community

This past Q2 the BOH team of KM~Martin and AKM~Memo headed up the initiative.  The team selected to provide cleaning and grounds keeping effort to St. Anthonys Church in Oakland.  The church is in a somewaht depressed area and needed this TLC more the ever.

 The team did a great job. They showed up in the early morning dawn on June 24th to the suprize of the Pastor.  Not only showing up with big crew of helping hands, the team showed up with over $200.00 in cleaning supplies and tools to leave behind at the church for their future use.

The church was so greatful they sent me a letter of thanks and recognition for this great donation of time and materials. The church especially went out of the way to mention the entire team by name and thank them for the efforts to make the church beautiful once again.

 Thank you team San Francisco for making this Q2 initiative so successful. You make us all proud!!  Up next in Q3 with our community initiative is AGM~Burke and jack of all trades Robbin, this should be interesting!!!!!

A sharp eye siezes opportunity, confirms system check!

I must stop and take the time to recognize Martin Tamayo our Kitchen Manager for jumping all over a great opportunity.

As we all know prices of everything have being soaring! On review of some invoices Martin noticed our fresh Salmon jumping from $5.75 per pound to almost $8.00 a pound.  This is a huge sales item for us and the cost has a big impact on COGS for our property.

Martin pointed out the issue to the vendor and after several calls, diligent follow up and maintaining a great supplier relationship our vendor found the issue, and resolved it very quickly.  The cause of this error was a simple as fixing a programming issue.

It seems that the owner of the Seafood Company locked in our prices into their system for a year. It just happened that while the owner was away on vacation the price lock expired!!  So the staff at the seafood company just kept shipping but at the open market price.  Since we have been a loyal client for almost 8 years we get very special pricing, as well as a volume discount.

The end result is that there was an error and our pricing is back to the $5.75 rate. We have received credits for the over charges and better, more aggressive pricing across the board on all seafood items from this supplier.

A good lesson for all of us is…..high tech is great, but there is still a margin for error. Basic receiving procedures pay off huge dividends when we follow the systems we have in place.

Great job Martin!

SF Hosts the Walk Across America for Autism Awareness Fundraiser/Launch Party

Worchester Jillian’s employee Bobby Genese and his friend Robert Williams are walking across the country (13 States) to raise awareness and money for families with struggling to pay for autism therapy.

Jillian’s of San Francisco was proud to sponsor the kick off event for these two amazing guys and help send them off on their journey. 

Their journey is no small task.  Robert and Bobby are going to brave the elements for 10 to 12 months over 3000 miles.  While driving across the country on there way to San Francisco they buried food and water in the dirt with G.P.S. tracking units so that they wouldn’t parish in the Nevada dessert and other harsh terrain areas.

As a gift team San Francisco presented Bobby and Robert each with a jacket to commemorate the walk (please see photos below). We wish these men well on there walk and hope you will offer encouragement by having people you know turn out to greet these two fine men as they walk through an area near you.

 Good luck Bobby and Robert…..you are an inspiration to us all!!!!!!!!

To contribute to their cause go to:

www.nationalautism.org/eliaswalk

Team San Francisco Gives Back at Alcatraz

This year for our Community Servcie we paired together FOH Managers, BOH Managers and the ESM to run our Community Service Initiatives.

First up was the team headed by AGM Gil Frias and ESM Jennifer Masto. Their group donated time to the SF Parks and Rec Department to help keep the famous Alcatrz Island’s gardens clean and beautiful for visitors to the city.  The team spent the day at the island under the direction of Parks and Rec.

What a great place to spend the day and afterward they all had the chance to check out this famous prison.  Many had been there before, but for some it was a first.  We recommend that if you come to the city, head over to Alcatraz, its a great tour.  Below you will find some pictures of the day and more photos will be on our web page soon.   The team was stoked to have so much fun and after a hard days work they enjoyed lunch on the island.  Thanks team.  Up in Q2 is the BOH KM - Martin Tamayo and  AKM-Memo Cervantes - I wonder what they will get us into????  Enjoy!

Continue reading Team San Francisco Gives Back at Alcatraz…

Look who got caught with a Leprechaun!!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, what do you make of this?

107.7FM Bone Rock Girl Comes to SFO

St Patricks Day was an interesting day in San Francisco. We hosted the third annual 107.7FM Bone Rock Gril promo. Basically this huge classic rock station searches each year for a new face of the station for events and special functions. The lucky winner also gets $10,000.00 and a salary for a year with the Bone.

The entire Bone morning team of Lamont and Tonelli were on hand to emcee the event as were many other Bone DJ’s. Entertainment was provided by the rock band Full on Fly Head - they even brought a fly to dance (see the picture below).  The Bone and its listeners were very happy with the promotion and gave us huge exposure in the Bay area. The team and fun and everyone contributed to the great event.

The pictures below will give you an idea of the event. To see all of the contestants look up http://www.thebonerockgirl.com/

 Lastly congratulations to “Hope” the new 2008 Bone Rock Girl!

San Francisco Community Service

In Q4 Team San Francisco worked with the United States Marine Corps to help kids during this special time of year.  The Toys for Tots drive was a huge success and our guest really enjoyed the presence of the Marines in full dress uniform. As they entered the club and people took notice a proud silence carried across the room.  It was very special.

The Marines interacted with the guests and wished them well and to be safe during thier next tour oversee’s.  They even played a game of pool with the guests. The photo below is the Marines with a guest in the billiards room.

This event was a huge success and was headed by ESM Jennifer Masto. Several large bags of toys were donated to the cause and the Marines left with full hands.  We salute the women and men of all divisions of the service and thank them for there help. Happy Holidays to all in the JBC family.

Sincerely,

Team San Francisco

Jillian’s and Jimmy V Hard at Work

I write to you all with my heart on my sleeve and deep emotion.  After returning from the Jimmy V Golf Classic this past year news was broken to me that my mother had bone cancer and was going to require treatment.  After many doctors appointments news finally came back that yes my mother had bone cancer, but she also had - Lung Cancer, 3 large cancer tumors in her brain, Bone Cancer and several patches of cancer all over internal organs - all this over two weeks. Then news got worse - 6 months or so to live!

After the sock I reached out to the Jimmy V Foundation via Chip Romp to see if there was anything they could do to help in making my mother more comfortable.  Through the goodness of this great organization they sent my mother letter, a “Don’t Ever Give Up’ Silver bracelett and some support materials - most importantly Jim Valvano’s speech from the ESPY Awards.  This deeply moved my mom and to date has helped her with great courage and strength in the battle with this diease, she repeat the words daily “Don’t Ever Give Up, Don’t Ever Give Up”.  Below you will find a copy of the card my mom asked me to pass on to all of you and on my most recent trip back to Toronto she asked me to thank you and Jillian’s for supporting the Jimmy V Foundation. My mom also enclosed a check for the Jimmy V Foundation that Chip will be forwarding on.  Please see the card below;

Thank you all for your efforts every year in supporting the Jimmy V Foundation I know if we keep supporting the V Foundation and raising funds we can find a cure.  Thank you!

Darren & Family

General Manager San Francisco

Thank you from a Jillians Has Heart Recipent in SFO

Below is a letter from a San Francisco recipent of Jillians Has Heart -

Jillian’s - I want to thank you for everything you have helped me with. Never in a million years did I imagine that I would be hit from behind while walking to pay bills at 8:30am on my day off.  I was struck by two cars that crashed into each other and came on to the sidewalk and pushed me into a concrete wall. That wreck caused my Tiba to break in 15 places that has been replaced with a metal rod and also resulted in the amputation of 2 toes. I was in the hospital for almost one month.

My life has changed drastically. Everthing in an instant turned inside out. My bills, my rent was never paid….I never made it!  The lights were shut off to my apartment, rent wasn’t paid….WOW! I can not work for a long while, what was I going to do?  If wasn’t for Jillian’s and the Heart Foundation I’m not sure where I would be. My career as a professional bartender is over for now!  That is the worst feeling ever especially when you love your work and what you did.

I am a single mother with a 13 year old son and thanks to all of you he is able to go back to school and has a roof over his head with lights and some nice clothes. I am so grateful and if you only knew how blessed you made me.  Thanks for all the support.

Darren you are the best boss I have ever had. It was a pleasure. Keep up the good work, you are the best.

Robin, thanks for being my friend and having my son in your heart and mind. You are the best.

Jennifer and Ericka, thanks for having my back and making my birthday in the hospital a lot better.

I miss all of you so much. I miss my job where I worked really bad. Thanks again for everything  See you all when I get better.

 Sincerely,

Monica Orundo

A Big thank you to the IT Guys

Last week our Restaurant Magic system went down on a Tuesday afternoon and chaos broke out as I’m sure you can imagine. “What, no RM PC to enter all the invoices, do P&L work and check on payroll”!   

We shipped out our system to HQ and James Lee and John Swoders worked some magic and replaced the hard-drive and we had our system back up and running Saturday afternoon of the same week. We just want to drop a line to James and John and thank them for getting us back up and running. 

Thank you from Team San Francisco for a speedy recovery and getting us back on track, it made our Monday that much easier!

Sincerely,

Team San Francisco

Special day in SF

We just wanted to share a great WOW story with you all.  This past weekend we had a couple celebrate thier 4th wedding anniversary with us in SFO, but what makes it special is this.

Four years ago the gentleman proposed to the lady at Jillian’s in SFO over dinner and a game of billiards.  He had hidden the engaement ring inside a Teddy Bear and propsed.  Since the marriage they have devoted all thier time and energy to thier children and have not spent a night on the town in 4 years. Yes read it …4 years, you parents out there know what this is like.

This past weekend the husband came in with the orginal Teddy Bear and asked us to present it to them when as they were dining,  as they were celebrating at the place where it all began.

So on Saturday the couple came to Jillian’s to celebrate there first night out since the kids arrived. The couple arrived in a limo after a day of shopping and enjoyed dinner with us at Jillian’s.  Around dessert time we presented a gift (the bear) and some Champagne to the table.  We all watched for the reaction.

 Much to the ladies suprize the bear appeared and so did a whole pile of tears from the couple. After pulling themselves together I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with them and wish them well on behalf of all of us at Jillian’s.  They were thrilled!  We looked after the the entire evening for them and with that…there were very appreciative of the geasture and thankful for such great friends at Jillian’s.  The happy couple stayed for the night club and around midnight they left for home.

The couple had left us with these parting word’s ” Jillian’s will always be apart of our lives, thank you for making this day so special”!

We as a team are very happy to share this story and goes to show that we build our guest base in very unique ways.