Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Lights, Drapes, Launch!

NueroBrands, a trendy up and coming beverage company, hosted their Haralambos Launch Party at Jake’s.  Lindsay Lohan is a huge advocate of NeuroBliss,  & Lada Gaga is showcasing NueroSonic in her most recent video, are a few celebrities backing this brand, adding to the pressure of making everything perfect.  All involved were surprised at the transformation of the VIP Room when the set-up was done.  Even our visitor Tony Humphreys was shocked with the white linen walls, coordinated lighting, and creative touches throughout the room including product bottles for condiments, cupcakes molded in the shapes of the bottles, empty bottles for cocktail table vases, and food sign holders made out of the bottle lids.  The team really pulled together on this one everyone adding their own little touch and putting in hard work and long hours, without this the end result would not have been so impressive.

Bar Fights at Jake’s

Street Fighter IV was released with great anticipation in January of 2009 and sold out before it was even on shelves in stores.  Despite it’s popularity we were not too sure of the success that could come with hosting a Street Fighter tournament at our club.  Not willing to turn away any possible sell whether it be $200 or $2000 Jake and I met with someone interested in doing a tournament here.  After a few meetings we decided that the event was worth trying if nothing else but to get 100 people in our club that wouldn’t normally come. 

Shortly after we started to realize how “BIG” this community of Street Fighter acutally was.  Our host Ryan is one of the top players in the nation and had committment from the other top players in the nation.  It turned out that Ryan “Gootecks” has his own very well established website and was a star within this community.  The excitement started to build when he came in and filmed a mini commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A4rHDgt8Vg&eurl) talking about the event and Jake’s, and informed us that people from Japan and Canada wanted him to stream the event for them.

Although there seemed to be some buzz about the event we never would have imagined that it would turn out to be as “BIG” as it was.  The event was scheduled to begin at 5:00 pm, but we had guests starting to arrive as early as 12:00 pm.  By 3:45 we had a line that stretched down the alley to Colorado Blvd of the attendees that wanted to enter the “Beat a Pro Contest”.  We realized by 5:00 pm that we were at our 278 occupancy and we would have to start a line.  We had employees from neighboring bars coming over to see what was going on, we even had the Pasadena Police who were eating next door perturbed at the amount of people waiting to see this event.  It turned out that the Pros were all stars within the community, there was filming, interviewing and tons of picture taking.  

The best part of all was that these were people coming in to just watch so they were generously purchasing food & drinks.  In order to take the event to the next level we set-up promos with Jager and Bud Lt to have their girls come out, and we had a sampling from a new beverage company. 

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Universal and Pasadena have become old pro’s at teaming up to get our name and venues out in any way possible.  We start scheming weeks in advance about how we are going to do something with our set-up, presentation & materials that will make us stand out from the rest.  Thanks to our organic mini-cupcakes, awesome Nintendo Wii set-up, and our “green friendly” sales kits on Cd’s we defintely stood out from the rest.  Not to mention we were the only ones without the standard white table cloth.  We were told by almost every attendee, not to mention multiple vendors that our booth was the most elaborate and impressive.

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Recession-smession

Burke Williams, a very loyal neighbor to Jake’s was recently affected by the economy just like everyone else.  They were forced with the decision of taking a 10% pay-cut across the board in order to avoid laying off employees.  We have a very close relationship with one of the managers from there and she mentioned that morale was down, and to top it off the company would not be able to have any Holiday Parties.

 This manager was the winner of our September Guest Bartending Contest and won a party for 20 guests.  She mentioned that although she wanted to use it for her birthday she thought it would help her employees more if she somehow turned it into a party for them.  Jake and I approached her with our “Block Party” invitation and she thought it was a great idea, but that $12 per person for 100 employees was still too much.  So we asked how much they could afford…when we heard the budget of $1000 we knew it would be tough but really wanted to make it work.  So Jake crunched some numbers and told Jen that we could do it for that much and they were on there own with alcohol.  She was so happy and appreciative.

The party was last night and boy did they have fun.  Our $1000 of food and entertainment easily turned into over $2000 in sales after the alcohol.  The even bigger thing is that now they are going to remember that we were here for them and when this economy turn around I am sure they will be knocking on our door.  Even better is that her birthday is this Monday and she will redeem and upgrade her party so who knows how much more they will spend on alcohol.

Ugly Sweaters at Jake’s

I wasn’t too sure what I was getting myself into 1 year ago this month when I agreed to be on the Board of Directors for the Pasadena Jaycees.  I looked at it as an opportunity to network and spread the word about Jake’s through a very young and social group of professionals.  Then I found out what my position actually was, planning all social events for the chapter, perfect!!!!  I managed to bring Jake’s 2 successful mixers, a huge pub crawl, a guest bartending event, 3 large catering pick-up orders.  Then I found myself planning our Holiday Party not very successfully.  I had no location, and no idea what to do.  My committee and I came up with this fantastic idea of doing an Ugly Sweater theme, and I knew Jake’s would be the perfect setting for that.

The party was a hit!  Jake’s pool tables, guitar hero, yummy food, and super fun staff was perfect for our party!  The Ugly Sweaters and 1 Human Christmas Tree combined with The Santa Clause Pub Crawl that just so happened to be there at the same time was a sight to see!  The Jaycees already love Jake’s but now there’s one more reason. 

Team Jake’s pulls together

Take a walk through little old Jake’s for the first time, and you will agree that pulling off events here at Jake’s is a task…our little “kitchen” shared with the build-your-own burger concept that has taken off, no storage space, and very limited equipment does not make it easy.

 Friday we had 4 events for the day…we finished round 1 and reset for the evenings 2 parties without a hitch, so with everything under control I decided to take a little break and take a walk.  I return 45 min before the parties arrive to find Jake crawling behind the desk frantically trying to figure out why our computers crashed.  I realized at that moment that it was going to be an interesting evening.  About 2 minutes later we get Ray on the phone from the kitchen asking Jake how he can fix spin dip that had “slightly” burned…add more milk says Jake.  I walk out of the office to see that both parties had arrived 30 min early so I go upstairs to start sending out the food and it is more chaos.  The poor servers are adding guest checks with their cell phone calculators, poor Ray is standing over the pot of spin dip trying to figure out what to do.  And in true Jake’s fashion the night gets worse.  Jake is now completely occupied with trying to fix the micros (at this point the keyboard and the mouse have stopped working as well), Ray is on food patrol, while I am charming our early guests, along with trying to lend a hand to the cafe servers that are pulling their hair out (I make a trip allllll the way down stairs to the back to get the plug in calculator, walk allllll the way back, move the pepsi refrig to plug it in and then realize I grabbed the wrong plug….allll the way back I go).  Wow, what else is going to happen I think!  Well, the satelite wouldn’t cooperate to put the game that our party requested….and now we’ve got a guest that needs to be cut off!

 All of this and more in the matter of an hour and a half…but the 3 of us pulled together like 3 sweaty champs and pulled it off!  As quickly as it all happened everything just kinda came together, the food came out, the computers magically started working, and Ray fixed the spin dip!  We sat down in the office in awe at what just happened, poor Jake even had burn marks on his shirt from getting shocked while fixing the comp.  Our guests never knew what was happening around them.  They were very pleased with everything….in fact I was stopped on my way out for about 15 minutes worth of picture taking with the Hertz party because they were so happy (pictures to follow).  �

jake’s makes a difference

 Couldn’t be said any better than this…. 

Hi Deanne, 

It was fun to see you!  When you get a chance, can you please send me the latest proposal, doesn’t have to be the formal signed one. 

And again, thank you so, so very much for your pleasantness (and diligence, of course).  It makes such a difference! Can you please make sure your boss knows how much we appreciate you (or are you the boss)?  Is Ray your boss? 

See you tomorrow! DZ 

Dolores Zawol
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Systems Engineering Section 313
4800 Oak Grove Drive, M/S 301-490
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
Tel:   818-354-2026
Fax:  818-393-6871
Email:  dolores.zawol@jpl.nasa.gov

Pasadena Kicks Some Balls!

For those who didn’t get enough playing time in elementary school, kickball lives on in Pasadena. Jake’s has become the home of many local kickball players. Every Friday night you can find the bar and billiards rooms bustling with men and women dressed in athletic shorts, knee high socks and kickball cleats. 

No it’s not a softball team, it’s KICK BALL!
WAKA® is the World Adult Kickball Association® - the preeminent adult kickball organization and the world authority and governing body of kickball.
Team Pasadena host WAKA Kickball event! Jake’s hosted WAKA’s Mid Season/Charity fundraiser last week. The event raised $550 for Union Station, a local homeless shelter!
Interested in supporting your local team? Visit their website at http://www.kickball.com.
“Play Ball”

Tragedy at USC hits close to home

Los Angeles news reported a story of a USC student that was stabbed to death late Wednesday evening after an argument.  I heard the initial story with minimal details, and went on about my day.  While watching the evening news I learned that the victim was from the Fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon.  Sigma Eps hosts rush events at Pasadena as well as Universal twice a year.

We wanted to show our support during this tough time, so we sent the Sigma Eps House a sympathy basket with a card from both clubs.  Although a basket is a small gesture we hope the guys will remember that they are valued by the Jillians Family. �

Pasadena & Universal JAM!

Pasadena and Universal teamed collaborated with a booth at the Let’s Jam! trade show hosted by ISES (International Special Events Society).  A booth perfectly illustrated each of the venues offerings, highlighted by a Nintendo Wii setup.  Although she says it was her “first time playing” Marie did a fabulous job of consistently demonstrating the Wii and how much of a great addition it would be for any event.  In fact, she probably went straight to purchase one for her home after we loaded up!  Our booth was definetely among the most visited and for the longest period of time.  We also handed out cookies, game cards, and plenty of sales kits to event planners from the Los Angeles area.  I’m sure the buy-out success stories are sure to follow!

Who says event planners don’t like to party…

Guest Bartender Contest a huge success!

Jake’s Pasadena is rounding up a month long Guest Bartender Contest.  15 Guest Bartenders signed up to jump behind the bar and serve their guests for 2 hours.  They were encouraged to bring as many people as possible so they could have the highest sales and be crowned “Jake’s Guest Bartender Champion 08″.  Beer Sales Reps, Administrative Asst’s, as well as Managers from local businesses participated.  We’ve got 3 more lined up, but the #1 spot currently belongs to Tiffany from Smith Barney, who also donated all of her $500 in tips to donate to City of Hope Cancer Hospital.

Another Arrest Warrant Issued

At exactly 11:30 a.m. the patty wagon, 2009 Volkswagen Passat, pulled into Mills Alley and out came my parole officer.  She quickly slapped on the cuffs and whisked me away on a drive to my awaiting jail cell.  The drive, that easily could have been a walk, took about 10 minutes thanks to Old Town Pasadena’s one-way streets.  

I was booked, fingerprinted, and my mug shot was taken.  It turned out the $300 bail money raised by Jake’s team was no match to the $2400 needed for my bail, so I was sentenced to the phones.

2:00 p.m. and I’m released after an additional $300 of bail money was raised.  Then it was back to the phones for another cause, selling parties!!

Deanna and the Pasadena team raised $600 in bail money for the MDA Lock-up.

Ferrari Concorso comes to Old Town Pasadena

Snow Cones by Jake

Jake’s got the yellow Ferrari

Ferrari’s lined Colorado Blvd

Cinco De Mayo

Don’t count Burger’s & Beer out of the list of Cinco de Mayo festivities.  Jake’s joined in celebrating Cinco de Mayo with burgers, Corona, & Mariachi.

Laker’s All The Way

Our Los Angeles Lakers are on their way to victory once again!  Friday evening the Lakers closed out their series and Jake’s was the place to watch it!  We had the Miller Lite girls on hand to add a little more viewing pleasure.                       

Guest Bartending at Jake’s

This was the first of a new Guest Bartending promo here at Jake’s in Pasadena.  The event is a fabulous Team Building opportunity.  In this group the Assistant City Engineer for the City of Pasadena, along with a colleague from another department tended bar for their teammates during Happy Hour. All guests had a great time getting creative ordering Harvey Wallbangers & AMF’s to stump their bosses they even had bar books.   The event was only supposed to go for 1 hour, but ran for almost 3 hours because no one wanted to go!

The best part is the guys donated all of their tips to the Jimmy V Foundation which was over $100!

Jake’s Dodger Bus

We hosted a Dodger Party Bus on Wednesday, for about 30 guests.  The “Party Bus” absolutely made the event.  Guests we able to dance, drink, etc… on the bus to the game.  The bus was a really old school bus that was all decked inside & out.  Everyone had such a great time, they asked when the next one would be. 

 Stay tuned for the Lakers Bus!

 The pre-bus party

The Party Bus

A letter to Jake’s!

Dear Jessica,

This is a ‘Thank You’ note for the Pool Party won by Melinda L* in a non-profit Raffle event last Christmas. You made everyone in the party feel comfortable and in an easy laid-back enviornment. We all had a great time at your place. All the staff were terrific. We especially liked the tray of appetizers you presented to us. The food was delicious and there was plenty of it.

It was a long way for us to drive to Jake’s Billiards. We came from Van Nuys, California which is west of Pasadena. All the people who attended the Pool Party are involved in a program called Cornerstone. This program helps homeless people get back on their feet again. David M* (who put up the security deposit) is a facilitator from a program called Project Return. He comes to Cornerstone to conduct group discussions with the Cornerstone clients. It was Project Return’s Christmas luncheon where I won the raffle to have a Pool Party at Jake’s Billiards. I’m sure glad I did as we had such a good time at your establishment.

Please pass on the word to your staff of our thanks.

Sincerely,
Melinda L*