Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Jake’s making a monster opportunity out of a hand sized monster!!!!

You probably have seen those crazy eating competitions on the food network and tv, from huge pie eating contest or to eating hot dogs till you explode. At Jake’s, we try to bring that same kind of commroidtry and competition with the flare of our burgers. Speaking with Jake last  “Wow, its great to see how much attention we get with our Monster Burger displayed on our window I have been only standing here watching for no more than 2 minutes and 25 guests walking by had to stop and simply look at the burger. There were many people who even stood, posed, and took pictures with the massive burger.” said Jake. Jake and I agreed using the monster burger display we generate an extra $200 in food sales because it looks so good! So, the following day Ray and I were discussing club ideas and our two servers Jason an Lincoln, came to us saying, “Someone has accepted the Jake’s challenge.” His name was Jeremy he said ” That burger looks pretty good I think I could eat it.” I replied, “All right you got it! If your able to finish this challenge you will be the first!” He accepted the Jake’s Challenge. The parameters of this challenge is that you must complete the entire burger of 5 patties 5 pieces of american cheese, and 10 pieces of bacon on a standard Jake’s Burger build in 10 minutes. Jeremy had started on a good pace eating meat first in quarters then eating the bread. ” Wow! this burger is so good but, its fresh its burning my mouth from mouth for being so hot.” He said laughing. His friends shouting “Shut up and eat you only have four minutes left!” At exactly 9:59 he ate his last piece of the Monster he was the pioneer of the Jake Challenge. He ate about 2.35 # of mouth watering goodness! “I never knew something so good can make you so full!” Jeremy laughed. As his reward we bought his burger and gave him a filled up Lucky Seven card stamped for another burger. Already, word of mouth has started and people wanting to break Jeremy’s record! That’s why at Jake’s we can take something as simple and a delicious traditional hamburger into a monster of free advertising of word of mouth!

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Jaime

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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Decked out in Manchester

Manchester found a way to Embrace Opportunity this week….it all started with a customer requesting a deck of cards.  Rae, their server asked me if we had any.  After we searched the office, she returned to tell them that we didn’t.

We have our first comedy show coming up next weekend.  I challenged the girls to go out and try to get their customers to buy tickets.  I told them that I would give them two movie theater tickets if they could sell two of the comedy tickets.  Rae went out to her guests, and the ones that had asked for the cards said that if we could find a deck for them, they would buy two tickets from her.

Of course, Rae was bummed because she knew we didn’t have any cards.  I asked her if she could get someone to watch her section long enough to drive the couple of blocks to the convenience store down the street.  I gave her $2.00 and she came back in less than ten minutes with two decks of cards.  As promised…her customers bought two comedy tickets from her.

In the end, the customer was happy to get the deck of cards….Rae was happy that she won two movie tickets, and, of course, I was happy that we were able to sell two comedy tickets.

Manchester embraced an opportunity….and we all left that night with smiles on our faces!

Melissa �

Make it reign!!!! With a Jake’s Original!!!

It started off raining in Pasadena, sometimes can be a turn off to many buisnesses but, I was able to put a smile on my face. I see the advantages of the rain. There is a local bus stop going across 5 cities and a majority of those stops do not have any cover from the rain. I sought this as an opportunity. I spoke to many people asking them to come inside in the cafe and take a seat out of the rain. From there was where I wanted them. They sat down smelling the juicy hot tasty burgers. They can sense the aroma of our fire hot home made in house chili. Then people started taking food to go on the bus. I had one couple who moved from Pasadena about 8 years ago and was forced to take the bus due to their car being in the shop. They use to eat at Jake’s a long time ago and saw our new cling. They took the challenge of creating their own burger and the end results we won!. We sold to our guests that having a traditional burger can never go wrong when you make it your way. The guest said ” I have to tell you, I am going on that bus with over 25 stops and 3 cities I go across and I will tell everyone about how great those burgers are!!!!” Jakes is back with the blog!!!

Embracing Opportunity! Jake’s Gets a boost from Kickball!

This New Year’s Eve party had a boost from some important guests of ours. As we moved close to New Year’s Eve, I was contacted by an individual that plays in the kickball league that we host on Friday’s here. He wanted 2 tickets to our New Year’s Eve Extravaganza!. I asked him, “What about your teammates”? I told him that If he could get 10 of them to come, I would give him his ticket for free. Within 48 Hours. I had 8 members of his team and 5 from 2 other teams buying tickets! Wow! A little Promotion always goes a long way. They had a great time and told me that they couldn’t wait until their next season!

Ray D

Taking some opportunties out of the holidays!!

Well with the New Year’s day this past Thursday our good old Jimmy B. couldnt do his normal Karaoke here at Jakes. I couldnt let that happen especially since we were voted the best in Pasadena. So I used our WII and used American Idol Karaoke Edition and got some karaoke regulars to stay longer. They had lots of fun. So they got a great experience without us spending that much more extra on a holiday. Also, on side note we had extra chips from NYE so we sold quite a few of them that same night which kept our singing crowd pretty thirsty for drinks!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA

MEMPHIS “WOW’s” THE LIBERTY BOWL TEAM WELCOME PARTY!!

On Monday, December 29, 2008,  Jillian’s had the honor of sponsoring the University of Kentucky and East Carolina in the Official Liberty Bowl Team Welcome Party!

Things were so “off the chain” with us feeding 800 guest in 20 minutes that we had a visit by Memphis’s finest!

Our staff was waiting at the door to hand out or VIP Passes to the 800 expected guests! The VIP Passes were outfitted with a bounce back incentive on the back to ensure that they were welcome back to be our guests while visiting our great city!

Check out Wade, our fearless GM, ready to greet the teams!

To get the teams ready for their big game, we have several competitions all over the building. They could choose from bowling, billiards or one of the many Wii’s or Xboxes on our big screens. At one point they got each other going with an impromptu rap off on the microphone!

Who will win the coveted Liberty Bowl? We will know on Jan 2nd!

I must give a HUGE applause to Wade and all of Team Memphis for their flawless execution of such a big event!! Our building was beautiful with ice sculptures of the Team Logos on each buffet and each floor decorated with team colors! There was live entertainment and pleanty of food and drink for everyone!

The top of the night was when the head of the Liberty Bowl came up to me and said, I quote “This was the best welcome party EVER!!!

UFC 92 in the WOO!!!!!

IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE UFC FIGHTS EVEN MORE SUCCESSFUL THEN USUAL, WE WENT BIGGER AND BETTER THEN EVER AND PARTNERED UP WITH SEVERAL LOCAL COMPANIES TO PULL OFF A HUGE PROMOTION.

PAUL CONTACTED HIS FAVORITE MMA GYM (MMA TRAINING CENTER) AND WE MET WITH THE WORCESTER POLICE GANG UNIT AND CAGE FIGHTING EXTREME PROMOTERS TO PROMOTE WORCESTER’S FIRST EVER LIVE FIGHT THIS JANUARY. THEY WANTED TO BE AT THE PLACE THAT HAS THE MOST DIEHARD MMA FANS AND WE ARE DEFINITELY THE PLACE TO BE.

AT 9PM WITH NEARLY 300 PEOPLE IN THE DOOR, A HUGE TIGER STRIPED HUMMER LIMO PULLED UP TO THE FRONT OF JILLIAN’S. OUT STEPPED NEWLY SIGNED UFC PPV FIGHTER: JOHN “DOOMSDAY” HOWARD. HE ENTERED WITH HIS ENTOURAGE OF 20 “TAPOUT” AND “TUFF ENUFF” GIRLS ALONG WITH SOME OTHER MMA FIGHTERS. WE SET UP A GREAT SPOT FOR THEM IN THE V/C AND HE SIGNED AUTOGRAPHS, GAVE AWAY TICKETS TO THE EVENT, T-SHIRTS AND TOOK PLENTY OF PICTURES ALL FOR FREE. THIS GAVE UFC FANS SOMETHING THEY WOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER. HE EVEN SQUARED OFF AGAINST PAUL (OUR GM) AND TOOK SOME FOOTAGE FOR THE LOCAL WORCESTER & BOSTON PAPERS AND TV. IT WAS AM AWESOME TIME FOR ALL AND DOOMSDAY WAS A PLEASURE TO MEET. MAKE SURE YOU CHEER HIM ON JANUARY 31ST AS HE WILL BE FIGHTING ON THE LIVE PPV EVENT!! WE TOOK A HUGE NIGHT FOR US AND MADE IT BETTER THEN EVER BY SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A UNIQUE-INTERACTIVE PROMOTION THAT WILL HAVE THE CITY BUZZING FOR QUITE AWHILE.

Taking a “Monster Opportunity” on the streets of Colorado….

Ahh the day after Christmas, it was a new day at Jake’s with my clip board in hand doing my Open Manager Checklist for the day. I started outside Jake’s and looked at the streets of Colorado blvd. I thought to myself I should do a small “Coach’s Corner” like the ones we work with Tony and Jake. I asked myself, “What can I do to make this window more appealing to new guests and people walking around Colorado Blvd?”Then it donned on me, I started to make the mammouth Heartattack burger! I took 5 patties, 5 pieces of american cheese, and 10 pieces of bacon to make this mammouth Create your own burger! Also with this burger, I made a Chicken Bowl with Fries. I also decorated this piece with liqour bottles, beer bottles, and our NYE flyers. Just five minutes of finally putting the piece together people were standing taking pictures of the burger and coming in to eat. I decided to do this because, it take the average person two seconds to make a choice on whether to eat at a place or not. So, I figured I have a 50-50 chance for a guest to come in or not so this would have to help. I never figured it would help this much though. Within and hour and a half we were in $1,200 in food sales that was a lot of burgers and bowls. Everyone was doing a great job Deanna and I helped our great team to succese. By the end of the lunch shift they already sold $2200 in food. That is a lot of burgers!!!!

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Giving a helping hand and making an opportunity out of it…..

Our fellow boys in blue, our Pasadena Police were enjoying their favorite create your own burger and I overheard the officers trying to find something to do with their wives who they have been neglecting with the extra hours of work keeping our streets safe. So, me in the holiday spirit walk over to the officers and speak to them. I said, “I heard you guys can use a little hand. How about you guys, bring your wives down tonight to play some pool on me. It is only right that you have a good time with them.” The officers agreed to come with their wives. So the wives come first. I introduce them to myself and show them around the club and introduce all the great things we have to offer here at the club. One wife in particular was so impressed with everything she is in the works on having a buyout of our club in August for her high school reunion of 430 people. The night concluded with a large tab over $450 of food and drinks. They most defiantly came to eat, drink and play.

One man’s loss is another man’s gain…..By seizing opportunites!

It was a typical Thursday making orders and beer deliveries. Yet I felt this was a special day. Rick our driver from Classic beverage was having a phone conversation that I was over hearing speaking on his blue tooth. He was talking to his brother on how they couldn’t find a place to hold their brother’s bachelor party. Places were asking for so much especially in this hard recession. I heard this and I knew I needed to take advantage of this. I told him “I heard you’re having some trouble. Let me see what I can do to help.” I gave him as a gift for his great work he provides at Jake’s our VIP for his brother’s bachelor party. He was really touched. He said he did save some money. So a simple VIP will now grow into a lucrative party. At Jake’s we take care of the individuals who take care of us.

Jaime

The blog to beat all blogs…..

When it comes to making it your own, making a difference, embracing opportunity, proving that everything matters, and wowing everybody I can only think of one person at Jake’s. His name is Marcelino Lopez and he is the pride, passion, and heart of Jake’s and JBC. If you can take at a look at your Red Book’s he is the only person to who have worked for the company 15+ years.  Marcelino, I would say is the man responsible of making Jake’s so successful. Unlike many Jillians, Jake’s has that mystique of being a tradition in Pasadena. Marcelino has that aura of tradition when he walks into a work every day. Not many managers or employees can say they are working with a living walking piece of history; I have to say I am very fortunate that I am working with him. Marcelino has worked from billiard tables, to construction, to basic maintenance. Marcelino’s energy, passion, and work ethic beat some employees twice as young as him. I would have to say we all should stand up for him give him a round of applause and give him thanks for being a true pioneer of core beliefs in JBC. 

 Jaime

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

Be jealous KM’s I have the best cooks ever!!!

Tuesday night, we had our Block Party for our good friends at Burke Williams we turned our kitchen into a pasta making machine. Trying to cook for about 120 people pasta in our small kitchen is pretty amazing but we had a tough problem. How do we cook over 25 # of pasta, sauces, cheese sticks, and meatballs with one large pot and at the time 3 working stove top burners.  Lots of hard work at first but, Lupe one of our cooks had a great idea he thought of turning our deep fryer into a pasta machine. That was brilliant. So we quickly changed the oil and set up the machine as a pasta cooker. Wow we were cooking pasta so fast. I was getting many compliments from all the Burke Williams staff on how great the food was. Great job guys!!!!

Jaime

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. 

A mistake into an opportunity

We were having an event at Jake’s and there was some confusion on the guest count. So we had ordered and cooked extra food. My cooks were upset; they thought made a mistake. I responded to them by saying no you gave us an opportunity. So I spoke with Lincoln one of our café servers, I told him lets offer some guest an hour of free pool and have them try our event food. We were able to get 15 guests to come down and try our event food. One guest tried our food and said, “I knew your burgers were good but these Chipotle BBQ Meatballs are amazing.”  I spoke with the guests about the many events, food, and fun things we have to offer. So I gave them one of our VIP Passes and they plan on using it for Super Bowl Sunday and they plan on upgrading it.  This proves with every opportunity presented to you, you need to capitalize at all costs.  - Jaime

Turning a game of pool into an opportunity

Tuesday nights at Jake’s are very competitive in our 9-Ball Lounge we host our BCA Billiards 8-Ball Pool Team Pool League.  It’s very intense, dramatic, and competitive but, the most important thing FUN!  Last Tuesday night, one team was short a player and was very desperate to find a replacement.  You could see the panic in their eyes of losing an important league game.  So out of the office I come with my pool cue in my hand to accept the challenge and aid the ailing team.  I said “I will be more than glad to offer my services but after you will have to hear me out on an offer you wouldn’t be able to refuse.” They agreed.  As we played, I was talking to all the players trying to see what they were doing for New Year’s and what they like to do for fun. Many of course, said playing pool, have fun with friends, dance, eating, etc.  I just nodded my head quietly listening. A majority of the players said they couldn’t find a party or event for New Year’s Eve.  Then a light bulb donned over my head.  So that night after we won the league game they came up to me saying “You did more than hold your end of the bargain you helped us win! What offer did you have for us?”  I told them about our New Year’s Eve Party we are having.  They loved the idea. I was able to get 15 players to buy tickets for the event.  Who would believe that having fun with guests can be so profitable and rewarding. - Jaime Gonzalves

Working it in Manchvegas!

Hey Everyone - I wanted to take a second and give a shout out to Team Manchester.  In true ESM fashion, I put my operators through the ringer this past week by capturing every “pop-up” opportunity I possibly could (on the busiest Friday and Saturday!).  A total of 4 pop-ups or $2170 in sales.

More often than not, these pop-ups happened the day of, with 5 other parties going on.  Party host would call looking for a “reservation”, door host then passes party host over to me.  Voila!  It’s a party!  More often than not, I hear, “Well, I was thinking about a reservation as I only have 15 people and I have a limited budget…” ESMs - you know how the story goes and the one of the many things we do well at is working with the client and their “limited” budget and throwing a killer event.  AND we know, when that company gets more $$, they will remember who worked with them when times were tough.

Anyway, I don’t want to ramble on to much, but when I went into the kitchen and said, “Guess what? pop up on deck” or when I had the other managers running around to get a server or two for my pop-ups, or when I sent the staff scrambling to set up a party, no one flinched (at least not in front of me!).  Thanks to Brian, Kevin, Tracey, Melissa, Shawn, and all of the servers and bartenders for all of your efforts!  Team Manchester really rocked it out last week and I’m sure this week will be no different! 

Happy Holidays!

Wendy

embrace opportunity

and boy did we… we had the opportunity to shine ( or to fail ) but we managed to pull it out.  we have a buyout tonight that was contracted at 7 pm… their numbers dropped so there has been a lot of revisions, additions, subtractions ( a lot of communication is my point ) well, the host neglected in all of our correspondence to tell me the party changed from 7 pm to 6 pm… we found this out at 5:15 pm! the wheels were set in motion with only 1/2 a staff ( the rest were to arrive at 6! ) bartenders lighting candles, bus boys doing decorations on buffets, our gm having to play video man ,  hostesses counting drink tickets, me plating desserts and the kitchen kicking it down!!! we had preshift at 5:58 - doors at 6 and from my windowless office i can hear the fruits of our labor with holiday cheer … team sf pulled it out again!