Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Measuring your P-Mix

Working on a side project for Jake on how the new menu is working for us, I have been using our P-Mix to find out and this what I have found out for using our new menu for a year….

In one year, we have used 13,388 lbs. of ground beef we sold in burgers that is an equivalent of 2 school buses.

In one year, we have created 196 gallons of chili that is 20 full tanks of gas for an average car.

For the amount of burgers sold, we have sold 52,170 that is 26,085 feet of burgers if you were to line the burgers up side by side, which is almost the size of 3 golden gate bridges, 72 Rose Bowl Football fields and is the distance of 4.94 miles.
 

Jaime

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

Jake’s Cooks make it their own…Making perfection…

The warmth of Southern California has come once again to the street of Colorado.  You can see the many new faces and visitors of Pasadena walking up and down Colorado looking for a quick bite to eat. Then the smell finally hits them, the intense stong smell of the best burger of Pasadena Jake’s! It has been great to see such a turn around I’ve had with my cooks. We had a very strong amount of food sales in December around 9K a week but with their hard work, dedication to small detail, helping each other out, and most importantly passion for the love of the food they make we are averaging just short of 15k. “It takes a lot of time and planning to work in our kitchen.” say Everado Patino. “At first we use to laugh at Jaime about how much we should plan ahead and organize ourselves in the kitchen like office work or the military like it wouldn’t pay off but, when you have the cafe filled with customers wanting to eat “my” burger we have to keep our guard up and give them our best.” I have them constantly working with the tools I used in my training we have become legends when we use our Lettuce system we love the p-mix because we have the correct gauge on how much we need to prep and order. We also love the Kitchen Financials because we all sit together and organize the best times to fit the schedule and how much to prep. Yet I may have shown them a few tricks here and there with the Lettuce program, they impressed me with what they gave me this following week. My cooks have made their own daily cleaning program. They worked on what was the best time to get the kitchen clean to “our” standards. I was very impressed what they came up with and how dedicated they have been on getting it done; especially with our new dish machine and the installation of Butler Chemicals. Their doubled efforts have carried on another trend another perfect score from the Health Department. Now their next goal is to be the best burger in Southern California. And I believe to the fullest they will do it and do so much more!

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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Award winning karaoke at its finest……only at Jake’s

On these chilly nights we have been having in Pasadena only the warmth of our fiery and hearty old fashion chilly could keep up with the daily travelers of Pasadena until one night. All the lights were lit, the stage was set and people were ready to party like no other. It was a Thursday night, one to remember, one night to start for a brighter future our guests. The suspense was like no other for our first Karaoke Competition night. What started to be only one or two names wanting to join turned out to be 32 people. Jimmy B. was on fire getting the crowd going and the emphatic cheers of their favorite songs being sung by Karaoke Heroes. You can hear the latest hits from Chris Brown and No Doubt to Smokey Robinson and Blondie it was intense. Even Simon couldnt cut a knife into our crowd for being so energetic and singing along. Plus, great drinks made by our infamous Jake’s bartenders kept the crowd wanting more. Even our famous Paddy-O came out to sing “Comedown” by Bush. With the patient waiting we had our winner, he was from the newly founded Pasadena Karaoke group who were looking for a place to perform. They said’ ” We have to thank Ray and all the Jake’s staff for putting together such a great event. We think we found our home, Jake’s is our place to be!” Ever since that night Karaoke has been the place to be in Pasadena and I thinks its going to be that way for quite awhile.

Jaime

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!!!

Ray making a difference once again!!!!!

Doing my normal walk thrus on our event/ party execution I see Ray taking charge and setting up the day’s events. Ray had it all planned out before I walked down. All the chaffers, tables, and billiards room looked beautiful! Its great to work with him in events because I can see that passion and desire he has for these events to make them special for our guests! He is a believer that we are not just selling a party or event but, a memory that a group, a family, or friends have together in these tough economical times. Creating that memory that lasts forever is how we truly generate profit here in Pasadena. Jake, Ray, Deanna, and myself our firm believers of it. Memories are truly priceless. But after going on my tangent, When I was helping the cooks presenting the food, Ray was already speaking with the host of the party already making her smile and feel welcomed at Jakes and talked them into buying another 30 drink tickets bringing in another $200 for the event. Good Job Bro!!!!! Keep it up!!!

Jake’s making it their own again….

Jake and I are very passionate with what organizational systems goes in the cafe and how it operates. There are times that we may disagree on some matters but, our passions keep us with our main goal, making the best burger in Pasadena. Jake and I sat down couple of months ago planning and organizing how we should make the FOH and BOH operate when it gets busy in such times of December with events, parties, X-mas shoppers and finally the mother and father of them all the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl. While Jake and Ray discussing plans on how we should do our acts of service for the FOH when it gets busy, I was already breaking down the lettuce program with the BOH piece by piece. I made it clear knowlege how important it was as well as their prep list. I also focused on how important it is to know every station on building on your own burger. A cook may not be the best at cooking but, maybe better at prepping so, its important to know than it is to act. My cooks also worked hard on their competing with each other on food time races. They call it making the best the fastest! Jake and Ray refined our counter service which our servers got down to it! They worked as a team and putting the guest first at every possible chance. So, with all the practice made perfect just these past three days we made $11,000 in food alone not counting our beverages in the cafe! My hat goes off to our Cafe FOH and Jake and Ray working with them daily to improve our fast pace system. Also, thanks to our cooks because without them we wouldnt have our best burger!!!

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!!!

Wow 40 K in 14 weeks here we come!!!!

I was convinced after speaking with Tony in our last coach’s corner together as a group, that I needed to do something over the top to reach our goal of $30K for the week. I was really having a hard time putting the 3 circles of our Jake Concept together: the Cafe, the Bar and Billiards, and Events. My circle was the Cafe I asked myself, “What can I do to ensure that I can put an imprint on my circle? Then I came up with an idea to boost our sluggish N/A Bev Sales. I put together a contest with all our Cafe servers on selling the most gross in N/A Bev, Beer sales, Liqour, Wine, and I would give an extra $20 credit for every Lucky Seven Card I would get back. All, I have to say is wow! This contest has really taken off in a good way. Our cafe servers have averaged over $700 just in beverage sales compared there sub par $450. We have Tam who is leading overall with a little over $10 K in 13 weeks so far. Also, Lincoln who is in second under $9.5K in 13 weeks just in today alone $525 beverage sales on a Monday!!!! Who would think a small burger stand can generate so much????? Plus the number of lucky seven cards coming in is extra ordianary; just on Sundays we can collect close to 10-15. I have to commend all our Cafe Servers for upselling very well! Right now as a group there are at $38 K. I am very sure they will be beat 40 K by the end of the week!!!! Who says Food up sale contest next???? I do!!!

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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Jake’s Cooks making it their own….

I cannot be any prouder of our BOH staff then I have been this past month.  With a whole new concept such as the Create Your Own Burger a lot thought it wouldn’t have taken off as fast as it has. I kept the notion at Jake’s that I am here not to train cooks. I have graduated with top honors in a top league culinary school and I refuse to make mediocre cooks. I wanted to train Chefs and Kitchen Managers and I have at Jake’s. Jake’s presented me with this great opportunity. I have been fortunate on taking on these great team members. I have installed the lettuce program into these young men. They are firm believers in our Line Checks and Prep Lists they understand that we alone keep the tradition that has been bestowed on us since 1947. We understand the check and balances of what happens when we are producing waste. We stop and look at the problem, address it, and fix it. In our kitchen unlike many large kitchens we only have no more than 2 cooks at a time. I would love to see any cooking tandems try cooking over 35,000 varieties of burgers in 7 minutes. They are simply the best. I see their passion everyday in their face and work ethics. They are the reason why we average a food cost under 29% these past six months. Ray and I just finished an interview with a large up and coming web site focusing on their food as one of the newest and best burgers internationally and I want to thank them for making it this far.  So they have Lettuce Program down, next BOH Operations, then after that they will run a Jake’s of their own one day…..

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

you think you have an awesome kitchen staff!?!

i need to give team san fran a shout out. i have been with some of these guys since the opening ( almost 10 years  ) and each holiday season seems to get less stressful and more seamless - a well oiled machine pumping out party after party after party after party with add on parties in between ..oh, and slammin convention lunches on top of it. tamayo, our chef actually gave me a hard time that the week of christmas seems slow and why do we only have a few parties - he asked what am i doing to bring more business in? that is where our core values really hit home…he is making his food cost his own… always thinking of ways to save money and hold everyone accountable. i feel lucky to be part of the team.

jennifer

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

Everything Matters while your standing in line….

I was at Ralph’s grabbing my usual V-8 Fusion drink before heading into work wearing our Jake’s Happy Hour T-shirt. I overheard the Ralph’s employee working the register saying to the bagger “Man, I am so hungry and that Jake’s work shirt he wearing is reminding me how good their chili cheese fries are.” Then the bagger said, “I have never ate at Jake’s is their food good?” So, as I overheard this I called work and asked them to make some Jake’s Burger and Chili Cheese fries. I took them back to Ralph’s and gave them the food. I said “Enjoy some food on me and take these lucky seven cards because today your luck will be so much better especially eating some burger and fries.” So, that day after I had built some new regulars.

Jaime

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.

LOOKING UP

 I regularly walk with my head tilted back, trying to get a good look at the high rise buildings in the city. I bump shoulders, step on feet and say “excuse me” during most of my walks. Last week I was out on sales calls- while nearly getting escorted out of a secure building (with no appointment) and was told I needed a contact to access the elevators. I noticed a building directory posted on the wall ,as I stood alone outside- so I pulled out my cell phone and pretended to call “my contact” . After making my fake phone call I realized my phone had a camera and I began to embrace the opportunity.

I walked through the city, collecting as many directories, company names and addresses and as possible…discovering the detective inside of me….When I got back to the office I cold called by introducing myself as a neighbor who noticed their company on a walk. 

Needless to say, my cold call turned into a sale this week!!! $3k later, I found a company in my backyard that was buried in a 27 floor high rise - a company I would have never been able to make contact without… being a ninja. Now, my walks consist of not looking up but looking through glass doors and snapping pictures of directories.

Embrace every effort~

MEMPHIS…HOLIDAY IN A CONSTRUCTION ZONE

With the current transition with our Mall to an up-scale, all suites hotel and a remodel in our near future, we decided that if you can’t beat them…. JOIN THEM!!!!

On Wednesday, November 12 we hosted an Open House called “Jilllian’s Holiday in a Construction Zone”.

Our staff was looking sharp with Santa hats, hard hats and construction aprons……

We decorated our building with Holiday Flair!

Guest enjoyed  **EAT**DRINK**PLAY** and everyone was having a great time! Thanks to our kitchen staff, compliments were pouring out about the beautiful and very tasty food! And of course the bartenders were spreading plenty of holiday cheer!

Team Memphis pulled out all the stops and created a HUGE buzz for the Holidays and has everyone very excited about our future remodel.

Oh, and did I mention… several leads were generated for Holiday Parties!

Thank you to Wade, our Fearless GM, and the rest of Team Memphis for their very hard work!