Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Universal Redemption Games Rule the West Coast

Kudos to Team Universal for their May Redemption Game Sales!!!  I know they have all been working really hard to promote these new games and their sales reflect just that!!  Keep up the fantastic work! 

Akron

Sad news..yesterday we closed our Akron location.

I am enroute back to Louisville driving a truck filled with equipment but wanted to take a moment to touch on this decision.
I want to extend my sincere appreciation to team Akron. The mgmt team and the staff certainly were not happy with the decision, but they handled it exceedingly well, and many stuck around helping us wind down the location. This is a very good team, and the closing is not a reflection of them at all, rather, we are unfortunately located in a part of Akron that has slipped backwards over the 10 years we have been there. There simply is not enough business in the area for us to make a go of it any longer.
We have prolonged this decision for some time hoping that there were some things we could do to drive traffic, Kevin and his team worked very hard at this, but no matter what we tried it just didn’t work. This location has lost in excess of $100,000 so far this year, and was projected to lose over $30,000 per period for the next couple of periods…all with no obvious solution to turning this around….thus, we decided to close. Never an easy decision, but for the health of the entire company a very necessary decision.

I will touch on this more over the next few days when I return to my office, but wanted you all to hear it from me. I welcome any and all comments on this, feel free to post here on the blog, or if you care to discuss offline from our community you may either call me in the office, or email me at gstevens@jbchq.com.

Team Akron, Thank you for a wonderful run in your town. We will miss you as part of our family, and we wish all of you our best. GS

Universal Cares About Our Community

In a Town filled with Glitter and Paparazzi Team Universal makes a difference by helping those normally forgot.
In quarter one, along with the Jr. Achievement Organization, we helped raise over $7k in donations from local business and individuals committed to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy.  We did this by donating space in our Hilife Lanes on slow weekdays.
So far in quarter 2 we have raised over $1k for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer for Team Star 98.7.
We have also teamed up with our local Fox News Team and help them with the Wednesday child Program.  The Wednesday Child helps match foster children with potential parents.

Walking the walk with wrapped feet - no sound

• i hear you Greg - We are giving back here - perhaps it’s that Yankee upbringing - help others and don’t make a big deal about it?
• Most recently have been active with a group that sends needed “comfort” items to a Marine Corps unit that is in a nasty forward operating base in Al Anbar Iraq ( and you know what that is DW) - because it is such a hositle area they are dealing with the danger and un-clean conditions. We sent hand sanitizer, bug spray, some dried fruit, canned nuts, etc - things we don’t even think about but the guys asked for via their commanding officer. I don’t care what your politics are, helping our guys over in harms way is a tangible way of showing your support for all that they are sacrificing- here’s a link if the urge strikes you too - www.osot.org.
• Happy Memorial Day. The Pirate Surfer

401 (k) - why you need to enroll!!

I have heard some feedback that some folks are not participating in the 401(k) because there is no match. There are two things I want to point out. First, there is no match or profit sharing TODAY. There may be in the future. If you’re not in, you don’t get the match or profit sharing.

Second….you should not be making this decision based on profit sharing and matches. You all need to think about saving money for things that will come up in your life. This is a great program to do just that. Let me share a quick story with you. When I graduated from Georgia Tech in 1983 (yes I am going to date myself in this post) I started working as an Electrical Engineer with General Dynamics at about $30,000 per year. They had a program similar to a 401 (k) and at that salary with huge student loans to pay back, I didn’t see that there would be any way for me to participate. Nonetheless, my boss sat me down and convinced me to put $20 a week into the progam. (beer money he said) And so I did. I worked at this company for three years and over that time the $20 per week amounted to about $3,000. Not very much and I never missed the extra money….it was like I never had it anyways.

So here we are a few years later and that $3,000 has now grown to over $26,000. I could borrow against this if I needed it, but I don’t right now. I’m going to let it sit, and if all goes well when I retire ( a few years from now) this should grow to over $300,000! You heard me right…Nothing like tax free compound interest!!!Seriously…$3,000 out of pocket is going to turn into $300,000. I’m pretty happy with the $26 k I already have, but when I think about having $300,000 to play with when I retire, I want to reach out an hug my former boss.

I know a lot of you are young and aren’t thinking about retirement. And there are a lot of you that need every penny you make to pay bills. But if you can find the discipline to put a little into this plan every pay period..($5, $10 whatever) it will add up, and over time it will build into a nice surprise for you!

Why am I so passionate about this? Well the company gets nothing out of it, nor do I….but in our country right now, personal debt it at its highest level, and personal savings continues to be dangerously low. If you work for me I will do everything I can to help educate, and persuade you to not be a part of this trend.  Even if this is a short term job for you (i.e. you’re in school and you know you’re not going to be here long) TAKE ADVANTAGE of the program. The money is yours and will follow you around wherever you go and whatever you do…just as my $26,000 (and growing!) has.

Last point here…if you squeeze money out for things like lottery tickets, and cigarettes…then you can find a way to squeeze a few dollars into the 401 (k).

For your benefit I strongly encourage you to participate…if you have questions, or concerns feel free to email me…GS

Things learned in Mexico

1) Cultivating a JBC agave field to save us money in liquor cost turned out to be much harder than expected.

2) Never open your eyes when they hit the sanitizer button in the Corona clean room!

3) That stuff on the roof top was pretty good!

A Note from a Guest

I visited Jillians on May 5,2007 to watch the Pay Per View fight. The entire place was packed with fans of both Oscar De Le Hoya and Floyd Mayweather. It was a fun,lively, and competitive atmosphere.The $35.00 cover charge did not hold people back from spending money on both drinks and appetizers.The open seating allowed for more socializing and fun for all the guest. The girls with moraccas and the mariachi band also provided entertainment and reminded everyone that it was Cinco De Mayo and encourage more drinking. Despite the large crowd drinks and appetizers were served in a timely manner. Thank you Jillians for providing a great party to watch the fight and celebrate Cinco De Mayo. I had a wounderful time and will definelty be back.

 Kelsey Ellis.

Jillians San Francisco

Cinco de Mayweather

What a great night we had in Seattle on Saturday.  It was really off the hook.  We predicted around 200 covers for the fight and ended up at 557.  The best part was that we got to show the fight with our new A/V package.  I can’t count the number of regulars who told me that this was just awesome.

I know a lot of what is discussed on the blog is “what we are doing wrong.”  Well this re-investment in our club is definitely something we are doing right.  So thanks Tony, Tyler and Greg!

Jillian’s Has Heart Fund

Do you know of a co-worker in need of some assistance? Don’t forget about the Jillian’s Has Heart Fund. Funded by donations from fellow team members, the Fund is here to help those in need. Recent grants include emergency travel expenses, medical expenses and replacement of stolen items. You can get a nomination rolling through your General Manager, Regional Director or by emailing Tony Humphreys.

Community Involvement

We talk a lot about community involvement, how important it is to get involved in your community and - where the opportunity presents itself - to give back. Those of you that have embraced this, know how much of a boost you and your entire team get, and how it helps our standing in the community.

Community involvement is two-fold. On one level it is nothing more than being aware, and actively involved in things going on around you. Might be youth athletics, might be hosting a car show, might be an annual festival that we have a booth in. These type of opportunities lead to brand building for your location, and ultimately drive sales.

The second part of community involvement is charitable work. Our charitable work can be anything from raising money for  causes - as we do for Jimmy V, to hosting events that raise money, and can even encompass pulling together our teams to go out and do some charitable work - like building a house for Habitat for Humanity, or going to a local food bank to help serve the homeless.

Many of our locations have had great success with community involvement. I’d like to use this post to spread some ideas around, and with that in mind I am asking each GM to share with us a community event your location has organized. Take a couple of minutes to provide some feedback on the event.

 As well, I would also like to encourage all readers of this post to suggest other community events or charitable causes that we should be involved with.

Thanks….GS

Great Team Effort

    One of the most talented collegiate coaches of all times, Bobby Knight, once said “Teamwork is making others look better…”. I would just like to say that at this moment I look like one of the finest AGMs on the planet. And I would like to thank the great team at Jillian’s Evansville for ALL their efforts in pre-planning, execution, and cleanup for the CJ’s Bus (cjsbus.org) Car Show and Cruise-In Benefit. Weeks and untold hours of phone calls, door knocking, brain abuse,and pencil pushing went into the Cruise-In and the team’s efforts paid off. It started with setup at 8AM Saturday April 28th, and ended at 4PM the same day. I had asked for volunteers to help and was floored by the response, expecting 2-3 takers, I was grossly wronged when 10+ had signed up or asked to help out. Their efforts from setup, to the bierstube, food sales, judging winners, mingling, awarding prizes, cleanup (until the last napkin was picked up), and MOST IMPORTANTLY … CJ’s Bus took home nearly $4000. 

Continue reading Great Team Effort…