Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Thank you for making “Operation Christmas in Iraq” so successful!

Ali Van Nest and I supported a group of soldiers in Iraq from the 101st Airborne with Christmas boxes sent this past Season - the attached letter came from the Lieutenant in command - his comments really touched us - read and enjoy - and Ali brought this opportunity to my attention in late Fall, she’s always “making a difference” TH

Continue reading Thank you for making “Operation Christmas in Iraq” so successful!…

Columbia Stop for John Edwards tonight

John Edwards will be making a stop in Jillian’s Columbia during his campaigning this weekend and that buzz has hit the papers and Google Alerts !!!!Below is a portion of a Google alert article.“Mr. Edwards will greet the returns tomorrow night at Jillians, a popular restaurant in Columbia’s Vista district, a gentrified neighborhood of restored warehouses and railroad buildings. He celebrated in the same spot in 2004 when he won South Carolina.”

Norfolk’s Guitar Hero Tournament

On Wednesday, January 23, Norfolk Jillians had our first Guitar Hero Tournament.  The event took place in our new executive game room.  We had a good turn out.  Everyone was having a great time.   Food and drinks were being ordered and everyone was getting into the music and friendly competition.  The winner recieved a $50 game card and we expect some return business for next weeks tournament.

How to sell game cards 101

I had the good fortune to talk to Natalia - one of our Universal teammates - during my visit this week. Natalia is an energetic, enthusiastic, person. She works behind the game counter at the entrance to the property, greeting guests with an infectious smile. Her primary responsibility it to sell game cards. Natalia is the type of person that takes pride in her job, and takes initiative to make a difference. On her own….she came up with a selling method that helps our guests, and helps our company increase sales….and on her own she has solved a problem that many of us may not even realize exists. The problem? Does a new guest really know the value of game points on a game card? Put another way, how does a Mom or Dad know how much to spend on a game card to insure that their child has fun? IF they’ve never been to us before, they don’t….Natalia’s solution? she asks them a brilliantly, simple question (with a beautiful smile!) “How many games do you want to play today?” That’s it…and then she upsells them…..the guest is happy because they have an immediate expectation for the dollars they spent. If they want to play 10 games, Natalia pleasantly suggests that they should buy a $20 card…they do, and they’re happy about their experience…they got what they wanted….simple…but brilliant. If you want to learn more, talk to German and team Universal….for any managers that read this blog and have a game room, I highly encourage using this technique…and if you have other ideas that are successful, please let us know! Way to go Natalia…thank you for finding a wonderful way to make a difference! GS

A Universal Wow!

Tyler and I had the pleasure of enjoying Team Universal’s hospitality at our 1st quarter Board meeting. It’s easy to see why Universal has such stellar results in 2007. They are relentessly “on” every detail of their business. The entire facility looks and feels like a brand new Jillian’s. The “show settings” - lights, music, staff attentiveness and personality- are prefect. The food was fabulous, and the banquet setup was stunning. German, you set a standard that we all should aspire to! Keep it up, and when opportunity presents itself, share your secrets! Thanks to you, and your entire team for a wonderfully enlightening experience! GS

Employee Service Award Program

Every day more than 900 Jillian’s employees across the country roll up their sleeves with the goal of “wowing everyone”.  Many of those employees have embraced the Jillian’s culture for a number of years.  To show our appreciation for “making a difference” we are rolling out an employee service award program. 

The program will begin with employees who have 5 years of service and continue in increments of 5 years (5, 10, 15, 20, ect.).  Recognized employees will recieve a Thank You Certificate and a gift book containing over 20 cool prizes to select a special award from.  In addition, there will be a monthly posting of the service award winners.  I hope you will “embrace the opportunity” and help us acknowledge the dedication and length of service of your team players.

3 you might miss if you blink

Hey - making a difference - under the cloud layer and in the fog - thanks Paul, fighting with the mystery illness and down a player - but still in there - we appreciate you on this Cape Cod beach!

German, everyone said don’t break up the band and go solo - but you did - heard you have some great new players trying out - should be a good album by the time we get to the end of the year - seeing you keeping it all going almost single handed from way over here!

Vegas man - I can see that uncle Mo(mentum) is in town -it’s all coming together - I’d like to reserve a table at Sox and Eggs - Kevin is a keeper!

Service Awards

JBC Entertainment congratulates the following employees for their years of service:

Tim Clark - Columbia - 10 years

Alfie Owens - Columbia - 10 years

Marius Steward - Memphis - 5 years

Thank you for your dedication and being part of this great team.

Seattle Employee of the Month for January

In Seattle we have restarted our Employee of the Month program. Each month we will be sharing stories of the best and the brightest of our awesome staff with the rest of the Jillian’s community.

That said, I am pleased to announce that Kevin Rogers is the Employee of the Month for January 2008. A year and a half ago Kevin started as a busser-runner with minimal experience in the food and beverage industry. In that position he amazed us all with his hard work, dedication and his ability to carry two large heavy trays full of food simultaneously. Since then, Kevin has progressed to barbacking and bartending. He has continued to work hard in these jobs and is a reliable employee who is always willing to do what is asked. Kevin fulfills the model of an employee who has the mutual respect of the management team, is well liked by his fellow employees and takes great care of all of his guests.

Congratulations, Kevin, from the Seattle Management Team

Hawks Fans Show Support!

Seahawks Fans came to Jillian’s Saturday; to get their eat, drink, and play on during the play-off game against my home team: The Green Bay Packers!  It was a full house and the crowd was CRAZY!!! It was a great game even though the Hawks did not win!  All that’s left to say: GO PACK GO! n!!

Jillian’s Seattle features country singer, Keith Anderson!

Today Jillian’s welcomed local country station KMPS, and hit singer Keith Anderson for a meet & greet with local fans! Keith and his band played all the hits, in an intimate acoustic set. Keith also invited along his good friend Josh Brown (as in the kicker for the Seattle Seahawks!!)  Josh even joined the band, singing along to the song “Pickin’ Wildflowers!”  To make the night even better, Josh signed a football for Jimmy V! After the concert Keith signed autographs and took pictures for all the fans; including Jillian’s staff! The fans, KMPS staff, and the band loved Jillian’s and had a great night. In fact, one of the band members said that Jillian’s was the nicest venue that they had done a meet & greet at in a long time! As I type this Keith and the band are sitting at the bar eating & having a drink. I guess they just can’t get enough of Jillian’s!  

Continue reading Jillian’s Seattle features country singer, Keith Anderson!…

MANCHESTER AND COLUMBIA…..MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

This goes out to Team Manchester and Team Columbia.
Folks, with your upcoming Presidential primaries, you have a unique opportunity to help define our country’s direction for the next four years. This is real, and it is not an exaggeration. Many of the current candidates will drop out after these two primaries. The winners of your primaries will be the ones that get momentum, dollars and a HUGE springboard to the Presidency. You’re at the front of the train, and you get to pick the track we’re going to run on. This is a privilege that many of us envy. DON’T SQUANDER it BY NOT VOTING in your primaries. I don’t care what your politics are, you need to recognize the importance of this opportunity and be heard.

There are a lot of critically important issues facing this country. Oil, war, economy, immigration, healthcare, taxes…the policies that our new president will set WILL impact you, and it seems to me that it makes a heck of a lot more sense to get involved now, and influence the outcome, rather than sit back and accept an outcome you may not be happy with. YOUR VOTE MATTERS, and you can wield more influence by talking to your friends, family and others about your choice…GET INVOLVED!
Oh, and if you’re not sure who you should be voting for..check out this website.

http://www.electoralcompass.com/language/en

It’s a quick simple little test that pinpoints the candidate that most closely matches your opinion on important issues. I’ve been trying to follow the campaign this year, and thought I knew which candidate that I should vote for…and then I took this little test…the outcome totally shocked and surprised me! Happy to share with any of you that are interested. (in fact, if you don’t care, then I would love to influence you to vote for the person I want to win!)
Off my soapbox now…thanks for reading this, and please take your opportunity seriously! GS

“Safe in .08!” Seattle Jillian’s NYE 2007: A HUGE Success!

Happy New Years everyone!  Jillian’s Seattle threw one heck of a party this year with our theme “Safe in .08!”  Our theme geared towards promoting a safe night for all who chose to party with us!  DJ XTC spun from our second level overlooking our PACKED dance floor! Drink specials, games, prizes, and giveaways made for an upbeat and FUN night!  A BIG special THANK YOU to all the AMAZING team members that worked that night!  GO TEAM SEATTLE!!!!

Continue reading “Safe in .08!” Seattle Jillian’s NYE 2007: A HUGE Success!…

Happy Holidays and BIG THANKS J-Staff!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you to everyone who donated money to support our Adopt-a-family!!!
We raised A LOT of money this year team; and I can not tell you how much I appreciate your support! Thanks to YOU, our fearless leader Ali, Catherine with the New Belgium Brewing Family, and Jillian’s this family will have a suuuper great Christmas!
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What did your money buy?
Well we hooked them up! 12 family members total. 2 moms, 1 dad, 3 younger boys, 3 teenage girls, 2 teenage boys, and one 5 month old baby girl. Everyone got new shoes, hats, and gloves!  We got them a vacuum, grocery store gift certificates, bath towels, sweatshirts, blankets, pajamas, jackets, stockings filled with goodies and toiletries.  We even got them cleaning supplies, toilet paper, paper toweling, laundry detergent, Windex-you know all the stuff you go to Target and spend $100.00 and think: What the heck did I buy!?! Each child, even baby Geselle got a $25 gift certificate to Target to just SHOP! We got each family a board game, a few toys for the boys, and art supplies. Lastly, we got two beautiful Christmas trees, that my HERO Lauren tied on the top of her JEEP tough, and drove to South Seattle like it ‘aint no thing! Thanks woman!  We didn’t forget tree stands, lights, ornaments, garland, and two beautiful stars for their trees!
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I really hope you guys are proud of what a BIG gift you have given to these people!  The two young boys that were home when we delivered; Alex and David, were seriously awesome! They were 7 and 9 years old and where our unloading “A-Team!” Alex said “I can carry a tree,” as he stood and looked up at Lauren’s Jeep.  Too cute! He was also too cute when he shouted “Oh my god!” as he looked at his living room that was full of bags of presents!!! Big ones, little ones, gift bags, and bows!  We also, saved the remaining money we had and gave it to the mom to put towards a new futon for her son, so he does not have to sleep on the floor.  *** I LOVE YOU GUYS FOR MAKING THIS HAPPEN!!!***
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The family was so gracious and it felt so good to be able to do this!  I can not thank everyone enough for all of their positive support! Christmas morning I will think of this family and I hope you do too!
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Happy holidays and Merry Christmas team,
Stephanie