Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

Guest Bartending at Jake’s

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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!

O’Jillian’s Manchester - St. Patty’s Weekend Extravaganza!

Jillian’s Manchester decided to extend St. Patrick’s Day with a full weekend packed with prizes, corned beef, great live music, AND a 5AM breakfast buffet with a live radio broadcast on St. Patty’s Day morning.  Throughout the weekend, we had the best local live entertainment with Josh Logan (anyone remember him from Rock Star Supernova?) playing twice on St. Patrick’s Day.  Rock 101’s Morning Buzz Show hosted their St. Patty’s Day show at Jillian’s and we even had the NH State Governor, John Lynch, stop by to check things out (see photo as he is being interviewed by The Buzz).  As a side note, I saw  Gov. Lynch at a networking event a few days later and of course I mentioned how cool it was that he stopped by Jillian’s and he couldn’t believe the party we were hosted and how packed we were!!  Very cool!  The Buzz even brought in a live bag piper musician which everyone loved!  Jillian’s was a full blown party all day and into the evening! 

Team Manchester pulled out all of the stops to capture every dollar.  Including raising money for Jimmy V.  Manager Tracey Daigle seized an opportunity when one of our regulars, Jay, said he was coming in St. Patty’s Day morning decked out in his leprechaun gear.  Tracey decided to raise money for Jimmy V. with “Have your picture taken with the Jillian’s Leprechaun - all money goes to Jimmy V.”  Guests loved it!  The Manchester Freedom Football Team had their team picture taken with our resident leprechaun - it was hysterically funny.

Overall, it was a great weekend and a rockin’ good time was had by all!

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Manchvegas Jillian’s Hosts “Elton John”

Manchvegas Jillian’s - #1!!

Party with the Troops

On Saturday March 8th, Jillians of Norfolk hosted the Uss Enteprise Office Party.  This party stemmed from the Commanding Officer’s wife who called to plan her son’s birthday party.  She then set up a party for a 150 officers and their dates.  They all came to Mojo’s to celebrate comminssioning ceremonies and wetting-downs (promotions).  The group ate drank dance and played.  We brought in an Eagle I sculpture as a thank you and the group loved it.  We’ve received several theank you emails complimenting our staff, decorations and enthusiasm.  it was a great event.  Great Job Team Norfolk.

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Continue reading Party with the Troops…

Norfolks Meet and Greet a Success

Thursday, March 13, 2008 we hosted our first official GM Meet & Greet After Work Party.  Pop’s Mike, Nicole and staff came together to really wow corporate guests.  200 Downtown Norfolk Businesses were invited and we had a great turnout.  They played in our New Executive Game Room.  We made great networking connections with Wachovia and Titan America and will soon be planning events with both compaines.  Pops went above and beyond with his food decoration.  We scored a real WOW for Norfolk. 

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March Madness Kicks-off In Seattle!

It’s March Madness time and that means BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!  Today, the first day of the big tournament: Team Seattle was ready!  And glad we where!  We had a great turn-out of excited guest’s eager to catch their game on one of our new flat screen plasma tv’s.  The crowd cheered, clapped, and stomped: music to a sports lovers ears!  Jillian’s Seattle had an AMAZING energy today and after 3 years of March Madness the guests’ still seem to “WOW” me!!!  A special thanks to our rock-star servers, batenders, bussers, and kitchen: who always go the extra mile to throw one heck of a PARTY!!!

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Jillian’s Seattle Employee of the Month for March

We are pleased to announce that Kai Gregersen is the Employee of the Month for March 2008.  Whether it’s a simple task or a complex project, Kai embraces the opportunity and achieves successful results.

Kai joined the Jillian’s team six months ago as our front desk hostess.  Every time she answered the phone, the caller heard her glowing smile.  She made the connections with enthusiasm and style, leaving each individual glad they called.  Due to her care and dedication, Kai has recently been promoted to our VIP Coordinator.  As our VIP Coordinator, Kai continues to make connections with our community through various projects.  Regardless of the task at hand, Kai’s positive attitude and radiant personality helps brighten all of our days.

Thank you Kai for all of your hard work, we truly appreciate you!
 Jillian’s Management Team

Team San Francisco Gives Back at Alcatraz

This year for our Community Servcie we paired together FOH Managers, BOH Managers and the ESM to run our Community Service Initiatives.

First up was the team headed by AGM Gil Frias and ESM Jennifer Masto. Their group donated time to the SF Parks and Rec Department to help keep the famous Alcatrz Island’s gardens clean and beautiful for visitors to the city.  The team spent the day at the island under the direction of Parks and Rec.

What a great place to spend the day and afterward they all had the chance to check out this famous prison.  Many had been there before, but for some it was a first.  We recommend that if you come to the city, head over to Alcatraz, its a great tour.  Below you will find some pictures of the day and more photos will be on our web page soon.   The team was stoked to have so much fun and after a hard days work they enjoyed lunch on the island.  Thanks team.  Up in Q2 is the BOH KM - Martin Tamayo and  AKM-Memo Cervantes - I wonder what they will get us into????  Enjoy!

Continue reading Team San Francisco Gives Back at Alcatraz…

I think Horton Heard a Who!

Do you know who this Who is?

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Look who got caught with a Leprechaun!!!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, what do you make of this?

107.7FM Bone Rock Girl Comes to SFO

St Patricks Day was an interesting day in San Francisco. We hosted the third annual 107.7FM Bone Rock Gril promo. Basically this huge classic rock station searches each year for a new face of the station for events and special functions. The lucky winner also gets $10,000.00 and a salary for a year with the Bone.

The entire Bone morning team of Lamont and Tonelli were on hand to emcee the event as were many other Bone DJ’s. Entertainment was provided by the rock band Full on Fly Head - they even brought a fly to dance (see the picture below).  The Bone and its listeners were very happy with the promotion and gave us huge exposure in the Bay area. The team and fun and everyone contributed to the great event.

The pictures below will give you an idea of the event. To see all of the contestants look up http://www.thebonerockgirl.com/

 Lastly congratulations to “Hope” the new 2008 Bone Rock Girl!

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Jillian’s Universal to the Rescue

My name is Randy Naegele and I am bartender at Jillian’s Universal.  I recently came into good fortune due to my coworkers’ genuine compassion.  I have a disease known as Ulcerative Colitis which ,if you know anyone who has this disease, is very difficult to live with, as are most disease’s, which is why they don’t call them fun happy time but disease’s.  I was venting to one of my coworkers (the wonderful Raeanne Medina) about how sick I have been for months and was running out of medication and could not afford to buy more.  My medication is REALLY expensive and I am without health insurance.  I had applied for the Patient Assistance Program that Proctor and Gamble offers but my application was denied.  I don’t even want to go into that.

A couple weeks later, I am called into Kristy and Raeanne’s office for some sort of surprise.  When I walk in the room both ladies are beaming with smiles.  They proceeded to tell me that they had nominated me for Jillian’s Has Heart and that the fund would be paying me a stipend to pay for my prescription for the next few month’s.  Wow.  I did not know what to say.  I was so moved that they cared for me enough to help me out in this huge way.  Colitis is what is known as a walking disease.  You can be sick for months and months but no one other than yourself would know.  It makes everything very difficult and is very hard for anyone to really relate to because on the surface, I look fine, but inside, things are not going well!  I still can not believe that my coworkers did this for me.  I am so great full to them.  My medication is very important in controlling my disease and with this generous aid from Jillian’s Has Heart, I can begin the path to heal myself.  Thank you thank you thank you.  I can not begin to describe how much this means to me.  It is the most thoughtful thing anyone has done for me.  Thank you.

my little banquet group

for the last 8  years i have been involved in a group called san francisco private dining venues ( look us up on line but wait till april when we are the featured restaurant  www.sfpdv.com ) anyway we are a group of 40 restaurants in san francisco all with private space and over the past few years have made our group incorporated, built a website and continue to meet monthly to smooze, drink and eat . 

last tuesday we celebrated our 10th anniversary with a huge soriee at a hotel downtown, we each invited 50 of our best clients, dmc’s and concierges provided food and drink and had a great turn out. we involved st. vincent de paul and managed to collect 100 coats and $185.

feels good to be involved in the community !

Seattle team members live the core values and build local business!

As you all know from an earlier blog the area around Jillian’s of Seattle is growing and developing each and every day. Soon we will see a new area that not only includes a light rail and a new park, but high end condos, new businesses (including Amazon’s headquarters) and a museum right across the street.

All this change and development got one team member thinking and planning…Stephanie Miller, Marketing Coordinator. Stephanie “embraced opportunity” by building a new base of business here and now. We are all excited for the guests that will come our way when the changes are complete, but Stephanie wasn’t willing to wait for the development to be finished. She put her heart and soul into creating a program called “Hard Hat Happy Hour”. She reached out to Coors Light, who immediately sponsored this promotion by purchasing menus, POS and donating product. Stephanie did not stop there. Her and Crystal Clayton (bartender extrodinaire) “made it their own” by going into the local community and personally inviting all the construction workers that have such a vast presence in the local South Lake Union area. Their reactions to these two superstars said it all….WOW!

Yesterday, during a time when business slows down from lunch and isn’t quite to the dinner rush, we had a bar full of the local construction workers. Their enthusiasm and business was a win! They even asked for more flyers to give to their friends and co-workers. And as I write this, Crystal and Stephanie are out visiting more of the vast construction sites.

I just wanted to let everyone know of the dedication and outside of the box thinking that can really exemplify Jillian’s passion and spirit even during a time when construction could be a detriment to business.

 

Team Seattle Get’s Fired-Up For Jimmy V-!!!

 

With March Madness upon us that means it is Jimmy V- time and time to start raising some money for Cancer Research!  This year in additon to our normal collection “Team Seattle” is participating in the “Show Your Spirit!” Campaign set-up by the V-Foundation.  How does it work?  Well, you can register your club, school, or organization on line at http://www.jimmyv.org/ and they will send you your information packet.  We recieved posters, brochures, and buttons to sell to our staff, giving them the opportunity to wear their favorite sports team appreal on Friday March, 21st. We decided to make a day of it and do what Jillian’s Seattle does best: throw a PARTY and have some FUN!!! We will have activities scheduled through-out the night and plan on raising TONS of money to go towards Jimmy V-!  If you have not signed up, it is not too late!!!  Good luck to everyone, and LET’S RAISE SOME MONEY!!!! 

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Seattle Throws Leap Day Party!!!

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Jillian’s Seattle threw a Leap Day Party like no other with the theme: “Party Like It Only Happens Once Every 4 Years!!!” We had a great turn-out and had tons of FUN stuff planned for our guest’s all night long!!! Drink specials included “Leaptinis,” (Appletinis) “Spring Punch,”(Madras) and Pints of Coors(one heck of a beer!) We featured DJ XTC who spun the hits all night long! Dancing, beer pong, giveaways, and a special birthday gift was given to all “Leapers.” The “Leap Day Limbo Contest” was a total hit with our guests! Thank you to all the staff who made this event a total success!!!

                                      ****GO TEAM SEATTLE!!!!!****