Jillian’s is FUN! Community Blog

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 �

San Francisco gets a “handle” on FUN!

San Francisco ESM’s keep serving up celebration! With the success of the inaugural party on Tuesday-

Jennifer and RaeAnne posed with the “Ale to the Chief” handle to commemorate the success of the early AM party!!!! (The GM’s weren’t the only ones serving it up)

Stay tuned for more fun from San Francisco!!!!

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!!!

Manchester Goes Up in Flames!

It may have been cold outside on Saturday night, but it was hot inside Jillian’s Manchester!! A new band, First Shot, was playing. One of it’s members is a firefighter and one is a police officer. By 8 pm, our club was already full…and as the night went on, firefighters and police officers continued coming in to listen. 

As part of the festivities that evening, we also had a VIP Buffet for them, as well as, a fundraising event for one of the firefighters that is raising money to do the Scott Firefighter Stair Climb in Seattle Washington in March. He….Mr. Ed, as they call him, will be climbing 70 flights of stairs in full gear to raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as well as The Abigail Crooker Fund (a local infant battling cancer). Firefighters rotated at the beer tub selling beers, and all tips they received went to Mr. Ed. They collected a total of $146 in two hours. This is the second event we’ve had for Mr. Ed and he has collected almost $600 right here at Jillian’s.It was an exciting night as the band played…the guests danced…and Budweiser walked around handing out all kinds of goodies.

Obama Rocks The House!!!

Manchester and their guests got to experience history being made today! Guests started arriving just after 11 am to make sure they got a great seat. By 11:30, the club was full and you could feel the excitement in the air.

There were table tents on the tables with pictures and descriptions of our Yes PeCan Dessert, and pictures of our Barack Rocks drink special on the bar. The club was decked out in Red White and Blue, as the servers walked around greeting our guests and telling them about our Obama Beer Tap Auction.

As President Obama gave his speech, the crowd cheered and clapped. Although most were here on their lunch hour and had to leave afterwards, we will be replaying it tonight, and Obama will Rock The House, again!

Coast to Coast Inaugural Party!!!

West Group GMs threw a Coast to Coast Inaugural party yesterday for President Obama – including the use of a custom beer tap – we sold “Ale to the Chief” as well as other specials to celebrate the big day. Each club auctioned off their beer tap and the proceeds will go to Jimmy V!

The team sold over $4,301 in food and beverage specials and raised over $747 for the Jimmy V by auctioning off the Obama tap handles. 

2009 Inauguration in the Woo

Jillian’s Worcester Opened our doors at 11:00am with our Red, White and Blue Decorations proudly displayed around our club, our custom made Obama tap ready to go and everywhere you looked the T.V.’s were showing Washington D.C. You could almost feel the changes start. The staff pushed our “Ale to the Chief” drink of the day and other specials. We increased our lunch sales 5 times our regular Tuesday, but the most exciting part of the day for us here in Worcester, was the excitement of everyone that joined us! This is a city that is looking forward to change! Good Luck to Obama in the start of 09′!

Presidential Inauguration 2009 - Universal City

As millions of Americans celebrated the inauguration of the 44^th president, Universal City locals and Citywalk employees came in and included us in this historic event.  With warm coffee in hand and eyes glued to the TV many cheered, smiles, and cried as we kicked of our Inauguration viewing party at 8 AM, local time. After a day at the Park or work Universal City guest where invited back to a special Inauguration HH.

Presidential Celebration in SFO

Across this great nation there is a celebration of change and new beginnings.  We too in SFO also held an early morning Inauguration Viewing Event. Many woke early to a host of events around the city. Our group of 100 or so was here early for breakfast and cocktails to celebrate. From couples, families, servers, off duty team members, even a school class and our delivery drivers all stood in silence as the Oath of Office was taken.

Many continued to celebrate and planned on returning for our big replay party tonight. It was electric in here and seeing it on the 50ft Video wall, is truley awesome!!! As the public address took place you could see many shed tears of joy as we enter this new era in Washington. “The times be a changing” (quote from Babe Ruth) and on this day many are proud of what we have accomplished and what we will accomplish in the years to come. Hats off to all of you, I’m sure you all had great viewing parties.  God Bless America.

Inauguration Celebration!!

Needless to say it was a BIG day at Jillians Seattle! Our Inauguration celebration was such a GREAT event and brought out tons of people! The residents of Seattle woke up bright and early to catch the action and we provided them with an experience that was fun for both guests and staff. Stephanie headed the decorations and our club is still decked out in red, white, and blue. We definitely wanted the guests to feel the festive atmosphere and it was apparent that they did! Brock and Rick both helped out behind the bar and they were absolutely AMAZING!!! We had numerous drink specials and people were really loving the Jomosas and Biden Marys. With the number of TVs we offer and the surround sound that we had going people were ecstatic with the setup, it was such a great morning!

remember the wow stories?

We wowed the guest and I am wowed by my new partner in sales!  This event was in the midst of MacWorld & the big NCAA game~ This was their first of many more events to come….

jennifer 

Thank you so much for all you did for us for our party on Thursday.  We’ve heard nothing but good things from our guests and are really pleased with how everything turned out.

I know I had tons of random questions and requests and I really appreciate how accommodating you were with all of them. The food was great and the staff was helpful. Due to the great response we’ve received, we hope to make the Light The Night Appreciation Party an annual event and would love to keep you guys in mind for next year.

Thank you again for everything!

Haley Parkins
Light the Night Campaign Assistant
1390 Market Street, Suite 1200
San Francisco, Ca 94102
haley.parkins@LLS.org

Bowling with Team Seattle!

Last night the managers of team Seattle had a great outing!! We got to snatch a little time out of the day to bond as coworkers and friends and had an absolute BLAST! For the adventure we all went bowling in neighboring Bellevue and really put each other to the test. It was awesome to hang out with these people that are in each others day to day lives but in a different setting. The big winner of the night was none other than Seattle’s very own general manager Rick Coleman with a score of 123! Good job!! And even Tony himself joined the action and put those bowling shoes on!! To sum it up, Jillians Seattle had a ROCKING time and most definitely we all enjoyed the company. What a night!!!!

Makin’ a Difference with the HAWKS!

Team Seattle hosted a fundraiser on Monday night for the American Diabetes Association and the Leonard Weaver foundation. The event was sponsored by XBOX as well as the Seattle Seahawks and dozens of families from all over the city came down to Jillian’s with their children for the opportunity to play video games with Seahawks players!! We had xboxes set up all over the entire upstairs with different games, and a different player at each station. The kids (and some of our staff) were so excited and startruck from meeting the seahawks! The event was a total success thanks to our wonderful staff and the awesome employees from the American Diabetes Association!! We raised a lot of money for a great cause while exposing Jillian’s and all it has to offer to the public. We even got some balls and swag signed by the players to get a head start on fundraising ideas for Jimmy V!

Thanks to everyone on my team for helping to make this event such a success! We here at Jillian’s truly know how to make a difference - while having FUN!

cookie visits

just as i put my order into the kitchen today for 2 cookie visits tomorrow a woman selling grease trap cleaning products called on our GM - it worked he met with her but her cookies had the price tag still on them!  cookie visits with or without the $6.99 price tag do work!

Put on your Poker face, its time to play!!!!!!

Its the first Tuesday of our winter poker season here in Seattle and I cannot wait for tonight! The Seattle Poker Open holds the FREE Texas Hold’em tournament here twice a week for entertainment purposes only and helps players build a running tally of their points as the weeks go by. Collectively these points help the winning player get into the championship round at the all famed Tulalip Casino!! How fun!!! It will be SO great to see all of our poker players return after the Holiday season apart. We’ve had an abundance of calls just checking in to see if tonight is the night the tournament fun begins and we assure the future guest that yes it is and we are ready for them!!!! With the volume of calls already and the diligence of our regular players we are expecting a fantastic showing like always!!! Ariah is ready for his usual Tuesday nights with the poker crowd and judging from past experience, they seem to be ready for him as well, they know him by name and without fail on the way out there is always a comment or two the front desk receives about his phenomenal service!! Here is to another fun night in Seattle! Let the games begin!!!!!

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!!!

The Cheer is Always Here in Seattle!!!

Well the New Year holiday has come and gone but the cheerful spirit here in Seattle certainly has not! One person in particular is a reminder that cheer and good nature NEVER go out of season in the Emerald City. Eric Johnson who is a member of the Door Staff here has been a part of the Seattle Jillians team since 2003 and is such a great person and coworker. He is always upbeat and his interactions with guests are above and beyond! From the time he arrives for work until the time he leaves he is generally the first and last person a guest sees. This is a WONDERFUL asset for the Seattle club because Eric is SO welcoming and genuine!! His infectious personality and positive attitude makes people want to come back to see that friendly and familiar face! This is just a little shout out of inspiration to begin the new year:) Thanks Eric, keep doing what you do!! We appreciate you!

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

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!!!