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Not to be confused with jimmyjohns.
 Jimmy John's is a franchised sandwich restaurant owned by Jimmy John Liautaud. The restaurant was founded in 1983 and has since grown to over 875 stores, with many locations in college towns. Their headquarters is located in Champaign, Illinois.[1]
[edit] HistoryAfter founder Jimmy John Liautaud graduated second to last in his class from Elgin Academy (Elgin, Illinois)[2] in 1982, his options were joining the Army or starting a business. Having developed a well deserved reputation as a bully (as a grade school punk, and continuing later in high school), the natural inclination would have been to join the Army. He chose to start a business.[3] Inspired by the Chicago area restaurant chain Portillo's, Liautaud's father lent him $25,000 to start his own hot dog business. If the business was successful, Liautaud would own 52% of it and his father would own 48%. If it failed, he would join the Army. After Liautaud realized starting a hot dog business would cost nearly twice the amount of the loan, he decided to open a sandwich shop instead. A nearby neighbor told Liautaud that the secret of a successful sandwich was in the bread. He started baking bread in his mother's kitchen, bought the most expensive meats from Dominick's, and had family members vote on the best four sandwiches (out of six) he created. The first Jimmy John's opened in a garage in Charleston, Illinois on January 13, 1983 with used equipment and no menu or outdoor advertisement, simply selling the four sandwiches and 25-cent Cokes. After giving samples out around town, his business began to thrive. He especially catered to college students at Eastern Illinois University. After two friends backed out as managers, he ran the store himself for the first few years, working seven days a week from open to close. In April 1985, he bought out his father's side of the business and became sole owner. He opened his second store in Macomb, Illinois, and, after manager William "Billy" Burns was killed in a car accident, he ran the second store himself for a few months. Liautaud went on to honor Burns by naming the "Billy Club" sandwich after him, which remains on the menu to this day. He would later open several more stores, and he developed a prototype before franchising began in 1993 with the help of Francorp [1]. [edit] Current statistics Jimmy John's now offers 25 different sandwiches[4] and has over 900 stores in 37 states.[5] Liautaud projects the chain to grow to at least 1,000 shops by Summer 2010.[6] About 95% of the current restaurants are franchise-owned. Jimmy John Liautaud owns 67% of the company, and in January 2007 sold a 33% stake to Weston Presidio, a San Francisco-based private-equity firm.[6] Jimmy sold a third of the company to guarantee financial security for his family. [edit] NASCARJimmy John's currently sponsors Kevin Harvick in the Nationwide Series. [edit] References
[edit] External links
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