Virginia Beach (Town Center) Jimmy John's owner AJ Kramer. Photo by Paul Chin, Jr.
By Jessica O. Swink
Small Business Insight
Ask the owner of a Jimmy John’s what the big deal is about their sandwiches, and you’ll get a straightforward answer.
“Unfortunately, Subway has flooded the market, so when people walk in, they expect us to pull out a bag of lettuce, plastic bags of sliced tomatoes and prepackaged meats,” says Town Center Jimmy John’s owner AJ Kramer.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I’m here at 6 in the morning slicing vegetables and making the bread,” he says. “Everything is fresh, and we buy local.”
Chesapeake Jimmy John’s owner Shane Turner adds another tasty perk.
“Our bread is never more than three hours old, and that’s only if we are really slow. During the day, you are getting hour-old bread,” Turner says.
Neither Kramer or Turner has owned a franchise before, nor worked in the food industry. For Kramer, getting involved with the Jimmy John’s franchise was as easy as listening to his dad.
“He’s always had something brewing on the side, and growing up, I always thought that way as well,” Kramer says.
One day on his lunch break, his dad told him to look into the Jimmy John’s franchise, and Kramer decided to go for it.
Chesapeake Jimmy John's owner Shane Turner. Photo by Paul Chin, Jr.
“I was taken back at first, but then I went forward with it,” Kramer said. Soon, he was on a plane to Champaign, Illinois to the corporate offices to find the perfect location here. He decided on Town Center.
“We’re right under Two Columbus, so we’re a part of Town Center proper,” Kramer explains as he reflects on being close to Panera Bread and Schlotzsky’s Deli. “No one can match that, plus we’re open till 10 p.m.”
Kramer opened for business June 8 this year.
On the other side of town, Turner operates a Jimmy John’s off Greenbrier Parkway in Chesapeake.
Turner’s store has been in operation since October 2008, and he admits many people may not realize its location because it is so tucked away.
“A lot of the marketing we do is beneficial to that,” Turner says.
Turner and his associates prepare sandwiches, cut them into thirds and hand them out along with menus to various office buildings during the day.
“It’s a lot more cost-effective to hand out free food and a menu than to get on the radio and tell them what it’s like,” Turner says.
The cost of a Jimmy John’s franchise is $35,000, and that’s just the rights to the name. While Turner admits everything else added to that price is a little pricey, it’s “worth every penny.”
“We’re going to break a million this year. This location alone is ranked fourth in the country in comparative sales from year to year — up 51 percent from last year,” Turner says.
After admitting that it was a gamble being the first to open a Jimmy John’s in Hampton Roads, Turner is valuing his marketing efforts and hard work, and plans to open another store in Norfolk as his next location.
Both stores offer delivery in 15 minutes or less, and most of the time, the staff at both locations will have an order ready before it’s even paid for.
Both owners, having had no former experience in franchising, describe their undertakings as an adventure. Long hours, less vacation and many sandwiches later, Kramer looks forward to a bright future with Jimmy John’s.
“The glory of franchising is that someone’s already done the hard work. Someone’s made mistakes,” Kramer says. “With Jimmy John’s, they tell you ‘This is what’s worked in 1,000 other stores and it should work for you. Do this, and you’ll win the Super Bowl.”
According to Kramer, “So far, they’ve been right about 99 percent of everything.”
