Fraternal spirit at Jack's Family RestaurantsFraternal spirit at Jack's Family Restaurants

Robin Lee Allen

Benny M. LaRussa Sr., owner and chief executive of Jack’s Family Restaurants, chuckles when asked about growing competition among burger players. 


During Jack’s 52-year history, the Birmingham, Ala.-based quick-service chain has persevered despite the invasion of its Southeast home turf by such burger brands as McDonald’s; Sonic, America’s Drive-In; Hardee’s; Wendy’s; Krystal; Whataburger; Rally’s Hamburgers; Red Robin Gourmet Burgers; and Back Yard Burgers.


So today, as Five Guys Burgers and Fries and its better-burger ilk make inroads into the $69 billion quick-service hamburger segment, LaRussa vows that privately held Jack’s will use the same recipe to stand its ground as it has in the past: “Do the best job we can and the business will take care of itself,” he said.


Actually, the formula is a bit more complex than that, but the results speak for themselves. During more than two decades at Jack’s helm, LaRussa steadfastly has grown the chain from 33 units to 115. And despite economic swings and increasing competition through the years, Jack’s, which does not disclose sales figures, has posted growth of 8 percent to 10 percent for the past 15 years, said Pam Measel, Jack’s director of marketing.


LaRussa expects that to continue. Jack’s plans to open eight restaurants this year, growing out markets in the four states it has long targeted: Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi. Except for 10 franchise units operated by one franchisee — Oxford, Ala.-based Manna Enterprises Inc. — the stores are company owned. New ones will be, too, he said.


“We have no debt,” LaRussa said. “We do everything through cash flow. I’d never say never as far as franchising, but we have been content with steady, conservative growth and being successful. Rather than being the biggest, we’d rather just be the best.”



Bit by the food biz


A native of Birmingham, LaRussa spent the first 27 years of his career working in the grocery business. He joined the Bruno’s grocery store chain, founded by his father-in-law, and rose through the executive ranks.


One of his customers was a man named Jack Caddell, who founded and opened the first Jack’s, a walk-up stand, in Homewood, Ala., in 1960. A few years later LaRussa became a franchisee, and in 1979 he bought the rights to franchise the north Alabama territory and left the grocery business.


“It was a time of 22- and 23-percent interest rates,” LaRussa recalled. “On the money we borrowed, we struggled just to make the interest payment, but we worked through it and started growing. In 1989 we bought the distribution center for our stores and then bought the whole company.”


During the 1970s, under the ownership of Florida Capital, Jack’s expanded aggressively, growing to nearly 80 restaurants. But that growth came at a cost, leading to a weakened system and store closures. It took until the mid-2000s for Jack’s to reach the 80-unit mark again. 


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To turn Jack’s around and then keep it moving in the right direction, LaRussa focused on the company’s infrastructure. He has put in place a loyal senior management team with tenures of 15 years and up and pushed for continuous improvement in menu items and service.


Three regional directors and those who head up marketing, human resources, accounting and training meet with Jack’s president Charles Mizerany, vice president Billy Wentz and LaRussa each Monday to discuss goals and plans. The rest of the week everyone is out in the stores.


“It’s not only that he has put good people in place; it’s more that he sits back and steers the ship and everybody else runs it,” said Christy Gravitt, Jack’s marketing specialist. “He puts confidence in those people.”


After the meeting the group goes out for lunch to connect and talk about sports, current affairs or whatever they’d like. It’s a bit of regularly scheduled team-building that “bridges the gaps between departments, makes sure they are all working together and ensures the power of the brand,” Gravitt said.


The sense of camaraderie and family trickles throughout the organization of 3,200 people, all of whom fondly call LaRussa “Mr. L.”


That sense of family also is a benefit of being the owner instead of the franchisee, LaRussa said.


“Everybody has their own ideas about how to run a company,” he said. “When you’re a franchisee you have to go along with the franchisor; you’re the low man on the totem pole. When you control it you work with the people, and when you work with the people you can build morale.” 


Jack’s, which started out selling 15-cent hamburgers, fries and shakes, now offers chicken snacks and dinners, an array of breakfast biscuits, salads and sides. The average check is $7. Breakfast and lunch contribute 70 to 75 percent of sales, with dinner contributing 25 to 30 percent. Seventy percent of sales come through the drive-thru.


“We revamped our products two years ago,” Gravitt said. “Our chicken fingers are now hand-breaded in the store. We’re always trying to improve the quality of the food as we move forward.”


On quality, Jack’s rivals the better-burger crew, LaRussa said.


“We have as good a product as Five Guys, but it’s probably about $3 cheaper,” he said. “This recession has kind of helped us as people traded down and then continue to come back. But there is a lot of competition.”


At your service


To improve Jack’s service, LaRussa introduced the spirit of the service touches he had employed at Bruno’s.


“In the grocery business, we had a sacker who carried bags out to the car,” he said. “There was more customer service, so we tried to bring that same philosophy to the restaurant business.”


Each Jack’s has a hostess who cleans tables, recognizes regular customers and promotes a sense of community among guests. Repeat customers visit about three times a week — a high average for the restaurant industry, Gravitt said.


“We put ourselves in the customer’s place and think about ‘What can we do to make it as pleasant as possible for the customers, so they [will come] back to us to get something to eat?’” LaRussa said.


And philanthropic efforts remain the core of Jack’s marketing strategy. The chain has given about $80,000 annually to the Muscular Dystrophy Association for the past 14 years. Jack’s website is full of photos from local high school and youth sports. And for the second year Jack’s is the title sponsor of the Free Friday Flicks in Homewood Park.


“We have a lot of stores in small towns, and that’s the best way to develop loyalty,” LaRussa said. “Hardee’s is in most of those towns, but it’s helped us measure up real well with them, Burger King and McDonald’s.” 


New unit growth will only occur when “we have a trained crew and management team ready to open it — because that first impression is so important,” LaRussa said.


“Look at the companies that got in trouble,” he continued. “They grew too fast. They had no system of training people. The faster you open them up, your chances of being a failure become much greater. If as a customer you go into a store and nobody takes care of you, if the food’s not good, you don’t go back.


“I see us continuing to grow and becoming a very strong regional chain and creating opportunities for people to be successful” 

Contact Robin Lee Allen at 
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