Sponsored By

Jimmy John’s launches merch to alleviate wintertime bluesJimmy John’s launches merch to alleviate wintertime blues

The sandwich restaurant chain is also giving away desserts and suggesting a menu hack

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

January 16, 2024

2 Min Read
jimmy johns yoga bag
Jimmy John's latest merch line includes a yoga tote.

Jimmy John’s is adding a new line of brightly colored merchandise to help cheer up the new year, along with an offer for free dessert and a menu hack for loyalty program members, the sandwich restaurant chain said Tuesday.

The merch is intended to be in line with “dopamine dressing,” or wearing clothing that brightens your mood, and is being released as inclement weather sweeps much of the nation.

The $35 “Self-Love Sandwich Club” Hoodie features those words on the back and a peace sign on the front in cheery mint green. The $35 “Club Delulu” insulated water bottle, also green, is intended to scare away the winter blues with “a healthy case of delusion,” which is what “delulu” is slang for.

Jimmy John’s recommends filling the bottle with soda.

The $20 “After This We’re Getting Sandwiches” Yoga Tote has straps designed to carry a yoga mat — or possibly a sub.

Jimmy John’s, a chain of more than 2,600 restaurants in more than 40 states, already has an extensive online store that sells a rather broad clothing line and accessories such as keychains and pickleball sets.

Also to get rid of the wintertime “blahs,” the chain, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Inspire Brands, is suggesting a menu hack on its app called BLAHS, or bacon, lettuce, avocado spread, hot peppers, and salami. The hack is achieved by ordering Jimmy John’s BLT, removing the tomato, and adding avocado spread, Jimmy Peppers, and salami.

Related:Jimmy John’s revamps loyalty program with gamification and unique rewards

Additionally, the chain is offering a free cookie or dessert, with a minimum purchase of $10, to anyone who enters the code LITTLETREAT in the Jimmy John’s app. The offer can be redeemed daily from Jan. 17 through Jan. 28.

Jimmy John’s is just the latest concept to expand its merch line as restaurants seek new ways to capitalize on their brand equity.

Sister brand Dunkin’ recently released a new martini glass and shaker in the run up to the holidays, and White Castle promoted its late-night popularity with a “Night Castle” clothing line in collaboration with rapper Fat Joe.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Read more about:

Jimmy John’s

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

Subscribe Nation's Restaurant News Newsletters
Get the latest breaking news in the industry, analysis, research, recipes, consumer trends, the latest products and more.