Innovation

Jimmy John’s facilitates economic growth in smaller communities, giving greater opportunities and success. Specifically, with the Jimmy John’s in New Brunswick, they deliver food on bicycles rather than cars, addressing goal thirteen of affordable and clean energy. The local owner explained that “99% of all deliveries are on bikes because our goal is to decrease vehicle usage to decrease pollution to the air”. Another point that the manager touched upon was one reason that they do not use Grubhub because “they use cars to deliver and not bikes. This would go against our company policy”.

Jimmy John’s also sources their ingredients from sustainable companies. Most of them have received certifications or awards, including Ethical Corporation Responsible Business Award from their Mayo partner, Greener Packaging Award from beverage partners, and many of them are included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. When interviewing with the local owner, he explained that “all grain is sourced from Japan. Despite the increased cost, we believe better quality of food is better than the quantity of it”.

The ideas of sustainability stemmed from the CEO, Jimmy John Liataud’s past of being bullied. As he grew up, he wanted to take his hurt and make a positive impact to those around him. He used his business as a platform to not only provide a service and product, but as a means to make an impact on people’s lives. Whether that be through the employees or in society itself, he created several initiatives to ensure he would be able to do both.

Liataud also pushed for sustainability in his food product because he saw the importance of creating a world that is able to provide for humans in the years to come. Other involved members in the sustainability efforts include only sourcing from local vendors who grow and sell locally because Jimmy John’s is a strong proponent of giving back to the community. In doing so, Jimmy John’s is helping local economies grow as well.

Jimmy John’s relates to a sense of mission, purpose, and meaning. Their mission is to create jobs and help others, especially through working with a community. Their desire to help others and create a sustainable world is translated through their initiatives and actions taken. As stated before, they focus on helping others. Their purpose is not just to provide a food service, but to make a difference in people’s lives. Jimmy John’s is the intersection between passion (for food and creating a business), and selflessness (helping others). They exist to make an impact on people’s lives, either directly with the employees, or indirectly with the environment. Their meaning is to express how a company can be successful without hurting the environment. Many companies today are focused on making profit and not about how their actions are detrimental to others and the environment. Jimmy John's demonstrates how a company can balance both.

Inspiration

Jimmy John’s owner John Liautaud comes from a very disciplined background from Chicago. His story was that his father served in the military and his father tried to push him to do the same but offered him an alternative that he could start his own business with a loan of $25,000 (which is not a lot of money to start any business). He was originally going to open a hot dog stand but realized getting all the proper equipment for a business like that would require an initial capital investment of at least $45,000 for all the equipment.

He was inspired by a sub shop called Booby’s Sandwiches in Carbondale, Illinois. He realized the only thing that this company had was a “refrigerator, meat cutter, and a cash register.” He realized that this was way more feasible for the company he wanted to start with the limited capital that he had. He bought a small two car garage that had been a pizzeria that shut down in a college town. His location was surrounded by bars, so he found this to be a perfect opportunity to feed college students after they went out to the bars in the area.

At the time of the opening he owned 52% of the company, the other 48% belonging to his father. In their first year of business the company netted $155,000 in profits and in the second year he amassed $188,000 in profits and was able to buy out his father’s share in the business. The back bone of the company was based on the hard work and dedication that his father had instilled in him. John worked 7 days a week, 15 hours a day for the first few years of the business. Within 10 years John already owned 10 stores and business was booming. From this point on John realized he had an opportunity to grow his business by doing deliveries but didn’t like the idea of using cars to make the deliveries, so he thought having deliveries made on bikes to reduce the carbon emissions. The deliveries became immensely popular, at first to the point where sales were equal from in-store purchases and deliveries, and soon after deliveries became far and away the more popular way for customers to get their food, since the delivery was lightning quick.

John made his own work ethic a huge part of his business and looks for the same qualities in his workers. There’s a lot of mobility within the company for workers who excel at their jobs, making it easy for them to be promoted no matter what position they initially find themselves in.

Overall impact

In our interview, the owner of the Jimmy John’s in New Brunswick discussed bike delivery, supporting the community and local small businesses, and using the best quality ingredients. These are just a few of the ways that Jimmy John's is working towards their goal of sustainability. The first Jimmy John’s innovation we will discuss is bike delivery. Jimmy John’s hand delivers their sandwiches locally using bikes, not cars. 99% of their delivers are made using bikes and the other 1% using cars is only to protect the safety of their drivers. They are committed to bike delivery because they don’t want to pollute or add to polluting the air. In the interview Albert explained, “I would say about almost 99% of our delivers are with a bike… We don't believe in using vehicles for the most part because they pollute the air. We want to make sure we are not doing that to our own community. We don't want to add to the pollution in the local environment because we all have to live here.” The owner on the New Brunswick store, Albert, explained that they want to improve the place that we live and that includes the quality of the air that we breathe. They are not the only Jimmy John’s franchise that uses bikes for deliveries but Albert truly believes in the difference that it can make for the environment. Not only can his small business make a difference in their carbon footprint, but they can inspire other local businesses to do the same. He embraces the mentality that each one of us can make a difference.

Another way his store makes a difference is by using all-natural ingredients. Albert’s store and Jimmy John’s as a whole, is committed to making the world a healthier place by working closely with their suppliers. They are proud to say that, unlike most bread companies, their bread is made from non-GMO grains. They believe in the quality of their products. Overall, this costs the franchise more money, but they believe in giving their customers the best quality product. From a marketing perspective, they don’t advertise that their ingredients are all natural because “all natural” is a buzzword associated with being more expensive and they keep their sandwiches affordable for everyone. So even though they are not using “all natural” in advertising to make more money they still want to give their customers the best quality. In addition, all their meats are all natural and they do not use artificial preservatives to keep the meats fresh. They use natural preservatives like celery salt. They also use vinyl gloves instead of latex gloves to make their sandwiches because making latex has harmful effects and by-products.

Jimmy John’s has always been a leader in sustainability. The short-term effects include a higher initial price for Jimmy John’s. Being that John’s uses vendors that have high quality products they had to pay a higher initial price. However, in the long term, this cost pays off because of the established relationship between the vendors and Jimmy John’s, leading to decreased prices over time.

In addition to keeping their global footprint down, they also use local produce because they want to make sure that local farmers stay in business. Albert explains, “We [New Brunswick store] only use local vendors… we believe very much in giving back to our community... We want to support local produce farmers.” Corporate as well as Albert’s store is committed to supporting their local community and other small business; businesses that grow and sell locally. In addition to Mom and Pop farmers providing fresh daily vegetables, they use local construction companies, electricians, and plumbers when building their stores and for maintenance. These different initiatives are making a difference. They are reducing their carbon footprint and building a stronger community and local economy as well as giving customers the best quality product at an affordable price.

Business benefit

Although many of the practices Jimmy John’s is continuing in their stores help the environment tremendously, it also helps with their business profits. For example, due to their delivery motto which states they make deliveries on bikes most of the time, they can save lots of money that would go towards the maintenance of the car, as well as gas and insurance. By using bikes, they are helping the environment as well as saving money.

Social and environmental benefit

In addition to keeping their global footprint down, they also use local produce because they want to make sure that local farmers stay in business. Albert explains, “We [New Brunswick store] only use local vendors… we believe very much in giving back to our community... We want to support local produce farmers.” Corporate as well as Albert’s store is committed to supporting their local community and other small business; businesses that grow and sell locally. In addition to Mom and Pop farmers providing fresh daily vegetables, they use local construction companies, electricians, and plumbers when building their stores and for maintenance. These different initiatives are making a difference. They are reducing their carbon footprint and building a stronger community and local economy as well as giving customers the best quality product at an affordable price.

Interview

Albert, Owner