Tweet

For this week’s business story, I decided to check up on Jimmy John’s and see how they were coping with Covid-19. Bobby and Billie Egan, who are local owners of this franchise, filled me in on how Corona has affected their business. 

Bobby Egan said as restaurants are listed as an essential business they are fortunate to have remained open. However, they are required to close the dining area and had to resort to delivery, pickup, and drive-thru only for further safety measures. Their hours of operation are reduced to follow the state mandated guidelines and they had to limit capacity to minimum; therefore, employee hours were reduced there as well. 

Jimmy John’s is known to be freaky fast and freaky fresh and with the pandemic, limited staff, and drive-thru being open, Egan says the biggest struggle is the delay in the delivery time taking a little longer than normal. 

As far as staff, the JJ team has been fantastic throughout this whole pandemic. They have extremely dedicated and positive employees who are fun loving and hard working. They also love the fact that they are providing food to other essential employees and businesses. 

In regards to customers, they have been amazing during this difficult time.  JJ has seen both loyal and new customers that have never tried their food as well as others who have traveled as far as two hours to get the subs. A lot of folks in the community did not realize that the Altoona Jimmy John’s is locally owned and operated, so knowing this has made them support us even more by sharing and liking the posts along with posting pictures of the delicious subs. The Egans feel very fortunate about the community that they live in.

They have seen a lot of great things happening during the pandemic.  Local employers are purchasing large party boxes for their essential employees showing their gratitude, customers giving large tips to their employees and drivers, and customers paying it forward to the customer behind them in the drive-thru.  They have also seen customers paying for lunch for front line workers. 

With JJ’s being known to be hospital clean, they have only had to make minor adjustments to the cleaning procedures to remain top notch on sanitation.  The employees are now required to wear gloves and masks until further notice and to wash their hands every 30 minutes.  As state guidelines change they will modify the sanitation standards as well as continue to keep our community safe. 

If you’re feeling hungry and craving for a delicious fresh sub, be sure to visit your local Jimmy John’s.