Jack in the Box Inc. Message Board

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, but I did not get to
go down to the store at lunch time as I had planned.
My car was in the shop. When I went to pick it up at
10:00 am (they said it was ready), the same thing was
wrong with it so I ended up having to leave it there
again. I still don't have it back and probably won't get
it back until late in the day tomorrow. I see JBX
went up today...nice move from todays lows....Hmmmmmm.
You got me thinking again. Anyway, my little girl
asked to go back to Jack in the Box, she likes the
toys, but loves the hamburgers. God to admit, she has
good taste. See ya!

Thanks for the additional details. Sounds like
you've identified a serious flaw in customer access to
the parking lot. JBX execs, are you
listening?

I'm glad you singled out your pleasant experience
with the drive-thru employee. This typifies the JITB
experience, IMO, which I began to notice years ago when I was
considering investing in the company stock. The people
working the counter and windows at JITB are genuinely
friendly, and have a sense of pride and satisfaction. It's
the warmth and feeling you often get from a
proprietor (someone who has a real stake in the business)
when they interact with their customers. Also
professionalism and competence. I don't see this range of
attitude in many other quick service restaurant employees,
let alone at sit down restaurants. I don't know how
JITB motivates their staff, but the managers/execs
should be commended as well as the employees. One
annoying, insincere experience with someone who obviously
doesn't care a wit about you or your order can really be
a turnoff.

Hopefully, your Saturday night
observations of the crew will give way to the kind of
experience you had at lunchtime. That's pretty much the way
it always is at the JITB's I visit here in Southern
California, even when they are slammed.

Arnie: thanks
for the OCS recipe!

ck too: LOL at your
Madison church story lead in. Strange that JITB won't
officially comment on the new locations, but you've managed
to dig them out via the local
newspapers.

David

I'm looking forward to your reports.

You
are doing a great service for Jack in the Box, as we
know they monitor and read comments here. They
probably think differently, however.

I would
encourage you to take names and pass them on via their web
site comment line. I'm sure the good ones go up the
ladder, get commented on, then send down either via email
or FAX to the manager and supervisor for the
Charlotte area. Good comments, such as the one for the
Spanish girl, might be very motivating and
uplifting.

http://www.jackinthebox.com/talk/talk.html

I paid another visit to the store this afternoon
12:00 noon to be exact and went thru the drive thru. I
ordered the kids meal cheese burger for my little girl. I
got two double cheese burgers (they are going for 99
cents). Personally so far I think the double
cheeseburgers are the best thing on the menu, but I have not
tried everything yet. The day crew was doing a great
job not at all like the night crew I witnessed
Saturday night. The girl was very courteous and had a big
smile as she greeted me (that's important). I'm 54
years old, so she was not flirting, she just conveyed
to me (thru you actions and posture) that she liked
her job and was happy. She was a little spanish girl.
I was the first person in line to drive up when I
came, but soon there were three other cars behind me. I
took a really good look at the way the drive way into
the parking area is designed and I still feel that
they really messed up with the design. It only takes
about 7 cars at the drive thru and the entrance is
effectively blocked for other people trying to get in and eat
inside. There were a lot less employees inside or
appeared to be. I could only see thru the drive thru. They
looked good as they worked, no panic, and appeared to
know what they were doing. We have a saying in the
fast food business, "Don't wait to be told to do
something, look around and see what needs to be done and do
it...anticipate". I saw this and was very pleased. The day crew
looked good. You asked if I thought the concept would
work in Charlotte. Yes, the product is great and
cooking to order is always the best because the food
never tastes as great as it does when it first comes
off the grill. Having said that, I still have a
problem with the time factor. I can't see a really heavy
rush, lunch crowd, waiting that long to get their order
and have lunch. They don't have that long and as I
said before, it doesn't take too many cars backing up
and you end up blocking the driveway entrance. I'm
going back up their tomorrow for lunch on a Monday and
I'm going inside and just watch while I have lunch. I
wish I could be outside as well to see how badly the
traffic backs up at that entrance, but I'll have the do
the best I can. I bought 500 shares of CPQ Friday at
$18 13/16 and feel pretty good about that move. Time
will tell on both. See ya!

Good eyes. And thank you for taking the time to
tell us all what you experienced. Great
detail.

Let us hope they weed out the extra hires soon and
get someone on the plane if necessary from San Diego
tomorrow if they are not there already. They have a month
and a half before Nugent comes for a look--unless he
is needed sooner.

Sounds like in your town
that JITB can catch on if they do it right. This is
good. If they do it wrong, the return visit may require
expensive discounting enticements.

Would you say
chaos like this accompanies new businesses in new areas
with new employees?

Any sign of discounting
specific items? 99c for two tacos; 99c double cheese; 99c
Jumbo Jack; 99c breakfast Jack, etcetera.

Now
the most important question. Do YOU think this
concept will work in Charlotte? Does it have
promise?

If you'll report to us the details once a month like
this I'm tempted to subsidize your meals for a few
months and send you partial reimbursement via cashiers
check! Better research than you can find printed
online!

Email me a photo of the store's exterior and I'll find
a place to post it online for all to see the
futuristic exterior they claim is being built.

Wrong. I use the drive through. :-) Oreo shakes
are best when taken home, put in the freezer for an
hour or two and then eaten with a spoon. Yum! Too bad
it's time for breakfast instead of lunch or I'd drive
to my local JITB right now.


Arnie

You underestimate me. Of course I made note of
how many people were in line at the drive through
when I drove up. There were five cars in line. The
parking lot was 1/2 to 3/4 full. Remember a lot of these
cars belonged to the employees which in my opinion
were too many at that time. There were approximately
15-20 people in the dinning room. When you walked
through the door you immediately backed into a ball of
people, 12 people maybe, but totally disorganized. There
is a very big difference between an "S" curve setup
and an"O" get the picture? If you have a side
entrance to your business you need an "S" curve to
organize your people. If you have a direct front entrance
you can have the 3-4 cash register set up like they
had. Why? Because people tend to walk into a big lobby
that can handle a large number of people standing and
the 3-4 lines are easily recognizable and people get
in line for them. Of course the side entrance set up
will work ok, if the lobby is big enough to easily
distinguish the lines. This one was not. This place is set up
for a very small crowd, to be handled at a very easy
pace. The fact that all the burgers are cooked to order
causes people to order then stand there waiting for 5
minutes at least to get their order. They don't go sit
down or move the hell out of the way. Now you tell me
was there any way of anyone walking into a store with
a ball of people standing there, to determine which
ones were already waited on and which ones were not?
As it turned out 1/4 of the ball had already been
waited on and were just in the way. You are right about
one thing. This store is definately set up for take
out. On another note, I noticed that the store from a
distance was well lite and the different lights were
arranged so that the store was very attractive. It really
stood out and was very inviting. I do not like the
entrance way it is poorly designed. If you get enough cars
in the waiting line to the drive thru, then you
effectively block the drive way into the parking area of the
restaurant, why they did that is beyond me, somebody must
have been blind when they reviewed these plans. I have
a suggestion, give me the store, let me redo the
lobby, entrance to parking, and selection of personnel,
and I'll outperform any store within a 10-15 mile
radius. How about that proposal? The product is great
make no mistake about that. Execution is terrible.
Just my humble opinion of course, but just remember
this store has been open 3 weeks now...these first few
weeks are the most important in the whole history of
these existance of this store. Word of mouth will spead
like wild fire in this town...good or bad. Wish I
could say more, but I have to fix my kitchen sink, I'm
in the process of tearing out the whole works, so
you know I'm busy. See you later and nice talking to
ya!

Another great report from our honorary JITB
Mystery Shopper.

I was a little confused about the
numbers of customers you were reporting though. You say
the lobby is poorly designed and can't handle a rush
of 12-15 people. But how many were actually there
that night? You said there was a line out the door of
people who couldn't get in, so that's considerably more,
right? And did you take note of how the drive-thru lane
was doing? I believe JITB does most of its business
via the drive-thru window.

Also, I know the
service end of the business is what you focused on, but
I'm wondering if you had any other impressions of
whether customers were enjoying their food?

I'm
not happy to hear that your impression was one of
chaos, poor training and organization. But I am glad to
focus on the fact that this JITB was being overwhelmed
by customers. I think most people will tend to
forgive a poor first experience under these conditions.
Crowds of fellow customers clamoring for a new product
or service generates excitement and good word of
mouth, and reinforces to those present that they are
standing in line for something special and worth having.
Sure, some will take away bad experiences, but I'd bet
most will be telling their friends "I was at the new
JITB last night, and it was PACKED. They couldn't even
handle all the customers!" Even if they go on to
emphasize what an ordeal it had been, listeners will
remember the part about it being packed. Humans are
attracted to popular things.

I'll never forget when
the Dairy Queen opened in my sleepy hometown about 15
years ago. It was the first resurrected in Southern
California, I believe, since the tired chain had abandoned
the area in the 1970's. It was a tiny storefront in
my beachtown's downtown area, and the lines were out
the door for a block every night for weeks. The funny
part was that the ice cream I tried was terrible--just
your basic run-of-the-mill ice milk stuff (I never
tried the food). But there was an air of excitement I
had not seen at any new business opening in recent
memory. I guess nostaligia brought a lot of 30-somethings
in too. I for one never went back. If JITB can
overcome its initial rough edges, the quality food will be
what people remember and return for.

An Oreo
Cookie Shake is worth standing in line for, right
Arnie?

David

until she could calm down. All of this during a
rush mind you. I saw a man eating inside, get shorted
two orders of fries. The same girl that had been
holding her head, gave him one order. Then promply
announced to the manager that there were no more fries on.
So the guy stood there while more fries cooked. She
then finally give him his second order and shorted the
actual package (only 7-8 fries in the pack). He looked
at it, shook his head and turned around and left.
The look on his face told it all as well as the look
of wonderment on other peoples faces when they
finally got in the door and tried to figure out where to
get in line at. Pitiful such poor execution and
organization. For me it was like watching someone take a
beautiful racing engine and poor gas down the oil spout.
The double cheese burger I ordered later was one of
the best I have ever eaten and the shake was great
too. If this store does not make it's numbers here at
this location, it will not be because of the lack of
customers or the product, Poor organization, training,
execution, and layout will be the killer at this store.

.It is now 8:20 P.m. EST-Saturday night. I just
walked in the door from having supper at the new Jack in
the Box off Arrowood Rd. here in Charlotte, NC. I
agree with your philosophy of neighborhood location.
That is not where they located. They located beside
one hotel and across the street from another hotel,
all of it beside Interstate 77, very close to Nations
Ford Rd. I wish you had of been with me tonight.
First, since when did spending less time and money on
training and recruitment ever helped the bottom line? You
will not have a bottom line if you don't train
effectively and recruit the best you can get. I agree about
treatment of the employees but I also know from experience
that you have to earn respect in the food business by
demonstrating a cool head under pressure and being organized as
well as knowing how to interact with your employees,
as well as the placement of employees in a rush.
What I saw tonight was total chaos....I mean total
chaos. (1) Too many employees, (2) 90% were not
trained..at all and it showed...badly. (3) service was really
bad because nobody was organized. (4) Store was not
designed well at all--the front lobby where you go to
place your orders is way to small to handle even a
small rush of 12-15 people. God help them if they get a
rush like I used to handle with 75 people or more in
the front lobby. (5) and this is the biggie..there
were three cash registers way too close together with
no isle separators so people were just piled up in
one big ball breaking in front of each other and
people backed out the door not even able to get in the
door because of the lack of organization. The night
manager was almost running in circles. One employee was
walking around holding her head just walking back and
forth doing nothing but getting in the way. One girl
taking orders got so mad she closed her register, and
walked clean out of the building and stood out side