Not ‘just another boring burger and fries’: Jack in the Box returning to Chicago area
Jack in the Box has a jack-of-all-trades kind of menu.
After a decades-long absence, the fast-food brand is returning to the Chicago area, with Jack in the Box restaurants getting ready to open in Naperville, Lake in the Hills, Carol Stream, a few South suburbs and near Chicago Midway International Airport.
What sets the chain apart? Very often Jack in the Box restaurants are an around-the-clock, drive-through operation, says Darren Tristano, CEO of FoodserviceResults. They do offer breakfast, usually all day. Though burgers are front and center, Jack in the Box also serves, depending on the market, jumbo egg rolls and crunchy tacos.
“I think it can compete within the market, even though it's somewhat saturated for fast food, and especially burger, but being open 24 hours, serving breakfast, should be enough to build the volumes necessary to be successful at each unit,” Tristano said.
A Jack in the Box recently opened on Route 59 in the Joliet-Plainfield area — the first of eight restaurants planned across Chicago and the suburbs.
Similar to Culver’s strategy in the Chicago market, Jack in the Box is targeting low-rent suburban areas that are “not necessarily rural” and slowly moving in toward the city, Tristano said.
“It’s effective because it’s less costly. There’s less competition in a lot of those markets,” Tristano added. “So many of them aren’t over supplied, so they’re craving new and exciting brands.”
More suburban restaurants are slated to open at 1600 E. Ogden Ave., Naperville; 320 N. Randall Road, Lake in the Hills; 672 E. Lincoln Hwy., New Lenox; and 441 E. Geneva Road, Carol Stream.
“There is a market for their operations,” said John Melaniphy, president of retail consulting firm Melaniphy & Associates. “They certainly had some very successful units in their heyday. But it all comes down to giving the consumer what they want, when they want, at the price they want, and the quality levels they want. And that is a difficult challenge, particularly getting the right kind of workforce to implement their objectives.”
Critical mass is “probably around 25 restaurants,” said Tristano, who called eight a “good start.”
The expansion has been in the works for a long time, and “our growth into new markets like Chicago is key to our business strategy,” Jack in the Box Vice President of Franchise Development Van Ingram said in a written statement.
The Jack in the Box brand is known for its innovative menu “that defies traditional fast-food boundaries, offering everything from tacos to egg rolls alongside classic burgers,” he added.
“We champion our ‘unruly’ customers, who aren't satisfied with just another boring burger and fries,” Ingram said.
A company mascot — a CEO character named “Jack Box” — appears in commercials that “usually use very comedic style of advertising, which is very appealing to younger generations,” Tristano said.
Millennials, in particular, are spending a considerable amount of their discretionary income on eating out, Melaniphy said.
Tristano also expects there will be “some pent-up demand” from nostalgic patrons who used to frequent the restaurant back in the day.
In Lake in the Hills, Jack in the Box is taking over a former Arby’s, with purple awnings now over the windows and the signature box logo on the brick exterior.
“We are very pleased that we think it’s going to be one of the best-looking Jack in the Boxes,” said John Svalenka, the village’s community development director.
Tom Farace, Carol Stream's planning and economic development manager, said interior remodeling work continues on his town’s Jack in the Box, also located in a former Arby’s. Farace said the restaurant is on schedule for a September opening.
• Daily Herald staff writer Dave Oberhelman contributed to this report