How Jimmy Johns gives me a complete HR experience

Wheat Bread at Jimmy Johns means no more childhood nightmares

Jimmy John’s Insane Staffing

I just had lunch at Jimmy John’s. As an HR Pro/Am, whenever I enter a business, I am always checking out the working environment. When I get a quick bite to eat, the radar is up. 

Jimmy John’s just landed in our South Lake Union neighborhood. Before Jimmy John’s came into the neighborhood, a co-worker told me about Jimmy John’s on a daily basis. He couldn’t wait for them to go into the neighborhood. He talked about how they were “the s**t” and explained how he wanted to invest in Jimmy John’s. This guy was a true Jimmy John’s FanBoy. I had never heard of Jimmy John’s. When he said they make submarine sandwiches, I immediately went into “disregard and dismiss” mode with my signature, wave of the hand flourish. I had a bad experience growing up with submarine sandwiches. To this day, I have a hard time with Subway, Quiznos, etc. I have nothing against the franchises, just the sandwiches. Yeah, I can hold a grudge.

Free Sandwiches?

The day Jimmy John’s opened, I heard they were giving away free sandwiches. This was all highly unusual, bordering on the suspect. It should have been my first clue that this place was different. Free sandwiches from a franchise? When was the last time you saw the guy who popped out of a box to hand out free cheeseburgers? Half the office organized a trip to Jimmy John’s over Skype. I passed. It might have been free, but they don’t call it a traumatic childhood experience because it was a stroller ride in the park. 

I caved by the second week, but mainly because there were only three places to eat in our neighborhood, and 1 was a taco truck.  The taco truck was good till I realized the guy was using the bathroom in our building as his main point of relief and was not washing his hands.  If you’re unsure about my stance on bathroom etiquette, please read on.  Washing your hands is not just before meals anymore; it’s also before an interview.    

All I could ask myself was, “What is so great about a fast submarine sandwich?  If you have had one, you had them all.” 

Freakin’ Fast

So I went. Half a block away from the restaurant, I could already see that the line stretched out the door, with 20 customers already waiting. I am immediately thinking of a 30 + minute wait. Do the math. Fifteen customers are out the door, and another ten are inside the restaurant. Even on a good day, working at a rate of one sandwich a minute results in a 30-minute wait. Let’s not even think about swiping a debit card and waiting for that mess. My buddy reassured me. “Don’t worry, the line goes quickly.” Yeah right. I just did the math. I am sure it goes quickly, but with 30 people in line, how fast can a sandwich be assembled? There is a fixed cost of time when making a sandwich.

We waited outside for a few minutes. Sure enough, this line is moving. It is moving surprisingly fast. I’m not thinking about how it could be moving this fast or how many elves are behind the counter, but we are moving. 

Lesson from Henry Ford

The line moves me through the door. Magically, it splits into two informal lines, each going to a cashier and a bank of “rockstar” sandwich makers. Normally, you see a total of two people in a Subway. One person makes the sandwich, and the other takes the money. There are two lines here. In each line, there is one cashier and four sandwich makers. Four people are responsible for handling a single sandwich. Ford, the inventor who made the assembly line famous, the grandfather of organizational development and mass assembly, would have been proud of these guys. Henry Ford had some poor schlep pull the car with a rope down the assembly line and only offered the Model T in one color to make the product easier and more affordable. (Your HR lesson for the day)   

These guys took a page out of Henry’s book because. Although they had a dozen different sandwiches, the sandwiches only came one way and with ONLY two choices of bread. Henry Ford only offered his Model T in one color. You can have it in any color you want as long as your choice is black! Subway, meanwhile, gives you 6 choices of bread. 

Keep the line moving

I paid with my debit card and waited for the transaction to finish. Mentally, I was waiting for the cashier to offer me a receipt. It’s not a receipt I would keep, but the signing of a receipt is how most places finish a transaction. No signature is required; please keep the line moving please.

When I got to the end of the line, my sandwich was waiting for me—total time elapsed, maybe 2 minutes.

HR brain explodes

What boggled my pea-brain HR mind was how many people they had crammed behind the counters working at various stations.  I counted 18 employees back there. Granted, two of them delivered sandwiches on bikes, but 18 employees at a sandwich place with two cashiers? I quickly did the hourly pay / math in my head. 

Eighteen employees at $12.00 an hour. $216.00 an hour, and I figure these folks aren’t full-time, so there are no benefits. There is no fry station, there is no coffee station, and there is no ice cream or shake maker. There is a self-serve pop machine. What’s the point? 18 people to make sandwiches? Not just 18 employees, but these guys all had a hipster vibe. They enjoyed working here. Vendors often claim that a uniform will instill pride in a team. Working in HR, I get my fair share of salespeople trying to sell us 100% cotton uniforms. These guys rocked a black hipster t-shirt with the cool caption in block letters. 

SUBS SO FAST YOU’LL FREAK

There was banter, there was energy, and there were a lot of sandwiches moving out the door. I wasn’t in Subway or Kansas anymore, Toto, and yes, I “Freaked”.     

The line moved quickly, and the chips were my favorite brand: thick and crunchy. The best part? I was out of there in less than 7 minutes. The sandwich shop next door that I was going to never saw their door hit my ass on the way out again. My average wait was 20 minutes, and the line was usually only 6-10 people long. 

HR Brilliance

I would have NEVER thought to throw more employees behind an $8.00 sandwich, let alone 18, and I am a professional with a degree in Organizational Psychology. Brilliant!  Fricken’ brilliant!  I probably go there once a week to soak in all that HR brilliance.  

They don’t just have a great sandwich, they exude a Jimmy John’s culture and a vibe. They took an 8.00 sandwich and made it cool. I have a common saying I repeat to all hiring managers when we discuss candidates. Cheap, Fast, and Good. You can have 2 of the three, but you can’t have all three. Jimmy John’s, you got all three. Paleo diet?  BOOOYYAHHHH!!  They have you covered with the “Unwich”.    

the Unwich

The best part about Jimmy John’s?  They offer every sandwich on amazing wheat bread, which means I have no reminder of that traumatic childhood experience.   

“Number 9 on Wheat please.”,

See you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

Subscribe here to ditch the corporate ladder and take the elevator. I promise no spam,