Jack in the Box returns to Chicago after 40 years with long lines, but no clown drive-thru

Chicago Tribune

a day ago

For fast-food fans of a certain age, a familiar name has begun popping up again in the Chicago suburbs this summer.
Jack in the Box, which exited the Chicago market four decades ago, returned last month to open the first of eight company-owned restaurants, a converted Arby's in southwest suburban Plainfield that continues to draw long lines of diners on a gastronomical trip down memory lane.
Nostalgic visitors will find that Jack in the Box's signature tacos are still on the menu, but its once ubiquitous clown mascot is mostly missing, relegated to the pantheon of bygone fast-food icons along with Burger Chef. That apparently hasn't dampened enthusiasm for the brand's Chicago-area revival.
Since launching July 14 in Plainfield, the San Diego-based chain has opened restaurants in Countryside and Naperville to similarly large crowds, with Lake in the Hills welcoming customers beginning Monday. Jack in the Box is also planning to add locations in Tinley Park, New Lenox, Carol Stream and near Midway Airport in Chicago.
'We'll have all eight open before the last day of September,' said Van Ingram, vice president of franchise development for Jack in the Box.
If all goes well, Jack in the Box could go from zero to 30-plus Chicago-area locations in short order, with plans for extensive franchising in the pipeline, Ingram said.
The publicly traded restaurant chain, which has struggled recently with declining same-store sales and a falling stock price, may need more than nostalgia to win market share in the hometown of fast-food giant McDonald's, but early returns at the first three locations have been promising.
'Obviously, when a new restaurant opens, there's always pent-up demand,' Ingram said. 'People like to try the new place out, and so we experienced that clearly. But then the good thing is, we've sustained those sales beyond that initial honeymoon period.'
Launched in 1951, Jack in the Box has nearly 2,200 restaurants in 22 states, of which only 142 are corporate owned. The restaurants are most plentiful in California with about 950 locations, followed by Texas and other states west of the Mississippi River.
Returning to Chicago is part of an ambitious eastward expansion of the West Coast staple, which is looking to catalyze growth in the competitive fast-food arena on the eve of its 75th anniversary.
The eight inaugural Chicago-area Jack in the Boxes are all corporate owned and occupy former Arby's restaurants acquired in one fell swoop from a large franchise operator to get the brand reestablished quickly in the market, Ingram said.
Jack in the Box has invested more than $10 million to relaunch in Chicago, with the eight restaurants costing between $1 million and $2.5 million each to convert from an Arby's, he said.
But with 94% of its stores nationwide operated by franchisees, that model will be key to long-term growth in the Chicago market, Ingram said.
Jack in the Box has signed three franchisees committed to developing 25 more locations in the Chicago area over the next two to six years, Ingram said. That should enable the chain to reach enough critical mass for coordinated advertising to compete with more established fast-food restaurants for market share.
Down the road, Jack in the Box is targeting another 80 to 90 potential franchise locations in the Chicago area to develop as the market matures, Ingram said.
When Jack in the Box pulled up stakes and left the Chicago market more than 40 years ago, the quirky California-based fast-food chain was perhaps best known for its talking clown head taking orders at the drive-thru.
Its return this summer may spark some nostalgic memories, but Jack in the Box long ago dispensed with the clown image, focusing instead on a diverse menu beyond the burgers that includes all-day breakfast, tacos and even egg rolls, among other items.
Jack in the Box restaurants are also open later than many fast-food competitors to sate those after-hours cravings.
Darren Tristano, CEO of FoodserviceResults, a Chicago-based research and consulting firm, said nostalgic older customers and curious newbies should give Jack in the Box an initial boost, but it remains a tall order to become a major fast-food player in Chicago.
'Many consumers are drawn to the shiny new operator but price, quality and service will be important to building return patronage and longer-term success,' Tristano said. 'It will be hard for Jack in the Box to build in a market McDonald's calls home and compete with Burger King and Wendy's.'
Even nostalgia may have its pitfalls. For some older customers, the warm and fuzzy memories may be tainted by a 1993 food poisoning outbreak — a decade after Jack in the Box left Chicago — where hundreds of its customers on the West Coast were sickened and four children died from E. coli contamination traced to undercooked hamburger meat.
Jack in the Box subsequently raised the hamburger cooking temperature to 155 degrees, which also became the new FDA standard for fast-food restaurants.
Tristano said the 30-year-old incident and Jack in the Box's previous failure to conquer the Chicago market during its first go-round will likely be forgotten by most consumers in the 2025 reboot.
'Jack in the Box's return to the Illinois market is evidence that consumers have short memories and because of this, they will likely get a reset,' Tristano said.
For Jack in the Box, there may be a lot riding on a successful reentry into Chicago.
Jack in the Box ranked 23rd among U.S. fast-food restaurants for 2024 with just under $4.4 billion in total sales, a slight decline that dropped it one position in the annual Technomic Top 500 Chain Restaurant Report. Sales are projected to decline 3.5% this year, according to Technomic, a Chicago-based research firm.
Same store sales were down 7.1% in the third quarter, according to the Jack in the Box earnings report filed last week. Meanwhile, the company's stock price is down nearly 60% in 2025.
Lance Tucker, who was elevated from CFO to CEO in March, blamed the dismal third quarter sales on demographics during an earnings call.
'Jack in the Box significantly over-indexes with Hispanic guests, who, especially in our core markets, face uncertainty and have pulled back their spending,' Tucker said. 'This issue is having an outsized impact on our sales.'
At the same time, Tucker expressed optimism about the 'very strong opening' with the first three stores in Chicago.
'We're excited about the early returns on Chicago,' Tucker said.
Amplifying the buzz, Steve Dahl, former Chicago radio personality and current podcaster, went on a multiday social media-documented quest to battle the lines and procure a Jack in the Box taco, which has a cult-like following among some fast-foodies.
A recent visit to the Plainfield store offered a glimpse into the enthusiastic response Jack in the Box has generated among new and old fans.
A weekday lunchtime crowd descended on the restaurant by 11 a.m., forming a slow-moving drive-thru line stretching into the neighboring parking lot. Meanwhile, those who could find a parking space were queued up at the restaurant's entrance by a security guard, who carefully let customers filter inside to keep capacity within village codes.
At one point, tempers flared in the drive-thru lane as a driver in a pickup truck gave up and somehow managed to pull off a U-turn, precipitating a hangry window-down exchange of epithets with the car behind him.
None of that deterred Bill Fouts, 72, a retired manufacturer's supervisor from Minooka, who stopped into the Plainfield Jack in the Box looking to buy a gift card for his son-in-law and to check out the restaurant chain where he had worked as a teenager in Harvey.
He returned to his car in the busy parking lot empty-handed, smiling nonetheless.
It was his fourth attempt and his first success at getting inside, but Fouts said the Jack in the Box didn't have any gift cards. He plans to return soon with his wife to share the Jack in the Box tacos he loved growing up.
'I want to enjoy this with my wife,' Fouts said. 'We both enjoyed them, and actually, that's when we started going together. We've been married 53 years, and when I was 16 and working at the Jack in the Box, that's where we kind of met.'
Susan Maluck, 66, of Florida, who grew up in Evergreen Park and regularly hung out at a local Jack in the Box on 95th Street while in high school, was in town visiting her brother, Tony Brazzale, 61, who now lives in Plainfield.
They decided to take a trip down memory lane via Route 59 to try the fast food of their youth. After successfully navigating the gridlocked parking lot, the siblings were stopped for a brief crowd control wait in the entrance before making their way to the ordering lines.
Maluck was there to try the 'cheap tacos' she scarfed down regularly as a teenager.
'I want to see if they're as greasy as they used to be,' she said.
The tacos were a 'good greasy,' added her brother, who nonetheless planned to order a hamburger.