We were lucky to catch up with Jason Day recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jason, appreciate you joining us today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?
When I opened my 1st restaurant in November, 2019 – I had put everything I had into it. Financially, time, etc. I was broke the day it opened having spent all my money building it out. 4 months later, COVID hit forcing me to shut down the dining room of my brand new restaurant, which still did not have so much as a sign on the building nor any other business next to us to help pull customers (was built in a new center). About a week into COVID, I’m in the kitchen and one of our staff members tells me a customer is outside and wants to talk to me. I come out and he proceeds to tell me how much our place means to he and his wife, how much they love coming there, and then gives me a $500 check to help support the business. Initially I said I couldn’t accept but didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I begrudgingly accepted. A few moments later it really hit me what he’d just done and how kind that was. From that point on it gave me extra motivation to work our way through the obstacles and come out the other end, as that was an indicator that what we were doing mattered and was impacting people. I never cashed that check. To this day – it sits on my desk as motivation for why I did this to begin with. About 6 or so months later, I pulled him aside and told him how much that meant to me, why I never cashed it (it served more value to me as that daily reminder on my desk) and I proceeded to give him a $500 gift card to our restaurant as a thank-you for what he had done. It meant more to me, at that moment, than I’m sure he’ll ever realize.
Jason, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I had spent the past 12 years of my life working in healthcare in Southern California. It was a great career that paid well and gave me a great life. However, I had no passion for it. It was simply a job. And, more important, I worked at a Skilled Nursing Facility so pretty much all your day is spent talking about either insurance details and/or end-0f-life scenarios with family and patients and their most vulnerable. It’s taxing mentally and I came to the decision that A) I didn’t want to spend the next 10 years of my life doing that and B) I didn’t want to get to the end of my life having never taken a big risk, betting on myself, and seeing what I was truly capable of. And, most important, I wanted to do a life 180 so I could build a place that made people happy. So I quit my job, liquidated all my assets, and moved to Tennessee to build my 1st restaurant. without an ounce of restaurant experience (although I had plenty of business and marketing experience). Everything, as it tends to do, went over budget and over time and by the time the restaurant opened, I had no money to my name. I owed contractors and was about as stressed as one could be. But that all not withstanding, I felt I had built something that people would enjoy and that would be a great asset to the community. I was proud to have just gotten to that moment where we were allowed to open. Initially I worked all day and nights (I was free labor) and the initial response to the place was great. COVID then hit 4 months after we opened and that presented, obviously, some unique struggles. So we, overnight, changed the business model to phone orders and curbside pick up and added dinner specials to the menu that enabled us to get through those difficult months. I would work all day/night then go home and work on the website, as I knew specifically with COVID that online ordering would be important. As we got that rolled out and COVID slowly subsided, the restaurant began to really become popular and was turning into everything I hoped it would be. So much so that as an opportunity presented itself with an old retail space opening up in our downtown Square area, I was able to secure that spot and begin building out our 2nd location, which opened in November 2021. As I was building out that 2nd location, my Mom passed away. I was currently licensing a name for the restaurant that was causing some confusion with customers, as our restaurant(s) were so different in terms of menu, drinks, service, etc than any of the other locations with the same licensed name that I felt it best to separate so I could only be responsible for the 2 restaurants that I own. And in doing so, I was able to name the 2 restaurants after my Mom, Joan Day. And that’s how these 2 restaurants have become “Joanie’s.”
Have you ever had to pivot?
I’ll refer you to my previous answers regarding COVID and my back story about leaving my job and taking the risk to move and open the restaurant.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’ll refer you to my previous answers that go into this in great detail.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.JoaniesBoro.com
- Instagram: @joanieboro
- Facebook: @joanieboro