- New Developments
“He had one tan porcelain building with eight stools on Foray into fast fOOd
South Limestone Street facing the UK campus where McDon— “Jerry’s Drive—Ins were a hit for many years, and then came fast—
ald’s is located today,” Rosenthal remembers. “It was called food competition including McDonald’s and, yes — Kentucky
Jerry’s and sold 15—cent hamburgers. He also had two five—cent Fried Chicken,” Rosenthal recalls. “They pushed food out a win—
hamburger stands called White Taverns.” (low and the customer took it. They had no carpet, no background
Rosenthal brought innovation to the restaurants which music, no bottomless cofiee cup, such as we OHered at Jerry’s. I
quickly resulted in success. “I introduced curb service in Lex— knew we had to get into the fast—food business.
ington,” he relates. “I had Observed curb service in Paducah. We “Jerry retired in 1957 and when he died a few years later, I
tried it out at South Lime and then at the location on Main bought the remainder of the business. At that time there were 74
Street across from Henry Clay High School and finally at the units including franchises. In the fast—food market, there were
location at the Beltline and North Broadway. It was a success. plenty of hamburger and chicken Operations, but no fish. SO we
By this time, all the restaurants were called Jerry’s, and with the came up with LongJOhn Silver’s,” he says.
popularity of curb service, I then added Drive—In to the name.” “We first had to decide which fish to OHer. A salesman wanted
He also brought other new practices to the business which us to buy cod, but I didn’t want cod because my mother had given
were working elsewhere in the country, including the double— me cod liver Oil when I was a child and it tasted terrible,” says
decker hamburger which he dubbed Rosenthal. “The salesman boiled some
the Fat Boy, later changing its name to cod and had me taste it and to my sur—
the J—Boy. Rosenthal and Lederer "1 . "7T”; . ‘ Prise there was no taste. He even had me
started franchising and other Jerry’s ’bfll-‘Efl - III “haw-Em _.. -1“ taste the water used to boil the fish and it
Drive—Ins began Opening around cen— I J l :‘____ . . u had no taste, either. We selected cod and
tral Kentucky. As competition from a _" l _f ”I l 3“; .. . _ _‘ ' then came up with the distinctive batter.”
larger similar restaurant chain became 'l . (at. I li‘fl ‘I ' ’ fit: . In 1969, LongJOhn Silver’s Opened in
fierce, Rosenthal decided to begin ad— '2. fgwi . ,. . " 1T 1., ’. Lexington on Southland Drive neXt to
vertising on television, a new medium . . y» -...-_ ’ ‘c‘ the railroad overpass. The start—up Opera—
at the time. . I \ ’ Km- \\ ' tion was a test to see if fast—food fish
I " I I" N; 5' “is . T ‘ would be acce ted. Business was brisk
The COIOneI g; -- .__., ‘1 k iii: ' \_\ 7 from the begiri’ning. Rosenthal remem—
Lederer and Rosenthal were ac— ’_ . . w . .- .. _....... ._.. bers that even freight trains would stop
quainted with Harland Sanders. . 7 by the restaurant to allow the men on
“He walked into our Office in MSMMQZ met/”d the COM/Lt” “Ellery 3‘ board to come in and get carryout.
1956,” Rosenthal recalls. “He At the end ofthe first year Ofopera—
was not known as colonel then, nor did he wear tion, the fledgling fast—food restaurant had been a wonderful suc—
white. He had a restaurant in Corbin and he said to cess. Rosenthal recalls, “We couldn’t start building more Long
Jerry, ‘I’ve got it all ready to franchise, except for the Johns fast enough.” As the popularity of the new chain increased,
boxes such as the ones you use. How do you do your he began buying national TV advertising. Eventually, LongJOhn
boxes?’ he wanted to know. Silver’s grew to 1,500 units. “We were consuming all the cod that
“I told him how we positioned the food in the Iceland and Alaska could sell us,” Rosenthal shares.
box. ‘We put the roll in the back corner, the With the success OfLongJOhn Silver’s, he began to look for an—
coleslaw in front of that with a wooden spoon and other fast—food Option. “Nobody was doing Italian,” he explains.
paper napkin, fries on the bottom, chicken or sand— “We decided on fast—food pasta and pizza, and to prepare for this,
wich on top, then we put the lid down and seal it with we put in a full—service restaurant first to gain a background and
v a piece of tape,” he says. knowledge of Italian cuisine. We actually Opened three full—service
“Harland couldn’t understand so we suggested he go to Italian restaurants called Florenz, and then we launched Fazoli’s. I
our Jerry’s on New Circle Road,” Rosenthal continues. “I pulled that name out of the air and it caught on quickly,” he says.
called our manager and told him a man named Sanders “In 1989, we had several Fazoli’s restaurants going when a group
would be coming, and that he should show him how we pre— from New York wanted to buy the company. By that time Ihad
pare our boxes. The manager couldn’t believe what I was had two Open—heart surgeries and I was ready to sell,” Rosenthal
saying — that I wanted him to show our kitchen to a confides.
competitor. I had to repeat it several times.” At the time of the sale, Jerrico Inc., included over 1,500 Long
Rosenthal laughs, “Finally I said to the man— John Silver’s Seafood Shoppes in 37 states and two other coun—
ager, ‘Harland is an Old man — 65 years tries, over 60 Jerry’s full—service family cofiee shop restaurants and :
Old — what difference can it make ?”’ five Fazoli’s fast—food Italian restaurants. All this had grown from 0 1
three small restaurants in 1948.