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| Jersey Mike's will open Wednesday in Orland Park. |
By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy
Lisa Furleigh and Mac Shimmon are well versed in the restaurant business. Between them they have more than 60 years of experience and have toiled for several food companies including Dunkin’ Donuts, Wendy’s and, for Shimmon, a stint with the Whataburger chain in the Southwest U.S.
Once they decided it was time to open their own restaurant, they said it was an easy choice to hook up with Jersey Mike’s subs.
They will open a store on Wednesday at 15625 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park. It will be the 21st Jersey Mike’s in the Chicago-area, with plans to open 28 by year's end. The chain’s first store in northern Illinois opened in Vernon Hills in 2009. A location opened last fall in Tinley Park.
Shimmon said he was particularly impressed by Jersey Mike’s corporate philosophy of giving back to the community.
“That reminded me of the way Dave Thomas ran Wendy’s. His philosophy always was ‘We need to be giving back to the community.’ And that’s the same philosophy as Jersey Mike’s.”
Toward that end, Shimmon and Furleigh are hosting grand opening fundraisers for both Andrew and Sandburg high school as well as the Greater Illinois Chapter of the National MS Society.
“If you come in and make a donation of at least $1, you get a free sandwich,” said Furleigh. “We are having two weeks of grand opening fundraisers instead of the usual one week.”
Besides the MS Society, the Orland Jersey Mike’s will be raising money for Sandburg High School and the Sandburg Music Boosters to help pay the band’s way to Hawaii in December for the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
After that fundraiser is over, the restaurant will raise money for the Andrew High School Parent Faculty Student Organization and the Andrew Music Boosters.
Furleigh said one aspect that attracted her to Jersey Mike’s was the quality of the food.
“It’s as good as what you get at home,” she said. “Everything is cooked in the store. It’s all fresh. And it tells in the sandwiches that we sell. You can taste the difference.”
She also said a New Jersey native talked her into adding something called Tasty Kakes to the menu.
“She said we weren’t a Jersey restaurant if we didn’t have Tasty Kakes,” said Furleigh with a laugh. “They are comparable to Hostess.”
Furleigh said she and Shimmon have a deal to open 10 Jersey Mike’s along LaGrange Road from U.S. 30 in Frankfort to North Avenue in Oak Park. She said their second store is expected to open next spring in Frankfort.
“This store is small (about 1,500 square feet) compared to what we’d like,” she said. The Orland Park store will have 22 employees when it opens.
The Orland Park store will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
For information, visit Jersey Mike's Subs or check out their Facebook page at Jersey Mike’s Orland Park.
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