On a Wing and a Prayer

On a wing and a dare

Tracy Barron

From the Evening Telegram, October 11.

That’s a lot of chicken, and that’s only on Wednesday nights.
On a typical Wednesday wing night, a single Jungle Jim’s restaurant will sell 400 baskets of chicken wings. With 10 wings in a basket, that’s 4,000 wings a night. Wing nights are held 52 nights a year at seven Jungle Jim’s locations in the province, bringing the total number of wings consumed at the restaurants roughly 1.5 million.
That’s a lot of chicken, and that’s only on Wednesday nights.
Wings are Jungle Jim’s most popular item. That and draft. The franchise is the largest user of chicken wings and draft in the province.
That consumption is about to increase. Safari Eatertainment Inc., the Newfoundland franchisor of Jungle Jim’s, is negotiating a land deal for an eighth location in Conception Bay South to open in the winter of 1999.
“It’s a concept that has something for everyone,” said Stephen Pike, one of the three partners behind Safari Eatertainment Inc.
But the primary target is young families. Parents can have a meal and a beer, while children colour on placemats and munch on fun food, like during the summer Frisbee meal deal promotion where the food was served on a Frisbee.
“The Jungle Jim’s franchise is definitely a family restaurant concept,” Pike said over the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd in an interview at the Jungle Jim’s on Topsail Road in St. John’s.
“The other thing is our staff. Everyone here, from the kitchen to Dave (Lawlor) as an owner, to the maintenance and front staff, they only have three words in their job description and that is, ‘Making guests happy.’”
The first Jungle Jim’s location opened on Torbay Road in July 1991, the brainchild of Newfoundlanders Dave and Heather Melenchuk. Now Jungle Jim’s Restaurants Canada Inc. has outlets in four provinces in Canada.
After selling their A&W franchise, the Melenchuks travelled the world. That’s when they hatched the idea of starting a casual restaurant chain with an exotic atmosphere. There are now 11 restaurants across the country, 10 of them in Atlantic Canada.
Last year, the Melenchuks relocated Jungle Jim’s head office to Vancouver, intent on building the chain out West.

Everyone here has three words in their job description: ‘Making guests happy.’
It was then the owners of the Topsail Road and George Street locations — Pike, Sean Brake and Barry Walsh — joined forces to take over the Newfoundland rights to the chain.
Pike, a former middle manager at Fisheries Products International, got into the restaurant business almost by accident. He lost his job when the fishery collapsed and was looking for alternate employment.
“They were opening this location (Topsail Road) at the time and one day in joking Dave (Lawlor) said to me, ‘Why don’t you get into the restaurant business?’ I laughed and went off home,” said Pike, who has the Topsail Road franchise with Lawlor.
“The next day Dave called back and said he was only half-joking. Two weeks later we signed up a franchise agreement and I was in the restaurant business.”
It was a gamble. Pike and his wife mortgaged their house, cashed in their RRSPs and hoped for the best.
“We had two young kids at the time and I lost about 20 pounds in the process,” Pike said, laughing.
The gamble paid off. Safari Eatertainment Inc. has plans to open additional locations in the province — possibly in Marystown — after the C.B.S restaurant opens.
Perky staff set the mood at Jungle Jim’s. Energetic individuals make up the team, who hang out together after their shifts and at the frequent staff parties.
“I can usually tell if I’m going to hire someone within 30 seconds,” Pike said, explaining attitude is more important than technical skills, which can be taught.
“When we open a restaurant, we typically have 300 people show up for interviews. We’ll do a series of 30-second interviews and you can usually tell someone’s attitude in that time. Then we call back second interviews.”
Jungle Jim’s has an extensive training manual for staff. Each new recruit shadows experienced employees behind the bar, in the kitchen and on the floor before graduating to working solo.
While the job description for employees can be summed up in three words, the job description for managers takes six words — Make guests happy, make employees happy.

Plastic pigs are placed on the lawns of high-profile places.
The managers of the St. John’s restaurants get together once a week to toss around ideas, such as this month’s promotion, The Rhino Rib Riot: Get Your Piggy With It.
As part of the promotion, plastic pigs are placed on the lawns of high-profile places, such as in front of OZ-FM and frequent customers’ houses.
While Safari Eatertainment Inc. follows the same menu, theme and uniforms as Jungle Jim’s Restaurants Canada, they have creative freedom to come up with monthly promotions.
Pike firmly believes the key to the regional chain’s future is in the restaurant managers, who meet regularly, usually on a ski slope or golf course.
“That’s really the key to the future, the communication between the franchises and building a cohesive team of managers across the island,” Pike said.

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Create: January 5, 1999

That’s a lot of chicken, and that’s only on Wednesday nights.	On a typical Wednesday wing night, a single Jungle Jim’s restaurant will sell 400 baskets of chicken wings. With 10 wings in a basket, that’s 4,000 wings a night. Wing nights are held 52 nights a year at seven Jungle Jim’s locations in the province, bringing the total number of wings consumed at the restaurants roughly 1.5 million. That’s a lot of chicken, and that’s only on Wednesday nights. Wings are Jungle Jim’s most popular item. That and draft. The franchise is the largest user of chicken wings and draft in the province. That consumption is about to increase. Safari Eatertainment Inc., the Newfoundland franchisor of Jungle Jim’s, is negotiating a land deal for an eighth location in Conception Bay South to open in the winter of 1999. “It’s a concept that has something for everyone,” said Stephen Pike, one of the three partners behind Safari Eatertainment Inc. But the primary target is young families. Parents can have a meal and a beer, while children colour on placemats and munch on fun food, like during the summer Frisbee meal deal promotion where the food was served on a Frisbee. “The Jungle Jim’s franchise is definitely a family restaurant concept,” Pike said over the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd in an interview at the Jungle Jim’s on Topsail Road in St. John’s. “The other thing is our staff. Everyone here, from the kitchen to Dave (Lawlor) as an owner, to the maintenance and front staff, they only have three words in their job description and that is, ‘Making guests happy.’” The first Jungle Jim’s location opened on Torbay Road in July 1991, the brainchild of Newfoundlanders Dave and Heather Melenchuk. Now Jungle Jim’s Restaurants Canada Inc. has outlets in four provinces in Canada. After selling their A&W franchise, the Melenchuks travelled the world. That’s when they hatched the idea of starting a casual restaurant chain with an exotic atmosphere. There are now 11 restaurants across the country, 10 of them in Atlantic Canada. Last year, the Melenchuks relocated Jungle Jim’s head office to Vancouver, intent on building the chain out West.
Everyone here has three words in their job description: ‘Making guests happy.’	It was then the owners of the Topsail Road and George Street locations — Pike, Sean Brake and Barry Walsh — joined forces to take over the Newfoundland rights to the chain. Pike, a former middle manager at Fisheries Products International, got into the restaurant business almost by accident. He lost his job when the fishery collapsed and was looking for alternate employment. “They were opening this location (Topsail Road) at the time and one day in joking Dave (Lawlor) said to me, ‘Why don’t you get into the restaurant business?’ I laughed and went off home,” said Pike, who has the Topsail Road franchise with Lawlor. “The next day Dave called back and said he was only half-joking. Two weeks later we signed up a franchise agreement and I was in the restaurant business.” It was a gamble. Pike and his wife mortgaged their house, cashed in their RRSPs and hoped for the best. “We had two young kids at the time and I lost about 20 pounds in the process,” Pike said, laughing. The gamble paid off. Safari Eatertainment Inc. has plans to open additional locations in the province — possibly in Marystown — after the C.B.S restaurant opens. Perky staff set the mood at Jungle Jim’s. Energetic individuals make up the team, who hang out together after their shifts and at the frequent staff parties. “I can usually tell if I’m going to hire someone within 30 seconds,” Pike said, explaining attitude is more important than technical skills, which can be taught. “When we open a restaurant, we typically have 300 people show up for interviews. We’ll do a series of 30-second interviews and you can usually tell someone’s attitude in that time. Then we call back second interviews.” Jungle Jim’s has an extensive training manual for staff. Each new recruit shadows experienced employees behind the bar, in the kitchen and on the floor before graduating to working solo. While the job description for employees can be summed up in three words, the job description for managers takes six words — Make guests happy, make employees happy.
Plastic pigs are placed on the lawns of high-profile places.	The managers of the St. John’s restaurants get together once a week to toss around ideas, such as this month’s promotion, The Rhino Rib Riot: Get Your Piggy With It. As part of the promotion, plastic pigs are placed on the lawns of high-profile places, such as in front of OZ-FM and frequent customers’ houses. While Safari Eatertainment Inc. follows the same menu, theme and uniforms as Jungle Jim’s Restaurants Canada, they have creative freedom to come up with monthly promotions. Pike firmly believes the key to the regional chain’s future is in the restaurant managers, who meet regularly, usually on a ski slope or golf course. “That’s really the key to the future, the communication between the franchises and building a cohesive team of managers across the island,” Pike said.