Jason's Deli is an American chain of
fast casual
A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conc ...
restaurants founded in 1976 in
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...
, by Joe Tortorice, Jr. There are currently over 240 locations in 27 states. The menu includes
sandwiches
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
,
wraps, baked
potatoes,
pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ar ...
,
soups
Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot (but may be cool or cold), that is made by combining ingredients of meat or vegetables with stock, milk, or water. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingr ...
,
salads
A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...
, and
desserts
Dessert is a course that concludes a meal. The course consists of sweet foods, such as confections, and possibly a beverage such as dessert wine and liqueur. In some parts of the world, such as much of Greece and West Africa, and most parts of ...
, as well as
catering
Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
History of catering
The earliest account of major services be ...
items such as boxed lunches.
History
It was founded in
Beaumont, Texas on 30 November 1976 by Joe Tortorice Jr. and his partners Rusty Coco, Pete Verde and Pat Broussard. It was named for Tortorice's eldest son, Jay.
Joe and Rusty grew up in the food business. Their fathers owned neighborhood grocery stores in Beaumont. The original Jason's Deli location is still in operation at its original location at 112 Gateway St. The chain started franchising in 1988, with the first franchised store opened in
Tucson, Arizona
, "(at the) base of the black ill
, nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town"
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.
As of September 2019, there were 295 locations in 29 states.
As of August 2008, Jason's Deli ranked #1 in annual sales in QSR Magazine's Top Ten list of restaurant groups with under 300 locations. The parent company, Deli Management, Inc., owns the majority of the deli restaurants.
In 2019, Joe died after a 19-month battle with cancer. He was 70.
Menu
The company offers a standard deli style menu including traditional sandwiches such as
Po'boy
A po' boy (also po-boy, po boy derived from the non-rhotic southern accents often heard in the region, or poor boy) is a sandwich originally from Louisiana. It almost always consists of meat, which is usually roast beef or some sort of fried se ...
s and
muffaletta
The muffuletta or muffaletta is both a type of round Sicilian sesame bread and a popular sandwich that originated among Italian immigrants in New Orleans, Louisiana, using the same bread.
History
The muffuletta bread has origins in Sicily.
...
s. Each deli has a salad bar and a daily soup selection. They also serve other items, such as baked potatoes, pastas and salads.
In April 2005, the company completed a five-year plan to eliminate added
trans-fat
Trans fat, also called trans-unsaturated fatty acids, or trans fatty acids, is a type of unsaturated fat that naturally occurs in small amounts in meat and milk fat. It became widely produced as an unintentional byproduct in the industrial pr ...
s from its menu. In October 2008, the company eliminated
high fructose corn syrup
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known as glucose–fructose, isoglucose and glucose–fructose syrup, is a sweetener made from corn starch. As in the production of conventional corn syrup, the starch is broken down into glucose by enzy ...
from its food.
Additionally, the company has eliminated
MSG
Monosodium glutamate (MSG), also known as sodium glutamate, is the sodium Salt (chemistry), salt of glutamic acid. MSG is found naturally in some foods including tomatoes and cheese in this glutamic acid form. MSG is used in cooking as a fl ...
from all of its food.
Jason's Deli has also introduced gluten-free products. The deli also has ice cream for its customers, free of charge.
Awards
Jason's Deli won the 2008 Nation's Restaurant News Golden Chain Award, and Restaurants & Institutions’ 2007 and 2006 Consumers’ Choice in Chains Gold Award in the sandwich segment.
Locations
Jason's Deli is found in 27 states.
* Alabama
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* Colorado
* Florida
* Georgia
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maryland
* Mississippi
* Missouri
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* New Mexico
* North Carolina
* Ohio
* Oklahoma
* Pennsylvania
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Virginia
* Wisconsin
See also
*
List of delicatessens
References
External links
Jason's Deli WebsiteNation's Restaurant News profile on Joseph V. Tortorice Jr.
{{Fast-food chains of the United States
Restaurants established in 1976
Fast casual restaurants
Restaurants in Texas
Companies based in Beaumont, Texas
Restaurant chains in the United States
Fast-food chains of the United States
1976 establishments in Texas
Delicatessens in the United States