Jack in the Box

Jack in the Box is a franchise specializing in fast food restaurants founded in 1951 by Robert O. Peterson. The business area of ​​the company is concentrated on the West Coast and South America, where it has more than 2,000 restaurants. The origins of the chain back to 1941, when Robert O. Peterson opened a fast food restaurant in San Diego called Topsy's Drive-In. The decor was inspired by the circus, and served as a model for your business. In 1951, Peterson opened a restaurant with a giant clown head on top of the building in imitation of surprises. The owner called to that local Jack in the Box, and soon introduced the name in their local others.  The restaurant succeeded by his order service drive. To expedite the preparation of menus, the consumer had an intercom in which order your food and stop orders to collect, instead of a single window. The efficiency of this service had commercial success was emulated by other fast food restaurants, and allowed Peterson could open up to 180 stores in various cities of the West Coast. Instead of implementing a franchise system, all local Jack in the Box were controlled by a conglomerate headed by the founder, called Foodmaker Co. 

In 1968, Peterson sold his company to the multinational Ralston Purina, which accelerated the growth of the company to introduce a franchise system and increased advertising investment. However, plans for expansion to the East Coast of the country failed, and the group began to go through problems by strong competition from franchises like McDonald's. To avoid this, the owners announced in 1980 a greater variety on the menu and a complete revamp of the corporate image, eliminating the clown (hitherto company symbol) of all restaurants. Foodmaker even tried to change the company name in the middle of the decade, but ultimately did not take him out. 

When the company exceeded 900 restaurants, Ralston Purina was not considered an essential investment, so in 1987 a Foodmaker became a limited company and put on sale. Jack in the Box continued working well until 1990, when the economic downturn affected your growth and into the red. However, the company entered a major crisis in 1993, after four children died and nearly 600 people sickened by an outbreak of Escherichia coli, produced by bad meat. Jack in the Box had to close dozens of restaurants, and economic situation worsened when the rating agency Moody's lowered its rating to junk status.

To solve their difficult situation, Jack in the Box introduced a regulation for all their franchises on food preparation, and all food must pass the process of Hazard Analysis and Critical Points of ensuring food safety controls. Given that his image had also been damaged, Foodmaker recovered in [[1995] the clown as its mascot, with a national advertising campaign in which Jack, clown name was "converted" in the CEO. The company continued to perform since the mid opened new channels of local and JBX Grill and Qdoba Mexican Grill, which specializes in Tex-Mex cuisine original advertising campaigns.

Over time, the company traced its economic situation and concentrated on the West Coast and Southern United States, ruling out opening warehouses in the East. In 2009 it changed its corporate image to highlight the name Jack.

Jack in the Box competes directly with large American fast food franchises such as McDonald's, Wendy's or belonging to the conglomerate Yum! Brands. The chain specializes in beef burgers, chicken and fish. However, his letter menu also includes dishes such as tacos, burritos and salads.

In some states there are different menus, adapted to the food culture of each area, and there are also limited edition dishes on days like Christmas, Thanksgiving or St. Patrick.