In the spring of 1990, after hundreds of classes and a lot of beer, two men graduated from a local university.
One man had an extraordinary craving for sports, the other craved spicy food, but they both loved beer. Realizing the degrees they spent a combined 12 years earning were not serving them, they decided to open a place to serve both of their cravings.
As they moved forward, the men faced challenges in finding financing, employees, equipment and a building. Finally, after selling all their baseball cards for financing, and begging a local person to let them use a building, all of the red tape the men faced no longer mattered. They found a way through and Jefferson’s opened in Jacksonville, AL.
Customers were hooked.
People loved the chicken wings to the point of running out! Jefferson’s next popped up in college town Lawrence, Kansas. Georgia and Tennessee followed and growth continued from there. A loyal customer wanted Jefferson’s so much, she opened the first franchised location.
Since then, we’ve grown to over 30 locations across 5 states. Thirty years later, we still operate by the philosophy “franchisee first” because we know a franchisor can only be successful if each of our franchisees are successful first.
But as we’ve grown, we’ve made sure to not lose who we are. You can go into any of our restaurants and you’ll see the infamous colored dollar bills hanging all over the wall. You’ll get the same great food and service no matter what state you’re in and you’ll get the feeling that this is a local, family-friendly, sports-themed chicken wing joint—a great one at that.