JACKSONVILLE — In 1991, Jacksonville State University graduate Jeff Webb lost his job working at a restaurant in Nashville.

Broke and with a lot of time on his hands, Webb did what a lot of recent grads do — visit their buddies still in college.

It was back in Jacksonville, among familiar faces, an old idea jogged his memory.

“Didn’t you want to open up a place here when you were in college?” a friend asked him.

“There was no place in town you could get wings, watch the game and drink a beer,” Webb said, recalling the Jacksonville he remembered from his college days. And so, after selling some baseball cards and getting a small loan from mom and dad, Webb opened Jefferson’s restaurant on Sept. 19, 1991.

“It all happened really quick,” he said.

Twenty years later, the little chicken wing and burger joint on Pelham Road is still there — and at a lot of other places, too.

Jefferson’s in Jacksonville is now just one of 14 locations for the modest college student hangout restaurant franchise. Some are just down the road — Oxford and Gadsden have their own locations — and then there’s a couple a little farther away — like Bellville, Ill., and Lawrence, Kan.

Webb sold the original Jefferson’s last year to focus on the franchise side of the business from Nashville but was back in town over the weekend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his namesake restaurant. On Friday, Jefferson’s kicked off a weekend-long celebration. Doors opened at 11 a.m. and within minutes the baseball-card-covered tables and bars were packed with JSU students and local residents eager to take advantage of the “1991” prices, including dollar hot dogs and 91 cent draft mugs.

Current owner Willie Barnwell said he estimates on a typical Friday or Saturday 425 customers come through the doors of the original Jefferson’s, but expected a much bigger turnout on this weekend.

“We got 1,600 pounds of chicken wings,” Barnwell said. “It’s all that we have room for.”

Webb said owning the original Jefferson’s got to be a hassle as the business expanded, which led to the change in ownership last August.

“It was easier to look after all the franchises,” he said.

And Jefferson’s keeps growing. This year the 15th location will open up in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

So how did a modest college-town hangout in eastern Alabama, funded initially by the sale of a baseball card collection, become a franchised restaurant chain reaching as far away as Kansas?

Jim Grindstaff said he first heard of the “good, family” restaurant while serving in the military in Rome, Ga.

“I was looking to get out and saw franchises were available,” Grindstaff said. When he and his mother, Patti, left the South, they took the franchise out to Illinois with them, where they now own two Jefferson’s locations.

“It goes good everywhere,” Grindstaff said.

Everyone has their own spin on what makes it successful. Barnwell shrugs his shoulders when asked what makes the place special, while current manager Joey Singleton offers “atmosphere” as a possible answer. Webb said it’s really not that complicated.

“We’re nothing fancy,” he said. “It’s good food at a decent price.”

The regulars at Jefferson’s agree — the business strategy is simple.

“It’s convenient,” said JSU student Laura Nash from a table at Jefferson’s on Friday. Nash, who came from her last class before the weekend, said she eats at least a meal a week at the establishment. “The food’s really good and affordable.”

Besides the anniversary prices, Jefferson’s offers daily specials. On Mondays, all burgers are $5, and Saturdays any platter is $6.25.

Nash’s friend and fellow JSU student Casey Baird chimed in from across the table. “There’s not much else to do around here.”

It also helps that Jefferson’s has a knack for making loyal customers out of the graduates who stick around after college. Singleton started as a cook at Jefferson’s nine years ago while a student at JSU. Today, he’s still a frequent customer.

“I think everybody is,” he said.

Star staff writer Brian Anderson: 256-235-3546

Brentwood: Crazy for Jefferson’s Annual trek by friends leads ‘California Crazie’s’ to Brentwood restaurant

By wherald

If you were in the area of Brentwood’s Maryland Farms area last week no doubt you saw a car full of 20-somethings called the California Crazies as they motored into town for lunch – all the way from Orange County, Calif. Plastered in white paint on the windows of their blue-gray crossover was the address of their Web site, www.jeffersons3d.com, which gives details of their journey.

If you missed them, you missed seven friends and relatives being recognized for something they, in their own words, say, “We have no business being recognized” for doing – trekking from the Golden State to eat at all the Jefferson’s Restaurants in the country. Although this is their second visit to the Brentwood location, this is their first meal in Jefferson’s Restaurant on Ward Circle.

Last year, then-owner and founder of the Jefferson’s chain Jeff Webb, met them at the not-quite-ready-for-guests location and fed them pizza from a nearby pizza house. This year, the group of seven loaded up on everything from fried pickles to hamburgers, hot wings to chicken fingers.

Further if you were not lucky enough to meet the seven ‘Crazies,’ you may be mildly aware of an increased number of $2 bills in circulation in Williamson County. The ‘Crazies’ pay their tabs with $2 bills and nickels because, well, Thomas Jefferson graces the currency.

The whole thing began as a joke, according to brothers John, 23, who now has a Master’s degree in music education, and Alex Zechial, 22, a software engineer. Several years ago, when their father asked, “Where do you want to go to dinner?” the boys were pretty sure the elder Zechiel didn’t have any idea it would inspire an annual trek across country.

No doubt the scenario of where to eat plays out in lots of vehicles as parents are picking kids up from soccer, ballet, after school programs, church groups and other organized events. In this rush-rush world, it’s tough to get home to have a nice meal as a family.

The Zechiel boys had heard the question many times before and decided to instigate an “inside joke” to have a little fun with their dad so they made up the name of a restaurant. “Jefferson’s,” was their response. But when they responded, they, too, had no idea what was in store for them – and for their friends.

John and Alex shared the story with their friend’s and allowed the story to mushroom, making up names of waitstaff and scenarios. But then something happened. John’s bandmate Victor Williams, a 26-year-old teacher, decided to use America’s most popular search engine, Google, to discover that Jefferson’s really did exist. One thing led to another and in January 2008 ,when there were only five Jefferson’s, the brothers Zechiel, Williams, and Mary Whitelaw, 21 — John and Alex’s cousin — jumped in a car and traveled from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City, Okla. – near the site of the closest Jefferson’s on the map in Lawrence, Kan. Then they proceeded to each of the other four locations during a five-day sojourn.

They had so much fun they vowed to do it again the following year. But by the time August 2009 came around, there were two more Jefferson’s locations. They did the trip and included all seven of the locations in five days. This time Mary couldn’t make the trip because she was, and still is a student, but they were joined by Josh Hargrove, 29, who works in healthcare, a high school friend of the Zechiels. When the boys hit the road this past year not only did more friends join them, but Jefferson’s experienced a growth spurt adding four additional locations. With 11 Jefferson’s to visit, the group now included one returning and two new members. The number of days didn’t increase – still five – but there were more drivers to motor to their favorite restaurant.

This year, the Zechiels were accompanied by Williams, Whitelaw, Hargrove, as well as Steve Paine, a 23-year-old reporter, and Even Rowe, a 26-year-old ophthalmologist, high school and junior high friends respectively.

The Crazies could be the Seinfield’s of the restaurant hopping crowd, the Jared of Jefferson’s or a movement worthy of a take-off to Arlo Guthrie’s own “Alice’s Restaurant,” but whatever they are, Jeff Webb, founder of Jefferson’s, Brentwood location owners Bryan Matthews, Nick Carulla and Jennifer Grybash and all the other owners and franchisees are very happy when the California Crazies come to town.

Webb, of Franklin, said, “The boys contacted me out of the blue four years ago after they Googled Jefferson’s. Each year we try to meet them somewhere on their journey. They are good kids, now adults with jobs. They are our most devoted fans.”

Posted on: 1/6/2011

If you want to know what Jefferson’s offers on our menu, or our different locations, or wanna know a little bit more about Jefferson’s or just want to sit and drool over the massive photo gallery of our delicious food…you can do that all here at JeffersonsRestaurant.com

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