Shakeys History free essay sample

Sherwood Johnson was an American G. I. when he caught malaria in the Pacific during World War II. The illness caused him to have the shakes and earned him the now famous nickname shakey. When the war was over, Shakey came home to California, and together with a group of friends, discovered their common love of dixieland jazz. Gathering regularly to play this lively music, the group also discovered Shakey Johnsons home cooking, especially his pizza. Needless to say, the group got larger and met regularly at Shakeys homeand nowhere else. The fame of his fine cooking sparked an idea. Shakey and a college friend, Ed Plummer, pooled their savings together and bought an old grocery store at the corner of 57th and J street in Sacramento. On April 30, 1954, with a mere $1. 85 in the till, the remodeled grocery store became the first Shakeys Pizza Parlor. Actually, no pizza was served because the oven werent ready yet that Friday evening. We will write a custom essay sample on Shakeys History or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Nevertheless, Shakey played the piano and Ed served the beer for their customers. With the money from the weekend, Shakey and Ed fired up their ovens on Monday and served the very first Shakeys Pizza. By 10 oclock that evening, they were out of food, but people were still lining up to get in. Ten days later, they had fourteen employees and a month later, Dixieland jazz entertainment was added. With the success of the first Sacramento restaurant, Johnson and Plummer opened a second Shakey’s two years later in a remodeled mattress factory on Foster Road in Portland, Oregon. The Shakey’s name and concept were already familiar due to the nightly jazz radio program they sponsored. In 1957 Shakey’s service companies began franchising. Opening that year were franchised restaurants in Seattle, Washington, Albany, Oregon, Carmichael, Concord, and Marysville, California. The franchise units also introduced a standard Shakey’s building design. Prior to it, the restaurants have always been located in existing remodeled structures. Shakey’s began to expand outside the United States with the opening of a restaurant in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on February 15, 1968. Expansion then went south with the opening of Mexico City restaurant on May 7, 1968. The first Japanese restaurant opened in Osaka, Japan on July 26, 1976. Soon, people were calling it the Worlds Greatest Pizza along with light-hearted slogans such as â€Å"Youll have fun at Shakeys, also pizza,†and â€Å"You can feed your face at any old place, but you an warm your heart at Shakeys. † In 1975, the first Shakeys Pizza Parlor opened in the Philippines, with a promise to serve fun also pizza. That opening day, the restaurant sold nearly eight times as much pizza as expected, amidst balloons, Charlie Chaplin movies, banjo and piano music. Since then, Shakeys has opened over 100 outlets nationwide. Its been a long time since April 30, 1954. But the great pizzas and the fun that Shakey and Ed served then are still around to help make Shakeys the No. 1 pizza restaurant chain in the Philippines. Today there are over 500 Shakey’s restaurants world-wide.