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Our Story

The Lumberjacks Way

Lumberjacks Restaurant strives to provide you with great food and service,
all at a price that everyone can afford .

As our great country expanded into the vast unknown of the densely forested Northwest, independent, strong men were needed to harvest the lumber for the new townships and communities being built throughout our growing country. These men were known as lumberjacks.

Their job was not an easy one. The work was dangerous, difficult and the living conditions were primitive, to say the least.

Lumberjacks lived an independent lifestyle that was treacherous. They were known for taking great pride in their craft, strength and masculinity. When they were not working they were playing rough games, telling tall tales and consuming large amounts of food to keep them going strong.

Lumberjacks needed large hearty meals to fill them up and keep them satisfied for hours at a time because of their strenuous work and the long 14 to 18 hour days.

With a keen knowledge of the lumberjack culture and a hearty love of food, Jeff Garrett, founder of Lumberjacks Restaurant, opened his first store in 2004. He wanted a place where individuals and families could have a meal that was delicious, hearty and filling, yet at a price that would not break the bank and so began the legacy of Lumberjacks Restaurant. In 2007, Jeff partnered with Scott Bailey to grow the Lumberjacks concept throughout the country and develop the family of Lumberjacks Restaurants we have today.

 
Lumberjacks Leadership Standing Outside Restaurant By Sign

 

Franchising Opportunities Scott's Interview on KCRA Family Table Commercial

Our Founders

Jeff Garrett Profile Image

JEFF GARRETT - OWNER & FOUNDER

Jeff Garrett has been Lumberjacks' Founder and President since the brand's inception. With over 30 years in the restaurant industry, Jeff is an innovative and experienced businessman and entrepreneur. His many years of experience working with other franchise concepts have helped him develop and fine-tune his own theme-style restaurant.

Jeff and his wife, Susan, became inspired to start a cabin-themed eatery with country-style, home-cooked meals at affordable prices. They put their plan in motion and came up with the name Lumberjacks, and with a very appropriate tagline, "Where The Big Boys Eat!" The concept continues to be a huge success.

From the minute the doors opened in 2004, there was a line of hungry patrons from open to close as word of this new, unique restaurant spread far and wide. Despite immediate success, Jeff spent the next 10 years further developing and improving every detail of the operation. This was a passion for Jeff, to ensure Lumberjacks guests would continue to be satisfied and to solidify the business model for future Lumberjacks franchisees.

With his experience with other restaurant franchises, Jeff formed a strong opinion as to what it would take to succeed as a franchise brand. "I've been involved in a few franchises and I know what not to do," he says. "It was always franchisee against franchisor, and I knew Lumberjacks had to be different, and I'm proud to say, we are. I strive to make franchisees part of our family. I make sure to listen to their ideas as they may see things that I don't always see. I want to tap into their experience both as Lumberjack franchisees and from their past, as well. Doing so has proven very valuable, indeed!"

Though each restaurant has a distinct personality, Jeff always focuses on core qualities to ensure they remain the same, regardless of location: Quality meals, clean facilities, and friendly staff are all core qualities necessary to long-term success. Jeff says, "If we greet our customers as they walk in the door, they'll probably come back. If we provide them with quality meals at reasonable prices, they'll probably come back. if we take care of customers' needs, they'll probably come back. But, if we take care of all of these items, all the time, they WILL come back...again and again and again!" THIS is the culture of Lumberjacks!

Scott Bailey Profile Image

SCOTT BAILEY - CO-OWNER

Scott Bailey has served as Lumberjacks' Vice-President since 2007. He also has over 30 years of experience in the restaurant industry managing various restaurants, including franchised restaurants.

Scott has opened numerous restaurants from the ground floor up and also has spearheaded extensive remodels of tired and closed buildings and businesses. In the process he has recruited, hired and personally trained hundreds of employees. It's these employees that have proven to be at the core of success at each location, and Scott's success as a restaurant professional.

It was that level of professionalism that moved Scott along within the restaurant industry and resulted in his appointment to President of the California Restaurant Association for the Shasta Chapter, a position he held for eight years. It was during this time that he was fortunate to have met Jeff Garrett. In addition to selflessly giving his time for the good of the restaurant industry, Scott also held the position of Director of Operations at Logan's Roadhouse where he was responsible for opening and operating seven Logan's Roadhouses from Redding to Fontana, California.

While organizing a fundraiser for the "Best of the Best" for restaurant owners in the Redding Area, Scott was truly inspired by Jeff. "His restaurant was always so busy, extremely busy," Scott thought to himself. " Every time I drove by, I saw a line of people out the door." By Scott's direction, the Board of Directors of the California Restaurant Association unanimously agreed that Jeff Garrett deserved the recognition and voted Jeff, Best of the Best.

Scott recalls, "I actually met Jeff for the first time as I handed him his award." A few months later and after getting to know one another better, Jeff pitched his idea to Scott about making him a partner and pitched his idea of launching Lumberjacks as a franchise brand. Scott took the risk of leaving his corporate job for the opportunity to develop a single restaurant into a Lumberjacks franchise and as a stepping stone to further franchise expansion. it was to be the brand's franchise model prototype. It was also an opportunity to realize his dream of becoming part of something much bigger than anything he had ever been a part of before. Over the next few years, his impact has resulted in the brand growing to five corporate restaurants and after officially developing the franchise model, four franchise restaurants with more on the horizon.

Robert Kirshner Profile Image

ROBERT KIRSHNER - CO-OWNER

Bob Kirshner is Lumberjacks CFO and Vice-president of Franchise Development.
He has held these positions for the last 2 years with the company. Bob understands the key to Lumberjacks’ success is having great tasting home style meals made from scratch at a reasonable price. So he has developed tools to help keep that quality food for the Lumberjack franchisee by using food management programs to control costs. He has negotiated favorable pricing of products & services, while developing training & support systems to control costs. The documentation of recipes, procedures and training manuals has helped Lumberjacks deliver consistent quality food to their customers. No matter where you go, Lumberjacks quality and service are the same. He has also been instrumental in setting-up the marketing department to develop menus, restaurant promotions and advertising. Lumberjacks is a 9 store chain with 5 franchises throughout California and Nevada and with a new opening in Bakersfield, we needed his expertise to take our concept to the next level and make sure we are ready for growth and support of our franchisees.

Before joining the team, Bob knew this was a successful business model and with his 25 years’ experience in the restaurant industry working as a CFO, we knew he would be an asset to the group. Bob came to us from a Multi-Unit Franchisee owning 42 units with concepts like Applebee’s, Burger King, Marie Callenders and Logan’s Roadhouse that operated in multi-states. He brought a wealth of diversified experience in quick serve as well as casual dining and helped the concept grow from 16 units to 42. Bob brought with him the same culture as Lumberjacks. He believes the customer always comes first by delivering quality food at a reasonable price with a great experience. He believes the restaurant industry should be fun and if your employees are enjoying themselves, then the customers join in.