Jack in the Box
This article is about the restaurant chain. For information about the children's game, see Jack-in-the-box.
Jack in the Box is an American fast food restaurant. In total, the chain has 1952 locations in 17 states, with the most in California.
The restaurant gained in popularity after a highly successful marketing campaign that featured the fictitious Jack in the Box CEO "Jack" character, who has a ping pong ball-like head and dressed in a business suit. Its commercials tend to be lightly humorous and often involves "Jack" making business decisions about the restaurant chain's food products. In addition, many of its commercials in the past advertised free car antenna balls with every meal thus increasing brand awareness. Hence, these Jack in the Box antenna balls can be seen on many cars, especially on the US West Coast. They are also considered collector's items.
During the height of the now-defunct XFL, one of the continuing ad series involved a professional American football team owned by "Jack". The team, called the Carnivores, played against teams such as the "Tofu eaters".
In the early 1990s Jack in the Box suffered a major crisis involving e. coli. Four people were killed and hundreds of others became sick after eating hamburgers contaminated with the bacteria at locations in the Seattle area. The chain was faced with several lawsuits, each of which were quickly settled. A food safety initiative was put into place, including a new mandate that Jack in the Box hamburgers be cooked well done instead of rare as was previously done.
Many Jack in the Box locations are freestanding. Others may be attached to some gas station service centers or at malls and shopping centers.
Some of its food items include the Jumbo Jack, Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Ultimate Bacon Cheeseburger, Bacon Bacon Cheeseburger, and Sourdough Jack. It has on several occasions sold the Philly Cheesesteak on and off for a limited time. In locations in Hawai'i, local delicacies are a regular part of the menu. They include the Paniolo Breakfast (Portuguese sausage, eggs and rice platter), teriyaki chicken and rice bowl, and saimin.
Locations
