Claim Jumper sold again?

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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by storewanderer »

I'm guessing Landry's is going to end up back in full control of Claim Jumper as the only Claim Jumpers left will be the few that Landry's is running in casinos they have, very soon, at the rate things are going.

This Kelly Restaurant Group has absolutely killed Claim Jumper. Drastic price increases, eliminated most of the Happy Hour deals, that nasty little 3% surcharge just in CA locations which with their pricing is completely uncalled for, and my perception is food quality has decreased.

Landry's re-tooled the menu and got rid of many of the oversized portions to control food cost. That was a necessary move. The downward spiral has been rapid since this Kelly Restaurant Group assumed operations of the non-casino Claim Jumpers. I don't know why they bothered, Landry's should have just shut them all down and saved the embarrassment.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by norcalriteaidclerk »

lake52 wrote:The Roseville location closed this past week. The restaurant used to be a madhouse, hour plus wait nightly. As previously stated, as the chain went downhill so did the traffic at this location.

I’d think this restaurant will sit empty for some time, there are numerous restaurant vacancies in better locations around this area such as the Tahoe Joe’s location and the rumored closing Mimi’s. Also, it is a huge restaurant, would be expensive to operate.
Roseville closure news story, partially under a paywall.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/ ... ville.html

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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by ClownLoach »

The children of the family members who started Claim Jumper moved on a decade ago and started their own restaurant chains in SoCal.

Nick's is throughout coastal LA, OC and now getting into SD. They also have a Mexican food operation called South of Nick's. They are definitely focused on a higher end customer there but have been sneaky about putting items similar to CJ ones on their menu - at one point they had a burger very similar to the original Widow Maker except the bun was a giant English muffin. It was great. Each location has a custom menu so they're all different. One in Del Mar serves "garlic cheese bread from the original house of CJ" so they're pretty much admitting to recreating CJ recipes since they have been abandoned by the few remaining restaurants. They are expanding fast in trendy areas with what I would call modern size (aka small) restaurants. Service and environment are extraordinary. When I lived near Nick's on 2nd (their Belmont Shore location in Long Beach) I would eat there once a week for date night. Fantastic food.

The other half of the family has started a restaurant called Reunion. It originally had a large menu with far more of the CJ knock off food, including the Cowboy Steak, the Potato Cakes, etc and really looked like a CJ knock off menu. But there is something "off" about it - it's like they recreated the same giant portions but somehow have possibly adjusted them to be healthier. They definitely are hands off the salt. I think the problem there is that you're eating a 24 Oz bone in ribeye, already loaded with fat and calories - so why be so light on the salt? You get food that looks like what you remember from CJ but it just doesn't taste like it and what would have ordinarily been a decent meal turns into a disappointment because of the comparison you make in your mind. They opened a few more locations including Santa Barbara, each again has a menu for the local area but the obvious CJ clone food is diminishing with every new menu. They at one point had a "Better than Nick's Butter Cake" on the menu competing with the one at Nick's so I would assume that the family doesn't get along. That "Better than" has been edited off the latest menu. They also operate two restaurants both called Asada that could not be more different. Asada in Laguna Beach is like a small Mexican restaurant with a beer bar like a mid range taco shop, order at the counter style. Asada in San Clemente is at the outlet mall, but it is huge and full service with seating for at least a few hundred inside and out. It is an absolute palace of Mexican food and may be one of the best Mexican restaurants in Orange County after only a couple of years open.

What remains of Claim Jumper, post Kelly ownership, is an abortion of a restaurant serving up the latest frozen food deliveries from the Sysco truck at Ruth's Chris prices. They systematically have re-engineered every recipe to be similar to CJ but with the lowest quality possible ingredients. CJ ground sirloin and filet beef in house and used double thick Tillamook cheddar for burgers - now its frozen patties and American cheese on the same "Widow Maker". They should be ashamed of themselves. My question, which I don't feel like wasting my money to answer, is what the Landrys operated casino locations are like now? Are they any better?

I really think Landrys should have recognized the changing trends and replaced with a similar concept instead of butchering the menu and destroying the brand. Their Saltgrass Steakhouse chain in Texas is still great. They could have converted a Claim Jumper or two with some Texas tacky decor added in to test the concept, which I think would have been a slam dunk hit with good marketing to introduce the brand. I think they missed a big opportunity to ultimately convert every CJ to Saltgrass or another Landrys concept. Now Texas Roadhouse is aggressively moving into SoCal. They had a couple of standalone restaurants but have 2 recently added with one more opening this month and who knows how many under development. They could have kept Texas Roadhouse out. Longhorn Is also coming to SoCal. One open already in Rancho Cucamonga and they built a brand new one in Temecula a stones throw from a dead CJ and a dying Black Angus.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: January 3rd, 2023, 1:14 pm The children of the family members who started Claim Jumper moved on a decade ago and started their own restaurant chains in SoCal.

Nick's is throughout coastal LA, OC and now getting into SD. They also have a Mexican food operation called South of Nick's. They are definitely focused on a higher end customer there but have been sneaky about putting items similar to CJ ones on their menu - at one point they had a burger very similar to the original Widow Maker except the bun was a giant English muffin. It was great. Each location has a custom menu so they're all different. One in Del Mar serves "garlic cheese bread from the original house of CJ" so they're pretty much admitting to recreating CJ recipes since they have been abandoned by the few remaining restaurants. They are expanding fast in trendy areas with what I would call modern size (aka small) restaurants. Service and environment are extraordinary. When I lived near Nick's on 2nd (their Belmont Shore location in Long Beach) I would eat there once a week for date night. Fantastic food.

The other half of the family has started a restaurant called Reunion. It originally had a large menu with far more of the CJ knock off food, including the Cowboy Steak, the Potato Cakes, etc and really looked like a CJ knock off menu. But there is something "off" about it - it's like they recreated the same giant portions but somehow have possibly adjusted them to be healthier. They definitely are hands off the salt. I think the problem there is that you're eating a 24 Oz bone in ribeye, already loaded with fat and calories - so why be so light on the salt? You get food that looks like what you remember from CJ but it just doesn't taste like it and what would have ordinarily been a decent meal turns into a disappointment because of the comparison you make in your mind. They opened a few more locations including Santa Barbara, each again has a menu for the local area but the obvious CJ clone food is diminishing with every new menu. They at one point had a "Better than Nick's Butter Cake" on the menu competing with the one at Nick's so I would assume that the family doesn't get along. That "Better than" has been edited off the latest menu. They also operate two restaurants both called Asada that could not be more different. Asada in Laguna Beach is like a small Mexican restaurant with a beer bar like a mid range taco shop, order at the counter style. Asada in San Clemente is at the outlet mall, but it is huge and full service with seating for at least a few hundred inside and out. It is an absolute palace of Mexican food and may be one of the best Mexican restaurants in Orange County after only a couple of years open.

What remains of Claim Jumper, post Kelly ownership, is an abortion of a restaurant serving up the latest frozen food deliveries from the Sysco truck at Ruth's Chris prices. They systematically have re-engineered every recipe to be similar to CJ but with the lowest quality possible ingredients. CJ ground sirloin and filet beef in house and used double thick Tillamook cheddar for burgers - now its frozen patties and American cheese on the same "Widow Maker". They should be ashamed of themselves. My question, which I don't feel like wasting my money to answer, is what the Landrys operated casino locations are like now? Are they any better?

I really think Landrys should have recognized the changing trends and replaced with a similar concept instead of butchering the menu and destroying the brand. Their Saltgrass Steakhouse chain in Texas is still great. They could have converted a Claim Jumper or two with some Texas tacky decor added in to test the concept, which I think would have been a slam dunk hit with good marketing to introduce the brand. I think they missed a big opportunity to ultimately convert every CJ to Saltgrass or another Landrys concept. Now Texas Roadhouse is aggressively moving into SoCal. They had a couple of standalone restaurants but have 2 recently added with one more opening this month and who knows how many under development. They could have kept Texas Roadhouse out. Longhorn Is also coming to SoCal. One open already in Rancho Cucamonga and they built a brand new one in Temecula a stones throw from a dead CJ and a dying Black Angus.
The casino Claim Jumpers never quite seemed to be like the freestanding ones. They were more like the current Kelly Restaurant Group units on the food. Portions were smaller and more limited menu. Didn't seem like the same food. The casino ones re-occupied the space of the previous 24 hour coffee shop in the casinos, and served breakfast. They sort of kind of remodeled them to look like Claim Jumper but it just wasn't the same.



I am surprised Landry's just let these locations go though. For instance this exited Landry entirely from Reno, though they have a unit in Lake Tahoe of the Chart House.

Texas Roadhouse is a little different since they are not open for lunch and have a smaller footprint and much smaller menu. But they are highly productive units, very high volume, employees stick around, tips are good (even pool).

I think Landry's may have determined these Claim Jumper units were not really of any use for them because the buildings were just too big. They could have actually subdivided them into 2 separate Landry's concepts with different entry, different facade, different restrooms, somehow sharing the kitchen, many of them were so big. It is kind of funny Landry's got rid of Claim Jumper because typically Landry's is a warehouse full of previously bankrupt restaurant chains that Landry decided were worth saving. The fact that Claim Jumper was not worth saving and got divested off by Landry shows the concept had some really major issues.

I can't get past the 90's and early 00's when Claim Jumper was a 1-2 hour wait, absolutely packed with customers, employee after employee who provided some of the best service you could find in a restaurant, and heavy unit level management. It is unfortunate what was such a solid operation ended up this way.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by jamcool »

Also tastes change….less demand for large portions, and higher food prices.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by storewanderer »

Claim Jumper always had high prices, even when considering the portion size, it was not a bargain. It was a good value for the quality of food offered before Landry's bought it and even after Landry's bought it. What you could do is just take home a significant portion of the food and re-heat it. If ordering a steak there for instance I liked to take home the bread (they also allowed you to get a muffin) and the salad. At some point and it may have been before Landry's, the muffin option for bread went away (then the muffins went away entirely) and then salad was taken out of the meal and became an add on fee.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: January 4th, 2023, 7:43 pm Claim Jumper always had high prices, even when considering the portion size, it was not a bargain. It was a good value for the quality of food offered before Landry's bought it and even after Landry's bought it. What you could do is just take home a significant portion of the food and re-heat it. If ordering a steak there for instance I liked to take home the bread (they also allowed you to get a muffin) and the salad. At some point and it may have been before Landry's, the muffin option for bread went away (then the muffins went away entirely) and then salad was taken out of the meal and became an add on fee.
Their menu was timeless, and it evolved with trends well before Landry took over. They published a new menu quarterly and frequently tested specials on the weekends to gauge interest in newer trendy items. They absolutely were not becoming stale or failing to respond to changing tastes. I remember a test for a vegetarian menu section at the Long Beach location in the early 2000's as that trend was exploding.

Landry simply looked at the concept and decided they could implement their playbook of profit maximization - cut the service levels, cut the management, cut the portion size, cut the menu, switch to commissary provided items wherever possible, try to con every customer into buying a Select Club Membership, and finally switch to cheaper Landry sourced items even if the flavor and specs are totally different. And they figured they would max out profits and customers wouldn't notice these changes. They were dead wrong. And those restaurants were so large they had to crank out the volume that they did to be able to keep the doors open. But when they changed everything the customers figured out quickly it was no longer Claim Jumper despite what the sign said and that was it.

The fact that there are two major growing restaurant chains being built off the bones of Claim Jumper by the children of the founders, and the fact they can't open new locations fast enough tells you everything you need to know about if the public still has a taste for CJ food.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: January 5th, 2023, 12:33 am

Their menu was timeless, and it evolved with trends well before Landry took over. They published a new menu quarterly and frequently tested specials on the weekends to gauge interest in newer trendy items. They absolutely were not becoming stale or failing to respond to changing tastes. I remember a test for a vegetarian menu section at the Long Beach location in the early 2000's as that trend was exploding.

Landry simply looked at the concept and decided they could implement their playbook of profit maximization - cut the service levels, cut the management, cut the portion size, cut the menu, switch to commissary provided items wherever possible, try to con every customer into buying a Select Club Membership, and finally switch to cheaper Landry sourced items even if the flavor and specs are totally different. And they figured they would max out profits and customers wouldn't notice these changes. They were dead wrong. And those restaurants were so large they had to crank out the volume that they did to be able to keep the doors open. But when they changed everything the customers figured out quickly it was no longer Claim Jumper despite what the sign said and that was it.

The fact that there are two major growing restaurant chains being built off the bones of Claim Jumper by the children of the founders, and the fact they can't open new locations fast enough tells you everything you need to know about if the public still has a taste for CJ food.
I thought Claim Jumper was still acceptable under Landry's. The value proposition became questionable; higher prices and smaller portions. Also the service seemed to start to slow down. Happy hour was an excellent value there under Landry's and the quality of the food was still there.

Claim Jumper under this Kelly Group was not acceptable in food quality, prices were yet again even higher, and the employees, the few they had, were clearly trying but when you are working with Denny's quality food and trying to charge those prices for it, it is kind of a joke.

The thing about the Claim Jumper food, which appears to extend to these new chains run by the kids, is the food had some degree of creativity to it. Despite a heavy focus on "comfort food" they did some unique flavors and seasonings so it did not just taste like bland boring old comfort food. And the quality was always there. Landry's did weird things like adding multiple additional seafood items to the menu- nothing wrong with the items; I ordered them a couple of times, but they didn't seem to fit the concept and the flavors of the items were forgettable; the side items Claim Jumper had with unique flavors did not go with those new seafood items either. This Kelly Group I don't even know. They tried to add new items. Some of the new items they added were very questionable from a quality perspective, to say the least. The plates that came out all too often looked more like a poorly executed Denny's plate than a Claim Jumper plate.
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: January 5th, 2023, 1:00 am
ClownLoach wrote: January 5th, 2023, 12:33 am

Their menu was timeless, and it evolved with trends well before Landry took over. They published a new menu quarterly and frequently tested specials on the weekends to gauge interest in newer trendy items. They absolutely were not becoming stale or failing to respond to changing tastes. I remember a test for a vegetarian menu section at the Long Beach location in the early 2000's as that trend was exploding.

Landry simply looked at the concept and decided they could implement their playbook of profit maximization - cut the service levels, cut the management, cut the portion size, cut the menu, switch to commissary provided items wherever possible, try to con every customer into buying a Select Club Membership, and finally switch to cheaper Landry sourced items even if the flavor and specs are totally different. And they figured they would max out profits and customers wouldn't notice these changes. They were dead wrong. And those restaurants were so large they had to crank out the volume that they did to be able to keep the doors open. But when they changed everything the customers figured out quickly it was no longer Claim Jumper despite what the sign said and that was it.

The fact that there are two major growing restaurant chains being built off the bones of Claim Jumper by the children of the founders, and the fact they can't open new locations fast enough tells you everything you need to know about if the public still has a taste for CJ food.
I thought Claim Jumper was still acceptable under Landry's. The value proposition became questionable; higher prices and smaller portions. Also the service seemed to start to slow down. Happy hour was an excellent value there under Landry's and the quality of the food was still there.

Claim Jumper under this Kelly Group was not acceptable in food quality, prices were yet again even higher, and the employees, the few they had, were clearly trying but when you are working with Denny's quality food and trying to charge those prices for it, it is kind of a joke.

The thing about the Claim Jumper food, which appears to extend to these new chains run by the kids, is the food had some degree of creativity to it. Despite a heavy focus on "comfort food" they did some unique flavors and seasonings so it did not just taste like bland boring old comfort food. And the quality was always there. Landry's did weird things like adding multiple additional seafood items to the menu- nothing wrong with the items; I ordered them a couple of times, but they didn't seem to fit the concept and the flavors of the items were forgettable; the side items Claim Jumper had with unique flavors did not go with those new seafood items either. This Kelly Group I don't even know. They tried to add new items. Some of the new items they added were very questionable from a quality perspective, to say the least. The plates that came out all too often looked more like a poorly executed Denny's plate than a Claim Jumper plate.
We will have to agree to disagree. Landry drastically downgraded the quality of ingredients and changed to their chain wide generics well before they sold it to Kelly. Example - the potato skins appetizer came with a house made sour cream dip that I have yet to be able to replicate. It was spicy and tangy, topped with fresh cut chives. Suddenly one day the sour cream dip had been replaced by generic ranch dressing that tasted like corn syrup was the first ingredient. All the other salad dressings were made in house fresh - again these were all switched to bottled dressings from some generic vendor like Sysco to save labor and increase profit. Those little things were easy profit drivers but customers notice things like that, replacing fresh made guacamole with the stuff in a plastic bag like Wholly Guacamole product. Mashed potatoes used to be made from scratch several times a day, hand mashed red new potatoes from a small farm in Idaho. They were switched to the machine made crap that comes in a giant plastic tube like chub ground beef and gets warmed on a steam table. Tillamook sharp cheese that was sliced "double thick" in house was switched to the Pre sliced generic Sysco cheddar with preservative powder added. The food became generic and the portions reduced. If there was something in the Landrys ordering catalog that was "close enough" then it was to be used going forward in all recipes. Again the customers noticed that the food was not "close enough" to the CJ dishes they loved and as such was not worth the premium price. If it tastes like Dennys, Chili's or Applebee's food why pay CJ pricing? And of course you no longer need a quality Executive Chef in each location when most of your food is coming out of a bottle, pouch, can, bag or freezer.

An even more massive destruction under Landry was the bar program. CJ had an amazing bar book menu with hundreds of unique, large and powerful drinks. That menu updated a couple of times each year after the company wide contests in which bartenders and bar managers could submit their own drinks for inclusion in the next menu. It was fun to see the new drinks and where they came from, especially when you found out that one came from the bartender who was actually serving you that night. They were not cheap - many drinks were pushing $15+ all the way back in early 2000's - but they used quality premium liquors, juices and mixes prepared fresh daily, and again massive quantities. Landry switched over to a minimal bar menu of all generic bottled juices and mixes, no name well liquors and "premium liquors" like Bacardi, Jack Daniels, and Smirnoff - massive downgrades. All the real premium liquors just went to the top shelf to sit there. With a dumbed down low quality cocktail program CJ no longer needed professional bartenders or bar managers and probably cut hundreds of prep hours each week just from the bar. And worst of all if you asked them to make your favorite drink that had been removed from the menu they literally said they were not allowed (probably because so many of the ingredients were no longer stocked).

Kelly took the downgrade to the next level. Prime steaks became commercial grade. Ground sirloin and filet had been downgraded to generic ground beef, but under Kelly became frozen burger patties even though the menu says fresh (you know a frozen burger party when you see it). I suspect all their proteins are frozen. Even the cheap cheddar is too good for Kelly so they downgraded to Burger King quality American, the gummy plasticy type.

What is sad is that restaurants like Cheesecake Factory still to this day are making all of their items from scratch in the restaurant every single day, in restaurants with an even larger menu. (only thing that Cheesecake Factory brings in frozen/pre-made ironically is the cheesecake and bread). Somehow they've figured out how to make dozens of sauces and dressings from scratch and prep all their meats and produce in house without going broke. Their pricing and portions are similar to CJ but the quality is still good (never as great as CJ was in its heyday, but just proves the point that the primary failure of CJ was the destruction of the food quality and service).
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Re: Claim Jumper sold again?

Post by storewanderer »

ClownLoach wrote: January 5th, 2023, 2:10 pm
We will have to agree to disagree. Landry drastically downgraded the quality of ingredients and changed to their chain wide generics well before they sold it to Kelly. Example - the potato skins appetizer came with a house made sour cream dip that I have yet to be able to replicate. It was spicy and tangy, topped with fresh cut chives. Suddenly one day the sour cream dip had been replaced by generic ranch dressing that tasted like corn syrup was the first ingredient. All the other salad dressings were made in house fresh - again these were all switched to bottled dressings from some generic vendor like Sysco to save labor and increase profit. Those little things were easy profit drivers but customers notice things like that, replacing fresh made guacamole with the stuff in a plastic bag like Wholly Guacamole product. Mashed potatoes used to be made from scratch several times a day, hand mashed red new potatoes from a small farm in Idaho. They were switched to the machine made crap that comes in a giant plastic tube like chub ground beef and gets warmed on a steam table. Tillamook sharp cheese that was sliced "double thick" in house was switched to the Pre sliced generic Sysco cheddar with preservative powder added. The food became generic and the portions reduced. If there was something in the Landrys ordering catalog that was "close enough" then it was to be used going forward in all recipes. Again the customers noticed that the food was not "close enough" to the CJ dishes they loved and as such was not worth the premium price. If it tastes like Dennys, Chili's or Applebee's food why pay CJ pricing? And of course you no longer need a quality Executive Chef in each location when most of your food is coming out of a bottle, pouch, can, bag or freezer.

An even more massive destruction under Landry was the bar program. CJ had an amazing bar book menu with hundreds of unique, large and powerful drinks. That menu updated a couple of times each year after the company wide contests in which bartenders and bar managers could submit their own drinks for inclusion in the next menu. It was fun to see the new drinks and where they came from, especially when you found out that one came from the bartender who was actually serving you that night. They were not cheap - many drinks were pushing $15+ all the way back in early 2000's - but they used quality premium liquors, juices and mixes prepared fresh daily, and again massive quantities. Landry switched over to a minimal bar menu of all generic bottled juices and mixes, no name well liquors and "premium liquors" like Bacardi, Jack Daniels, and Smirnoff - massive downgrades. All the real premium liquors just went to the top shelf to sit there. With a dumbed down low quality cocktail program CJ no longer needed professional bartenders or bar managers and probably cut hundreds of prep hours each week just from the bar. And worst of all if you asked them to make your favorite drink that had been removed from the menu they literally said they were not allowed (probably because so many of the ingredients were no longer stocked).

Kelly took the downgrade to the next level. Prime steaks became commercial grade. Ground sirloin and filet had been downgraded to generic ground beef, but under Kelly became frozen burger patties even though the menu says fresh (you know a frozen burger party when you see it). I suspect all their proteins are frozen. Even the cheap cheddar is too good for Kelly so they downgraded to Burger King quality American, the gummy plasticy type.

What is sad is that restaurants like Cheesecake Factory still to this day are making all of their items from scratch in the restaurant every single day, in restaurants with an even larger menu. (only thing that Cheesecake Factory brings in frozen/pre-made ironically is the cheesecake and bread). Somehow they've figured out how to make dozens of sauces and dressings from scratch and prep all their meats and produce in house without going broke. Their pricing and portions are similar to CJ but the quality is still good (never as great as CJ was in its heyday, but just proves the point that the primary failure of CJ was the destruction of the food quality and service).
I see what you are saying as far as the changes Landry made. I was more of the point that the products Landry was selling at least seemed to be sort of okay at Claim Jumper. Just generic stuff. But Claim Jumper wasn't a restaurant for generic stuff- it was a restaurant for good stuff. So what Landrys did putting it under its group buying was to try and find identical ingredients to someone in Texas analyzing the order book, but not looking at the actual taste of the replacement vs. the better offer Claim Jumper had on its own. Still when I look at what Landry was selling and what Kelly was selling, I think Landry had a lot higher quality food than Kelly.

Also it appears there is some kind of bankruptcy with the Claim Jumper portion that is owned by Kelly. Article is fee.
https://www.bankruptcompanynews.com/cla ... secured-c/
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