J. Gumbo's - Frankfort Ave.

You know that itch on your back that can only be reached with a "backscratcher"?

I found an "extra long" backscratcher at Everything for $1 and wouldn't let you have it for $10...it even has the little hand shape on the end with fingers!

Well, I get that same feeling about certain foods at times, and one of those is from J. Gumbos. The scratcher in this case is drunken chicken mixed with bumblebee stew...nothing else quite like it.

My tummy got that itch this past Monday afternoon, and at 6:15 I drove to the Frankfort Ave. location only to find they closed at 2:30 p.m. What a bummer!

I have has this happen before at this location...once I saw 3 different closing times listed, one on the website, and two different ones on the door...I was there before all those times but it was closed anyway.

Just wondered if this is a sign of trouble there? I sure hope not, but I have oft wondered about their long-term survival. Sometimes it's "hoppin" pretty good and at others you could fire a 12 gauge shotgun and not hit a thing.

Spiderman, please tell me not to worry.

The website says they're open Monday-Friday 11AM-7PM. 8AM-2PM weekends. Sorry to hear they aren't abiding by that, but can't say I'm super surprised.

I love J. Gumbo's food, but it's increasingly a pain to get it. Seems like half (or more) of the stores in Louisville have closed, and the Frankfort Ave store, which is closest to me, is a hassle. It used to be easy - order at the counter, go sit down, they drop your food off. Then they started doing table-service brunch, and now every time I'm in there, even though I just want a bowl of drunken chicken, I don't know if I'm supposed to sit down and be served, or if I can order at the counter. Having to add a $2+ tip to what used to be a very affordable $6 lunch makes it not nearly as appealing anymore.

I hate to steal Robin's tune, but it feels like bean counters pushing the company to chain-ify and expand around the country have lost interest in quality control over the operations here at home.

Quite the opposite, Jeff. If the bean-counters (we haven't any, really) had their way, this store would be required to be open posted hours or would suffer penalty. However, we have worked very hard to keep the original J. Gumbo's (Gumbo A Go-Go) in the family. It is currently owned and operated by Billy's father, Billy Sr. and his wife. They are an older couple and have had a rough go of keeping quality employees and simply do not have the vim and vinegar to work day-in and day-out themselves. This has led to some difficulty in meeting the posted hours or reducing previous hours. They are working very hard to keep the place going (and the brunch has been a big help!) I apologize if that has made dining there a risky proposition, but I will have our website guy check with them and make sure we have the correct HoO posted in all the right places. I will also pass along Jerry's feedback so that they are aware. And Jeff, unless it is brunch, you can pretty much order at the counter as usual and give the tip jar a dismissive wave as you see fit.

As for J. Gumbo's locally, we sort of hit a max saturation point a few years ago and have been letting the fires cool down before we expand again. When we first expanded several years ago, we went from 1 restaurant to 8. At that time, we were trying to run them all. It was a disaster. Furthermore, we were only able to get B- and C+ locations, (see also the one on Poplar Level) and that increased the challenge. We sold as many stores as we could to independent owners, but one-by-one they either lost interest or were unable to overcome the challenges associated with operating a restaurant (see above locations). We tried to find new owners, but finding the right ones proved more difficult that one might think and as each B- or C+ location's lease expired we chose not to renew.
We attempted a comeback with the new downtown location at 5th and Jefferson, but then the landlord vanished, the bank seized the property, and we were unceremoniously out on our butts.
All the while, we were growing like wildfire in Ohio, Indiana, and expanding into Illinois and Arkansas. So we made the decision to let the Louisville market cool off a bit, concentrate it down to just the stores that really were committed to the brand (we love you, Mickey out in Stonybrook!), and then come at it again with a more calculated approach. That is where we are at this time: calculating.

I hope that helps shed some light on where we are right now and what are plans are going forward. We just opened a new store in Wausau, WI of all places and it's absolutely killing it.

Holy cow Ronnie! I had no idea you guys had expanded that much and that far!
Well done sir!

Thanks for correcting all my mistaken impressions, Ronnie! I'm still rooting for you guys to succeed. I know how hard you work at it.

Can I keep hoping the downtown store is going to reopen, or is that not gonna happen?

It's all about real estate and finding the right operator, Jeff. The desire to reopen downtown is very strong, but we have to find the right location and get the right person to run the store. We learned long ago that running multiple units ourselves is not where our strength lies (our heart and soul is in the food), so we have to rely on the kindness of strangers sometimes to get things done. That can be a bigger challenge than anyone realizes.


In terms of "bean counters" we are just as small today as we were 10 years ago. There are basically 3 of us running the whole shebang, from making initial contacts with franchisees to doing all of the operational support. We are the anti-corporate chain, through and through. Sometimes I think the big chain guys have it much easier because they have layers and layers of middle management folks to handle all of the bureaucracy of running a multi-unit concept. But the trade off is the level of disconnect from the end product and user. We don't have that here. I was making Voodoo Chicken last Friday and will be making Red Beans tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone for all of the local support!

Ronnie- is the UofL location open again?

Tracey,

The UL location has undergone a make-over and is trying to get open again as soon as possible. It has been rebranded as "The Drunken Chicken" and will feature J. Gumbo's favorites alongside an expanded, more sit-down style, menu. If I get word of a firm opening date, I will let everyone know.

Thanks!

The JGumbo's at Stonybrook is always good, nice staff too.

It's all about real estate and finding the right operator, Jeff. The desire to reopen downtown is very strong, but we have to find the right location and get the right person to run the store. We learned long ago that running multiple units ourselves is not where our strength lies (our heart and soul is in the food), so we have to rely on the kindness of strangers sometimes to get things done. That can be a bigger challenge than anyone realizes.

Right. Gotcha. I was more wondering if the landlord situation at 5th St would get worked out and you might be able to reopen the existing buildout, or if y'all have given up on that.