Community Highlights: Meet Jason Day of Joanie’s

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Day

Hi Jason, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Sure! I really appreciate the opportunity so thank you so much for having me. As for how I got started with Joanie’s, it’s a bit of a long story but I’ll try to shorten it up so as to not bore your readers to death! I was working out in San Diego in the Healthcare industry (business development side of a skilled nursing facility) and having done that for 11 plus years, I kind of had an epiphany that I didn’t want to spend the next 10 years of my life doing that anymore. It was a great job and I’m so thankful to have had that opportunity, but I just thought there was something more for me to be doing. I wanted to really challenge myself and really take a big risk. I didn’t want to get to the end of my life, look back, and realize I never took that big swing to truly see what I was made of. That and talking end-of-life scenarios every day really wore on me mentally. And if anyone knows me they know how much I really enjoy making people happy. And that’s what I wanted to do. Anyway, having come out to Tennessee several times to visit my friend, I really started to fall in love with it. So, long story somewhat short, I took all the money I had to my name that I’d been saving for 15 years, quit my job, packed up my car and drove out to Murfreesboro, TN to start building a restaurant. And no, I had zero restaurant experience so friends definitely were confused. But I had the business and marketing background and I thought it would be something that would match well with my experience and skill set. Plus, as I mentioned, I really wanted to challenge myself. And challenge myself – it absolutely did. As I started building it, everything went over time and well over what I had budgeted for. I was genuinely frightened that I’d have blown all my money on a place that I’d never be able to get open. But somehow I managed to get there after 4 long months but in doing so I had spent every dime I had to my name and wasn’t just broke the day we opened, but also in debt to contractors. It wasn’t fun. But, again, the key was I was able to get open and that’s when the real work started. I was learning a lot and working as hard as I could and we started to see some success. Only to have COVID hit 4 months after opening. Without so much as a sign on the building or any other business around us to draw people in that served up quite a few challenges, as it did for every small business in America. We got thru that with a lot of hard work and creativity and the place really started to take off. So much so that after a year I was able to start work on a 2nd location on our beautiful downtown Square here in Murfreesboro. We’ll be celebrating 5 years at our original location and 3 years at our 2nd location this November, which is something I’m so incredibly proud of and thankful for.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not smooth. I don’t think it’s smooth for any restaurant owner when you’re getting started. There are so many moving parts you’re dealing with and so much competition that it’s really quite a grind. I have profound respect for anyone who does this because I know how hard it is. For us, as I mentioned previously, we had COVID hit 4 months into opening to go along with the fact that I had no money. But we got really creative and I had just a group of incredible people working for me at the time who helped us get through all that. As I was building my 2nd location my Mom, Joan, passed away. It was incredibly stressful running the 1st location while simultaneously building the 2nd one to be able to get back to Phoenix to be with her. That was a really challenging time for me. After she passed I came right back and got right back to work. Partly to keep my mind off of her passing, as my Mom meant everything to me, and also because I could hear her voice telling me to not have a pitty party for her and to get back to work and continue building on what I set out to do. I subsequently changed the name of each restaurant to “Joanie’s” to honor my Mom which, of course, had challenges of its own as rebranding is always difficult. But it was something I wanted to do and something I felt she deserved. These 2 restaurants mean everything to me, as did my Mom. So I wanted them to have a name that reflected that.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Joanie’s?
Joanie’s is a really special place. I’m so proud of it and what it’s become. As we talked about, we have 2 locations now in Murfreesboro and that’s where Joanie’s will always remain. I won’t open any other locations outside of this town because Murfreesboro and the people here are why I’ve been able to live out this dream. Their support from the day I opened our 1st location has been incredible and I just want to make sure I continue to work as hard as I can to give them something really special to enjoy. In a world of corporate chains and fast food, Joanie’s is the antitheses of that. I live in this town and these aren’t just customers, but also my neighbors and friends. We’re a full restaurant with an expansive menu of scratch made-to-order options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We’re also a full service gourmet coffee house. It’s pretty rare that you’ll see a place that has both like we do, but that’s what makes Joanie’s so special and unique. I’m also so proud of the culture we’ve built there and the amazing staff I have the honor of working with every day. I’ve had the same kitchen crew for over 4 years now and 2 amazing managers who have been with me over 2 years now and this place is as much theirs as it is mine. They work so hard and take so much pride in delivering a great experience for all our customers. I’m so proud of them and so proud and honored to be here in Murfreesboro.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
That’s a great question. My main advice would be to bet on yourself and be prepared to work really, really hard. A lot of things won’t go your way and a lot of obstacles are going to present themselves. I did this with no safety net and if it failed, I was going to have to start over from scratch and would’ve lost everything I’d worked for. But I’m so happy I took that risk and did it that way because it forces you to really see what you’re made of and what you’re truly capable of. I’m such a different person today than I was 5 years ago when I began this journey. There were a lot of stressful times and, I’ll admit, it took a pretty dangerous physical toll on me and that was scary. But that’s just because I put everything I had into this and I just wasn’t going to allow it to fail. I look back at those tough days and they make today so much more rewarding. Not a day goes by someone doesn’t come up to me and tell me how much they love our place and I try to tell them that means more to me than they’ll every know. And it does. And it does in large part because of how hard it was to get here. So that’s really my best advice…work really, really hard, never give up and bet on yourself. You’ll be amazed at what you’re capable of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Joaniesboro.com
• Instagram: @joanieboro
• Facebook: https://Facebook.com/joanieboro
• Other: Download our App at www.joaniesboro.com/app