Meet Jason Day of Joanie’s Murfreesboro

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Day.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Sure. I was working in healthcare administration in San Diego for the past 12 years and I just decided that talking about end-of-life situations and negotiating HMO contracts all day wasn’t for me anymore. I wanted to do something that made people happy and, more importantly, I wanted to take a risk and challenge myself. So I quit my job, took every dime I had, and moved out to Murfreesboro, TN to start building a restaurant.

Everything went over budget and over time as I began the build out and by the time we opened, I was flat broke. But we got to work and put in a lot of hours to get the place off the ground. COVID hit 4 months later, which derailed our momentum. But we were able to adjust and try a few things out that kept us afloat and, as we got through COVID and things began to get back to somewhat normal, the place gained in popularity and started to take off.

Shortly thereafter, I began working on our 2nd location on our beautiful downtown Square. As that location was being built, my Mom (Joan) passed away and it was at that time, as a tribute to her, I renamed both restaurants to Joanie’s. We now have 2 locations in Murfreesboro and just celebrated our 4th anniversary at our original location and our 2nd anniversary at our downtown location.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been anything but a smooth road. I was way over budget on the build-out and was in debt to contractors with no money to my name by the time we opened. To save on labor I’d work 12-14 hour days at the store while managing it. Having never been in the restaurant business before I was learning a lot each day.

I’d work at the store then go home and work on our website for online ordering, etc. Then COVID hit 4 months into being open, which presented numerous challenges. As we managed to get through that, I began building my 2nd location, which presented itself with numerous issues, as I was converting a retail store in a 120-year-old historic building into a restaurant. During this time my Mom passed away and getting back to AZ to see her was about the most stressful thing I think I’ve ever endured.

From there, I rebranded both stores to honor her memory and changed the names of each, which always presents a lot of issues. So, no, definitely anything but a smooth road but that’s also what makes celebrating our 4-year and 2-year anniversaries respectively so special. A lot of hard work and stress to get here which makes it all the more special.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Joanie’s Murfreesboro?
Joanie’s is a pretty unique place. We have 2 locations in Murfreesboro, TN. We started as really a gourmet coffee shop but as COVID hit we realized we needed more dinner options to survive. We expanded our menu quite a bit so much so that coming out of COVID the place had changed. It went from a coffee shop that served some food to a full-on restaurant that also does gourmet coffee. We serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All made-to-order from scratch.

We have no heat lamps and don’t pre-cook anything. Every order is custom-made fresh, which sets us apart from a lot of other places. We have 2 commercial kitchens so we’re cooking and not just re-heating pre-packaged stuff. We also serve craft beer, wine, and Mimosas. It’s a really fun place and environment and we’re so lucky to have chosen Murfreesboro, as it’s an amazing community.

We’ve been featured on both America’s Best Restaurants and Tennessee Crossroads this past year, which was a huge honor and a lot of fun for us.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Determination is first and foremost. I worked hard to get the place built and opened and was going to work as hard as I could to make sure it didn’t fail. Same with COVID. I wasn’t going to allow that to be the end of this story. If it was going to fail, it wasn’t going to be because of that.

I was determined about that. From there, I believe hiring high-quality, innately friendly people and cultivating a culture that centers on great customer service and hard work has served us well. We have an amazing team of people all of whom have contributed mightily to getting us to where we are now.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.joaniesboro.com
• Instagram: @joanieboro
• Facebook: @joanieboro