Today we’d like to introduce you to James Jones.
Hi James, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all started in 1983…. Just kidding, I won’t go that far back. During the pandemic I was at home bored out of my mind scrolling OfferUp, I came across a deli slicer and started thinking what I could make if I bought it. A very popular sandwich where I grew up is the north shore beef, slow roasted and thin shaved top round on a buttery grilled onion roll with James river Bbq sauce, white American cheese and a healthy slathering of mayonnaise.
Side note: A super beef comes on the onion roll and the three toppings is called a 3-way, so when ordering you’d ask for a super 3-way. If you don’t like mayo you’d ask for a super sauce & cheese.
I decided I’d give it a shot, bought the slicer and started roasting meat in my oven at home. I bought some fold up tables, extension cords and some coolers. I had a fully mobile set up in my backyard that I could slice meats and build sandwiches. I invited friends over to try my newest project. The ally behind my house served as a nice drive thru for people to pick up their to go orders. Soon I was gathering large delivery orders and dropping them off all around the city.
I asked a friend (Kevin Pine) if he’d be interested in helping out. He was very interested and eventually we landed at the Poorhouse in North Park. Every Sunday we would set up shop and sell till we ran out.
Then we landed a couple farmer’s markets. Between the markets and our pop up schedule we stayed very busy 4-5 days a week selling sandwiches.
Kevin and I eventually parted ways.
September 2023 I got an amazing opportunity to open in pacific beach. It’s been quite the roller coaster ride over the past 5 years, I’ve learned so much on this journey.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall everything has happened very organically. I’d say it doesn’t matter how much you think you know about something because you’ll never truly understand the full scope of it until you’re fully immersed. You tend to learn a lot very quickly and if you don’t there isn’t much forgiveness. It’s a pretty cut throat industry (restaurants) if you don’t have experience or a very good idea of what to expect then try to survive on razor thin margins can be next to impossible.
I’ve learned how to fix plumbing many times over, re-wire equipment, install shelving, clean condensers and troubleshoot equipment. It’s very expensive to have someone come out and fix anything so I’ve learned to give it a shot first and I’m pretty good at figuring it out myself.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I run a sandwich of the month, something different each month. I’ve done lots of collaboration with friends and local chefs. This month we are doing a Bulgogi sloppy Joe with kimchi coleslaw.
In the past we have done a Cubano with confit spare ribs, Canadian bacon, our house made horseradish mustard, Swiss and pickles on a locally baked hoagie.
Pastrami Ruben’s with pickled red onion sauerkraut.
Fried shrimp Po boy with house made remoulade and secret sauce from our friends at Lucy Mae’s Kitchen
The Turkey Club with candied pecan crusted bacon, avocado ranch aioli on toasted sourdough.
Bulgogi Banh mi with house pickled vegetables, gochugang mayo and habanero kimchi
Parmesan crusted grilled cheese & house made tomato soup
Chopped cheese
Chicken pesto 2 ways
Chicken cordon blue
Chicken Marsala
Steak special
The list goes on and on. Very unique, creative sandwich’s you can’t find anywhere else. We were just named in the top 100 on yelp #33 in the country!
Any big plans?
We’ve recently cut our hours back, we are now only open for lunch 11am-4pm Wednesday-Monday (closed Tuesday)
We were doing most of our business during the lunchtime anyway so we just decided to cater to our demographic. Also, we cut our menu back to our top 5 most popular sandwiches. We will still serve our famous onion rings and our Hawaiian style tortellini pasta salad.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Bigjimsandiego.com
- Instagram: Bigjimsroastbeef
- Facebook: Bigjimsroastbeef
- Yelp: Big Jim’s Roast Beef
