Jimmy John's
Dining · 2,776+ locations · Nationwide — 44 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., with new international locations in Canada, the UAE, and El Salvador
Jimmy John's reads like a scrappy Illinois sandwich shop, but its founder sold control to Roark Capital in 2016. Now owned by Inspire Brands alongside Arby's and Dunkin', the all-but-entirely franchised chain has settled wage and overtime claims and drawn an FDA warning over outbreaks traced to its sprouts.
The Big Picture
Jimmy John's still reads as founder-built, but Jim Liautaud sold control to Roark Capital in 2016 and merged the rest into Inspire Brands in 2019. The chain has settled wage and overtime claims, its franchisees have drawn Labor Department findings, and the FDA warned it in 2020 over outbreaks traced to its sprouts. It answers to private equity, not to the founder whose name is on the door.
The Dirty Details
Ownership
Inspire BrandsConglomerate
Inspire Brands is the Atlanta multi-brand restaurant company private equity firm Roark Capital formed in February 2018 by merging the parents of Arby's and Buffalo Wild Wings, and it has bought a brand a year since: Sonic in 2018, Jimmy John's in 2019, and Dunkin' Brands for $11.3 billion in December 2020, which brought Baskin-Robbins with it. Its own site puts the group at more than 33,400 restaurants and more than 2,500 franchisees across 55 global markets. Roark confidentially filed for an Inspire Brands IPO in May 2026 with proceeds reported as earmarked to repay debt; no S-1 was public on SEC EDGAR as of August 2026, so the company remains privately held. The two brands tracked here are both almost entirely franchised, which means the restaurants are owned by independent operators while the trademarks, the franchise agreements and the royalties sit inside Inspire.
Restaurants: 33,400+ (2026)
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Company data last updated September 2026
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