Jimmy John's
Dining · 2776+ 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 years ago. Now owned by Inspire Brands alongside Arby's and Dunkin', the nearly all-franchised chain has drawn wage and overtime settlements, a child-labor penalty, and repeat FDA food-safety warnings.
The Big Picture
Jimmy John's still reads as founder-built, but Jim Liautaud sold control to Roark Capital in 2016 and merged what remained into its Inspire Brands portfolio in 2019, alongside Arby's and Dunkin'. Its almost entirely franchised system has drawn a DOL child-labor penalty, wage and overtime settlements, and repeated FDA warnings over sprout-linked E. coli and salmonella outbreaks. It now answers to a private equity firm managing a restaurant empire, not to the man whose name is on the door.
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Company data last updated August 2026
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