Frankfort has been waiting nearly a year for Jimmy John’s to open on Versailles Road, and, this week, customers have waited a little longer.
Friends and family were treated to lunch Wednesday, but Pragnesh Patel, the store’s manager, can’t officially open to paying customers until he gets the outside sign up – everything else is ready to go.
“Once we get that sign up, we’ll open,” said Patel, who had hoped to open Monday. This morning, the sign was still in its box in front of the restaurant, and orange cones blocked the parking lot.
“It’ll be installed today in the afternoon, so I’m sure I’ll be open tomorrow and maybe late today,” Patel said this morning.
Patel, 32, says he thinks Frankfort will respond to the signature sandwiches like he did.
A few years ago, Patel, who runs six gas stations in Kentucky and Ohio, was working at a location between a Subway and Jimmy John’s. A vegetarian, he ate at Subway frequently, but one day he tried Jimmy John’s.
He was hooked.
“I like the concept of simplicity and reality,” he says. “It’s simple food, and it’s the real thing.”
Word has spread about the sub shop since Patel bought the property nearly a year ago. It’s a combination gas station and Jimmy John’s. It’s been under construction for nine months.
“The restaurant is the priority,” said Patel, who opened his first Jimmy John’s in Georgetown May 2011.
He won’t open the gas station, which is separated from Jimmy John’s by a wall, until a few weeks after initial traffic for the sandwich shop has slowed down.
“With the initial traffic, it would just be too much, and there wouldn’t be enough parking,” he said.
The restaurant, which has a drive-through and seating for 20 inside, is deceptively larger than it looks from the outside. If it’s anything like his Georgetown location, it will be packed for the next few weeks, he said. The Frankfort Area Chamber of Commerce plans a grand opening Monday.
Patel also reminds customers that Jimmy John’s delivers “freaky fast” within a five-minute radius of the store.
JIMMY JOHN'S
Location: 325 Versailles Road
Phone: 502-848-4050
Delivery: within a 5-minute radius
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