I stopped by the VIP Grand Opening celebration of Johnny Rockets at the MainPlace Mall this afternoon. The private event included an official ribbon cutting, samples of their signature, mouthwatering hamburgers and hand-spun shakes, a live “ketchup” artist in action, gift bags, interview and a chance to meet Chris Carver, Johnny Rockets Senior VP Operations and Cozette Phifer-Koerber, VP Brand Management and Communications, who came up from the corporate office in Aliso Viejo.
This location is owned by Mike Hashim and his son Karim, who were also at the event. Mike has over 25 years in the restaurant business and he said he opened this franchise, his first Johnny Rockets location, in Santa Ana after searching all over Orange County for a good mall location. This restaurant is located near JCPenney, right by Genki Sushi and several other eateries that have clustered near this northern entrance to the Mall.
The event today was sponsored by the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce. There were perhaps fifty people at the event. We enjoyed the snacks and sipped on champagne while mingling. The servers were really on top of things and seem like a nice bunch of young people. They even stopped and did a dance at one point, that was very well choreographed. The crowd loved it and I have to wonder if this is something they do from time to time?
The prizes were well received and included gift bags with t-shirts. I ended up winning the grand prize, a carry bag with shirts, hoodies, a blanket, a lunch bag, cups and more. It was quite a surprise! I also brought my son Jimmy with me and he must have mowed through two or three hamburgers!
The food is American fare and I really enjoyed the onion rings and the milkshake samples in particular. The milkshakes are made with real ice cream and are full of bits of fruit and chocolate, depending on the flavor you are sipping on. They topped it all off with a giant cake made to look like a hamburger.
The first Johnny Rockets opened on Los Angeles’s trendy Melrose Avenue on June 6th, 1986. Today, that original restaurant is one of over 300 worldwide locations, in 26 countries. In fact they just expanded into Pakistan!
Each year, Johnny Rockets serves 17 million Hamburgers, 11.3 million soda pops, 8.3 million Shakes and Malts, 8 million pounds of Fries, 2.1 million orders of Onion Rings and 815,000 gallons of ice cream.
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