Claim Jumper

Gold Rush is on: Casual-dining chain adds 20 new menu items

This was an aggressive rollout for us,” says Scott McIntosh, chief operating officer of Irvine, Calif.-based Claim Jumper Enterprises. “Some of our managers thought it was a little bold and maybe a little crazy.”

McIntosh, a Claim Jumper “lifer,” was discussing the chain’s menu revamp, which added 20 new dishes last year to the Gold Rush-themed casual-dining chain’s already abundant menu of more than 150 items.

“We typically add five to six new items every quarter, so 20 at once was big,” says McIntosh, who began his restaurant career at Nik’s Coffee Shop in Long Beach, Calif.

Nik’s was owned and operated by Carl Nickoloff, father of Craig Nickoloff, who launched Claim Jumper in 1977 in Los Alamitos, Calif. Today the chain has 29 high-volume locations in California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and Washington.

Discussing the menu revamp, Brian Okada, the chain’s executive chef, says, “We rolled out our new items in the new restaurant we were opening in Las Vegas and then implemented them in the 28 other locations.”

How did a simultaneous rollout of 20 new items come to pass? “Well, we had been looking at a lot of things, creating new items for a while and doing a lot of research and development,” he explains.

“It got to the point where we just had a lot of things that we liked.”

One of those items was The Carson City sandwich, which features thin-sliced ham served warm on Parmesan grilled sourdough with Thousand Island dressing, sliced tomato, shredded lettuce and Swiss cheese.

“That sandwich had been on the menu when we had only one restaurant,” McIntosh notes. “It was basically a ham sandwich back then, but we wanted to bring it back. Plus, we really liked the name.”

Once rolled out, many of the new items were adjusted as time went on. Spicy Jambalaya, for example, originally was served with noodles until people pointed out that it should be served with rice. Now it’s tossed with spinach and egg pasta or served on a bed of steamed rice.

“These new items have definitely had a positive effect on the company,” Okada notes. “Our Parmesan-crusted chicken has become one of the most popular items on the entire menu.”

Okada joined Claim Jumper in 1991 after working as a sous chef and an executive chef at several other restaurants. He has been enthralled with cooking since he was 17. “My father and grandmother were both very good cooks, and I would work with them in the kitchen at home,” he recalls. “It became my passion.”

New items on the Claim Jumper menu were hatched from a variety of sources. The test kitchen, Okada’s domain, was a prime area, as were the restaurants. Key executives, like McIntosh and Craig Nickoloff, also presented ideas.

For McIntosh, who oversees the chain’s day-to-day operations, food is the fun part of the job. “It doesn’t complain,” he quips. “You don’t have to discipline it or write it up.”

When he first went to work at Nik’s Coffee Shop in the 1970s, McIntosh had no intention of making foodservice a career.

“I was just looking for enough money to make my car payments so I could drive to the beach,” he says. “But, after walking through the fire with your fellow workers every day and overcoming all the challenges, you form bonds that you can’t walk away from. It gets in your blood.”

Claim Jumper is proud of staff longevity, which includes employees who have 10, 15 or 20 years of service. “It starts with the great way Craig treats his people,” McIntosh says.

However, like most restaurants these days, Claim Jumper isn’t immune to labor-cost struggles. “It can be especially tough here in California, where we don’t have the tip credit,” McIntosh points out.

“It’s a delicate balance to maintain profitability, have the right people in the right place and provide them a fair wage.”

For many restaurant companies, finding good general managers can be a problem. But that’s not the case at Claim Jumper, the company states. Big on promoting from within — “I’m a perfect example of that,” declares McIntosh — the chain identifies its next wave of general managers years ahead of time.

This year the company is celebrating its 25th anniversary. In its first restaurant the company had 50 to 60 employees. Today it has 5,000 throughout the system.

“The anniversary didn’t really factor into the menu revamp,’ Okada notes. “As I said, we had a lot of things we wanted to get done, and this looked like a good opportunity to take the menu up a notch.”

Some of Okada’s favorite items among the 20 newcomers include the Wild Turkey Sandwich served on house-made tomato-herb pizza bread. He also likes the California Quesadilla. “It’s a grilled corn tortilla with Jack and Cheddar cheese — a really great dish.”

For Okada, creating new items, like a crunchy spinach salad or seared ahi tuna rolls, is part of the joy of foodservice. “This is a great career,” he says. “It can be difficult and time consuming, but if you have talent and are creative, it’s very satisfying.”