![]() "Up north, the economy is based on manufacturing, and since all the manufacturing is going overseas, the economy basically up there is done," said Emery, 42. But his business also turned with the economy. He worked in the construction with Jakubczak for eight years. Randy Emery, who owned a tile business for 12 years in Michigan, is one of the store managers and will be an owner-operator for Jet's in Southwest Florida. The restaurant also offers subs, salads and wings. He said the most popular pizza at Jet's is probably its deep dish. "We don't scorch our pizzas," Peecher said. The pizza dough is made from scratch daily. Peecher said he's always liked Jet's pizza himself. Most of his clients were in the automotive industry, and they thinned out as the industry "started taking some bumps," he said. He closed his mom-and-pop pizzeria in March 2006 because business slowed so much with a downturn in Michigan's economy. Rob Peecher, 42, who owned Peecher's Pizza in Dearborn, Mich., for more than 20 years, will oversee the operations as the general manger for the local restaurants. "Once I got you hooked, I got you hooked," he added. It's customer-friendly and people are going to love it," he said. He expects the Jet's Pizza name to "spread like wildfire" once local residents discover it. "That would feed about 1,500 people an hour." ![]() "We will be able to serve 350 pizzas an hour," Jakubczak said. The Naples restaurant has a generator for back-up power so, if a hurricane strikes and the power goes out, the store ? as long as it's still standing ? should still be able to feed hungry customers. Workers are crawling all over the restaurants trying to get them open. The other will start operating a few weeks later at 3400 Radio Road in East Naples, in the shopping center just east of Airport Road, across the street from the Naples Municipal Airport. The first will open in August in the Estero Town Commons at the southeast corner of Corkscrew Road and Three Oaks Parkway. There are 12 more coming soon, including the two in Southwest Florida.īoth of the local restaurants are getting built out. The chain's four owners, who promise "customer satisfaction," want to have restaurants in every state. "The way we make it, every piece has a corner because people seem to like corners," Jakubczak said. Eat Better Pizza." One of its specialties is an eight-corner pizza made by putting two small pizzas side-by-side. The restaurant's slogan is "Life is short. It now has 156 restaurants in Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Tennessee. The chain, Jet's America Inc., founded in 1978 in Michigan, began expanding into other states in 2002. That is what you want when you are looking for great people," Jakubczak said. But you can't teach anybody customer service, and honesty and good values. ![]() Jakubczak has one of the largest Tae Kwon Do schools in his state. Local management also includes one of Jakubczak's black-belt students, who owned another pizza chain in Michigan for more than two decades. They include two of his former contractors, a tile setter and a drywaller, who have moved here to help run the restaurants after going to the Jet's pizza school. ![]() The other investors in the local restaurants are his friends and business associates. "We want to put 15 of them in and around Naples, Fort Myers and Bonita Springs," said Jakubczak, a six-degree black belt, licensed builder, certified registered nurse anesthetist and new Jet's franchisee. One day, there could be more than a dozen of the restaurants in the area. "Southwest Florida hasn't seen a pizzeria like this." "Everything is made fresh every day," he said. Jakubczak, 48, and other Michigan investors plan to open two Jet's Pizza take-out-only restaurants in Collier and Lee counties over the next two months. So, he's decided to bring their favorite pizza to Southwest Florida. Neither was his middle daughter, Juliana, who was vacationing with him. "I was not really satisfied," he recalls. He drove 25 miles to Naples in search of one ? and the pizza he found wasn't anything like his favorite back home. On a visit to Marco Island two years ago, Michigander Tom Jakubczak had a hard time finding a tasty pizza. ![]()
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