Americans can’t seem to get enough fast food.
That’s the plan, at least, for a pair of new restaurants currently in the works along the North Columbia Street business corridor.
Construction is progressing relatively rapidly on the Jack’s Family Restaurant location in the 1500 block of North Columbia Street, just south of the Baldwin County government annex and just north of the Harbor Freight/ Ollie’s shopping center. The restaurant actually will have a Forest Road address, which is one of the streets in the neighborhood along that stretch of North Columbia and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
The plan is to open at some point in April, according to Jackson Stickrath, a public relations specialist with the company.
“Jack’s arrival in Milledgeville will create 50 to 60 new employment opportunities,” he added.
All hiring will be filtered through the restaurant’s website – eatatjacks.com – and the CAREERS link is located at the bottom of the home page.
“Sort of like a cross between Dairy Queen and Bojangle’s” would be a very general description of a Jack’s restaurant, which typically open bright and early for breakfast. The nearby Gray location, for example, starts serving breakfast at 5 a.m. Transitioning into lunch and dinner, fried chicken and sweet tea are on the menu, as are burgers and fries. Jack’s stores also feature an ice cream counter, and ice cream is sold by the scoop.
Milledgeville will make the 21st Georgia location for the Alabama-based company. Its motto “All About the South,” all 250-plus locations are confined to Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi.
Further out, meanwhile, is Whataburger, which is targeting a parcel in the Milledgeville Mall parking lot. The company’s plan is to build at the site of the old Century Bank & Trust “mall branch,” adjacent to the new Take 5 Oil Change.
Whataburger has a cult-like following in its native Texas, although the company didn’t open its first location in Georgia until 2022. Since that time, however, expansion has been rapid, with roughly three dozen Whataburger restaurants now dotted around the Peach State, including one in nearby Eatonton.
Whataburger is somewhat similar to Five Guys Burger, although not quite as expensive. Between its four different bun options, 11 sauces, condiments and add-ons, Whataburger offers “36,000 different customizable combinations,” according to its website.