Jack in the Box history

Texas was next on the expansion agenda, with Jack in the Box units popping up in Houston and the Dallas–Fort Worth areas in 1963.

The former was incorporated in July 1965 as Jack in the Box Inc.

Such optimism pervaded Foodmaker’s management in 1966 for several reasons.

He sold his firm to Ralston Purina Company in 1968.

In 1979 Foodmaker decided to concentrate its efforts on the western and southwestern United States, and it sold or closed its more than 200 Jack in the Box outlets in the eastern and midwestern parts of the country.

Needing to shift gears to effect a turnaround, Food-maker management began the following decade on an explosive note when the chain in 1980 signaled a dramatic shift in marketing strategy by blowing up its symbol, the jack-in-the-box clown, in television commercials.

Another important change in this period came in 1982, when Foodmaker discontinued its San Diego-based commissary and food-manufacturing activities.

By 1987 sales reached $655 million, the chain boasted 897 restaurants, and Foodmaker went public.

In 1990 the 1,000th Jack in the Box unit was opened in Yorba Linda, California, marking the end of a ten-year period that saw the chain emerge from the formidable shadow cast by McDonald’s and establish a distinct image.

Once again, Foodmaker went public, with a 1992 initial public offering of 17.2 million shares (at $15 per share) raising about $258 million, which was earmarked to fund an ongoing expansion of the firm’s two chains.

Not surprisingly, sales and performance levels enjoyed by Jack in the Box before 1993 continued to elude the chain, causing considerable concern for the future.

The company returned to the black in the second half of fiscal 1995, although full-year results showed a $69 million loss, much of which stemmed from a $57.2 million write-down of its stake in FRI. Foodmaker divested this stake late in 1995.

Longtime company CEO Jack Goodall retired from that position in April 1996 but remained Foodmaker chairman. It also put the E. coli tragedy farther behind it in early 1998 by reaching a settlement with the Vons Companies, its main meat processor prior to the outbreak.

The company nevertheless continued to open up new outlets, though fewer than in previous years, including its first ones in a fourth southeastern market, Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina, which debuted in 2001.

Attempting to reignite growth, the chain in 2002 launched a major promotional initiative called “Our Best Burgers Ever” that centered around an upgrade of its core sandwich line with better ingredients, improved procedures, and new packaging.

Entrée salads and what was thought to be the fast-food industry’s first turkey burger successfully debuted in 2003, and two years later a very popular line of sandwiches featuring ciabatta bread was introduced.

In 2004, the company also opened another line of restaurants called JBX Grill, whose menu is more upscale and of higher quality.

Under its new corporate parent, the largely franchised Qdoba chain was rapidly expanded to more than 200 units by the end of 2005, when systemwide sales reached approximately $220 million.

For fiscal 2007, 40 to 45 new Jack in the Box units were slated to open, while the Qdoba chain continued to expand at a more rapid clip, with 80 to 90 new units planned.

At their annual meeting in July 2018, the National Jack in the Box Franchisee Association, which represents the owners of about 2,000 of the chain's 2,240 restaurants, voted "no confidence" in the company's chief executive officer, Leonard "Lenny" Comma, and called for him to resign.

On December 6, 2021, Jack in the Box announced that it was acquiring Del Taco for $12.51 per share.