Photograph by George Sakkestad
Matthew Petty, manager of Johnny Rockets in Westgate Shopping Center, serves up an ice cream malt and suggests a 5-cent play on the jukebox.
By Suzanne Cristallo
It is bright and white. The upholstery is red. The hamburgers are "original," and the music is jukebox. It's Johnny Rockets--a recently opened cafe in Westgate mall with a 1940s theme, serving what anyone over 50 will remember as part of the "good times."
"Oh, Johnny, Oh, Johnny, how you can love ... "
Food from the good times means a five-ounce hamburger smothered in "a whole lot of produce," a16-ounce, Dairy Gold ice cream malt in a tin shaker and a side of American fries. Or it could be a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of chili, topped off with apple pie a la mode and maybe a cherry Coke.
"Earth Angel, Earth Angel, will you be mine ... "
Manager Matthew Petty, 21, says the 40 employees of the month-old cafe embrace "a different frame of mind." The spotlessly clean surroundings and the "above and beyond friendliness" of the staff come as a result of each employee viewing every part of the operation as part of his or her job.
"We don't think, 'It's not my job,' when we spot a loose screw in a booth. We fix it right now," Petty explains. "It's not the boss checking each of us out. It's each employee checking on the others and backing them up."
The philosophy pervades the three stores run by the franchisee, J.R.West, whose two other locations in San Jose and Milpitas are the first of more openings planned over the next few years. There are franchises in 21 other states, and in international locations as far away as Kuwait and Australia.
Each booth in the cafe sports a restored 1940s vintage jukebox player. For a nickle a song, customers may get more than they bargained for. A Frank Sinatra selection, "My Kind of Town," will prompt the staff to put down the trays and start to dance--with each other or willing customers.
"It's a fun place to work," laughs new employee Jeremy Phillips, 21. "The theme, the customers, the whole atmosphere."
Johnny Rockets, Westgate Shopping Center, 1600 Saratoga Ave., San Jose. Open Sun.-Thu., 11 a.m.- 11 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-midnight. 379-1144.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 9, 1996.
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