🠈 Shakey's Pizza 🠊
Shakey's Pizza
Shakey's is a pizza chain that grew large and shrank. The US chain is owned by The Jacmar Companies which is a California based food distributor. Jacmar owns the domain shakeys.com. The Asian franchise group is owned by Inno-Pacific Holdings. They have domains such as shakeyspizza.ph
The company was founded by Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson and “Big Ed” Plummer in 1954. Shakey Johnson had contracted malaria during the Second World War and developed the shakes. Shakey began the tradition of playing Dixie-Land Jazz at the restaurants.
The company was acquired by a company called Colorado Milling and Elevator Co. that had been acquired by William White. White engaged in numerous buyouts including Great Western Sugar. The merged company (Great Western United Corporation) failed after deregulation of sugar led to a drop in prices.
Billionaires from the Hunt dynasty bought Great Western in the 1970s. The Hunt brothers were considered the richest men in America. They made an attempt at cornering the silver market, driving the price for $8 per ounce to $50 per ounce.
In an unprecedented move Paul Volcker of the Federal Reserve and the US Commodities Futures and Trading Commission changed margin rules for trading in silver. This caused the price to crash back to $10 per ounce.
The Hunt brothers were forced into bankruptcy with the IRS taking control of most of their assets.
A firm in Hong Kong bought Shakey's. The Hong Kong firm let the US chain flounder while expanding the Asian chain.
The largest franchise in the United States was a food distributor called Jacmar. Jacmar bought US rights and continues to provide pizza and entertainment on the West Coast.
Corporate History
This is the corporate history presented as a list.
- 1954: Sherwood “Shakey” Johnson and “Big Ed” Plummer opened the first Shakey’s pizza parlor in Sacramento, Ca.
- 1956: Shakey's expanded to Portland, Oregon.
- 1957: Shakey's began selling franchises.
- 1964: Jacmar Companies opened its first Shakey's franchise.
Early History of Jacmar
- 1960: William H. “Bill” Tilley created Jacmar Sales selling glassware and sundries.
- 1967: Colorado Milling and Elevator Company (CME) acquired Johnson's stake in the business for $3 million.
- 1968: Plummer sold his stake for $9 million.
- 1974: Hunt Resources International acquired CME.
- 1975: Shakey’s expanded to Asia.
- 1980: The Hunt Brothers attempted to corner the silver market. This failed and forced the Hunts into bankruptcy. Apparently, the IRS seized Hunt's assets in the bankruptcy proceedings.
- 1989: Inno-Pacific Holdings, Inc., based in Singapore, acquired Shakey's
- 2000: Jacmar acquired a majority stake in Chicago Pizza & Brewery Company..
- 2002: Jacmar acquired Shakey’s U.S. operations from Inno-Pacific Holdings.
- 2004: Jacmar acquired additional rights as franchises threatened INNO with lawsuits.
References:
- Encyclopedia.com - Jacmar Companies (Drawn 5/3/2019)
- Pizza Marketplace (Drawn 5/5/2019)
- Colorado Encyclopedia - Sugar Beet Industry (Drawn 11/11/2019) 2458610
Directory Listings:
- Internet Rivers - Pizza Chains: Shakey's Pizza