May 17, 2017

Meet Darrin Straughan of James Coney Island Grill

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Darrin Straughan.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Darrin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Always enjoyed restaurants and the business of restaurants. When I went into restaurants as a kid, which was not very often, I was always observing what the restaurant employees were doing. Received a BS in Accounting for the University of Houston Downtown. First job out of college was as a Financial Auditor with Arthur Andersen & Co. I purposing worked my way into their Consumer Products Division and soon I was performing financial audits of Restaurants and Hotels. Went to work as the Controller for one of my clients which was Texas Tumbleweed Restaurants. They were a very successful steak house chain of the 70’s and 80’s. Hung up my accounting calculator and moved into restaurant operations with the Kettle Restaurant Chain.

Spending 7 years with Kettle Restaurants I worked in operations, franchise and finally as the first ever Director of Marketing of the chain. All these years were just a personal self-cross training so I might be able to reach my goal of being in charge of a restaurant brand.

As a native Houstonian, I was always in love with James Coney Island. I learned of the concept’s troubles in the late 80’s and wanted to get involved to help save the concept. I contacted the group of local businessmen who purchased the company out of bankruptcy and they hired me in September of 1993. Thus, began my journey with this iconic Houston brand.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like anything worth doing this journey has had many challenges. In 1993, the brand was struggling with a shrinking customer base. Our facilities had been neglected for years. Menu items that we sold was very limited to just a few items. Our cleanliness, customer service and overall operational systems was well below the standards we wanted. So, we went to work with our Revitalization Program. We had great success in the rest of the 90’s. By 2000 most people that we were a relevant, polished, sophisticated regional if not national restaurant chain. We all worked a lot of hours and days. It was fun, challenging and full of energy.

As of today, the restaurant landscape has been changing at warp speed. We are challenged again as to how to stay relevant with our customers with our menu, service and atmosphere. We are currently working on that with our brand refresh and relaunching as JCI Grill.

James Coney Island Grill – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our legacy is our Greek style hot dog know as a “Coney”. Hand sliced steamed special recipe bun. Special recipe grilled wiener. Mustard. Greek style “Coney Sauce”. Coney Sauce and a Greek style of chili sauce. Not a type of chili you would eat a bowl of. Topped with our specially prepped minced onions. I like mine topped off with Cheese Whiz as well.

Our Frito Pies and out bowls of Chili are fantastic. What legends are made of.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Not really a moment. I am proud of our long-standing employees whom I have worked with for the past 24 years.

I joined the JCI family when the concept was 70 years old. This year the concept turns 94! I am proud that together we have worked hard and have been able to keep JCI relevant, involved in our community and still striving to improve.

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