Rapid River’s Jack’s Restaurant has ‘the best crew on the planet’
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EDITOR NOTE: The Daily Press will be featuring a series of articles on local businesses, highlighting their history and what makes them unique. The series will run on a regular basis in the Daily Press.
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RAPID RIVER -- The success of Jack's Restaurant, with the classic vertical "EAT" sign at the corner of US 2 and South Main Street in the small town of Rapid River, is owed mainly to its traditional, homestyle cooking as well as the staff, who co-owner Bobbi Ryan referred to as "the best crew on the planet."
The previous owner, John Miller, is the grandson of the titular Jack himself, who opened the restaurant in 1943. What is now enclosed under one roof at Jack's were three original buildings -- the house in which the Miller family lived (now the rear dining room), the cafe and kitchen, and a cabin (now the bakery).
Apart from the obvious, little has changed over time. Bonnie, the breakfast cook, has been working at Jack's for 47 years and said that the menu is "basically, pretty much the same."
As is the case for many businesses in the Upper Peninsula, this is the busiest time of year at Jack's due to tourism -- Ryan says they're most bustling at the opening of walleye season and don't slow down until mid-December -- but Jack's is open and beloved year-round.
The eatery changed hands about 10 years ago. Before purchasing the restaurant from John, Bobbi had worked there part-time.
"The transition went smooth," said Lori Curtis, who started working at Jack's under the Millers' ownership. "It was good because Bobbi already worked here. Almost everything here is homemade, just like it was."
Soups, cinnamon rolls, pecan rolls, cookies, several types of bread, hand-pattied burgers, mashed potatoes, and more are made from scratch right at Jack's. "We're not doing the convenient stuff that most folks are," Ryan said.
Bobbi has added some barbecue and smoked meats. The extent of that personal passion is also evidenced in the popularity of the Brisket Barn food truck, which she also owns, and in the barbecue competition Jack's runs in the park on Memorial Day.
At one point in the past, said Ryan, the restaurant was so short-handed that they had to utilize a very limited menu. One item that got temporarily axed was mashed potatoes. Bobbi was touched by how supportive and understanding the community was at the time, but noted that the outcry for mashed potatoes was such that she heard it across state lines.
Bobbi said that she was in a parking lot in Marinette, Wis., when someone hollered, "Hey, when are you bringing the mashed potatoes back?" Her response was, "We are not even in Michigan; you can not talk to me about mashed potatoes!"
Fortunately for that customer and the rest, operations are back in full swing, with the most popular options being the reuben sandwich, the Friday night fish fry, and Sunday dinners. Breakfasts are also big for both locals and visitors camping nearby.
Bobbi and co-owner Cynthia Ivy, who handles the paperwork side of Jack's Restaurant, now have a staff they trust to handle even the busiest days. New hires, especially young ones, are pushed until trained well. "If it's their first job -- not all of them are gonna stay, I know that, and that's okay -- I want their next boss to be like, 'where did you get your work ethic from?'" She said she's gotten calls confirming such scenarios more than once.
Such a high-performing staff allows Bobbi to handle other community activities. In addition the restaurant and food truck, she organizes Lights in the Park (a Christmastime event that began during COVID and has grown beyond expectations), started the town Farmers Market (which has since been taken over by Rick Bricker) and the Rapid River Business Association, and is currently trying to get Ford Motor Company to come to Rapid River -- because of the town's history with Ford, she hopes Rapid may be eligible for a grant that would allow for downtown revamping.
Whether she is physically at the restaurant or not, Bobbi said, she expects people coming in to Jack's to be treated like guests in her home.
She stated proudly, "I think that sticking with tradition is what's going to keep us going."