How Unpaid Taxes Temporarily Closed Down 70 California Jack In The Box Locations
Jack in the Box is a one-of-a-kind fast-food restaurant. Sure, they serve up the usual fare of cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, and fries, but this fast food chain has a smorgasbord of several other items, including churros, tacos, teriyaki bowls, egg rolls, and fajita pitas. And let's not leave out the Jack in the Box secret menu. The restaurant also has one of the most distinctive mascots out there, a round-headed clown named Jack.
But while Jack in the Box makes a statement with both its menu and mascot, it also has a history of making the headlines, in some ways more embarrassing than others. Back in 2009, the chain seemed to be so busy stuffing delicious tacos in its California locations that it forgot to do one very important task, resulting in the temporary closing of 70 locations in central and northern California. Fear not though, fans of Jack, the issue was resolved in a matter of days and the locations kept ticking right along as if nothing had happened.
One Jack in the Box franchise owner forgot to pay taxes
Running a restaurant isn't all frying burgers, coming up with crazy culinary creations that'll appeal to the hungry masses, and a killer marketing plan. You've got to clean the floors and scrub out the kitchen every day, place orders for the many ingredients needed to bring the menu to life, and you've got to run the delicate balance of staff shifts and payroll. Another thing you need to do – pay taxes.
And that's exactly what Jack in the Box forgot to do for many of its California locations back in 2009. The franchises were owned by a man named Abe Alizadeh, a prominent business developer in California. Alizadeh owed $1.5 million in unpaid California taxes, a little over $5,000 of which was due for his Jack in the Box franchises. The result was that Jack in the Box was forced to close 70 of its locations in central and northern California. The restaurants were closed for two days before the taxes were repaid (Via The Union).
This event, however, isn't the real reason Jack in the Box almost went bankrupt.