timber frame pergola

Coming to Work With a Purpose

"It doesn’t matter what religion you belong to, true service is always a component of that. And instead of giving lip service we are going to do something that enables all of the crew, associates, and staff to wake up in the morning, and come to work with a purpose." Jim —Owner of TruReligion Pancake & Steakhouse

Second Chances with Jim, Owner of TruReligion Pancake & Steakhouse

Jim creates second chances. Timber pergola kit set up for outdoor breakfast dining. True service is true religion.

We’re taking one homeless person, uh, or vet, or even a felon from our prisons and our streets, because they are ours. It’s pathetic in Salt lake City when you see how dire the circumstances become.

We take that individual who has been vetted through LDS social services, Catholic outreach, Veterans Associations and other organizations. And we get them an apartment. We pay the rent. We pay the utilities and we give them a bike or if its within a mile of this, so they can walk. They can do whatever they want.

We pay them a living wage. And so when they come here they can actually stay some cash. They are starting out at zero And then we are partnering with UVU. We’re going to put them through a culinary program.

light post timbervolt

Second Chances

When they get their AOS degree, and that is their associates of occupational studies They work here three days a week. They are going to night school and everyone loves their story and they want to take them under their wings and truly ministered to them and make sure they have everything opportunity to succeed. So we call it second chances.

When we find an individual who is hungry and thirsting for that second chance, we are not going to just through a few coins at them —you know, and call it good and feel good about it, you know. Even though, that’s good. I like doing that, too. But we’re going to take it to a whole different level.

Jim creates second chances. Timber pergola kit set up for outdoor breakfast dining. True service is true religion.

Becoming Part Owner

And when they graduate, then they are in line to becoming an assistant manager. And then when they are an assistant manager, then they are in line to becoming an owner manager.

And what I love about these breakfast houses, we’ve done it for three generations. Me personally, for three and a half decades. And, uh these well run breakfast house each owns 20% of the net profit, in other words, they are owners. And it puts a whole different twist on how they work and how they greet people, you know, and how the business is run.

And in our other wall going into the kitchen there are 4 other letters Q,   S,  C,  C.  It looks like roman numerals. I have been passed down from my mother, my grandmother, my dad, my brother, the secrets of running a well run business, in any business. That “Q” stands for quality. We always strive to buy amazing food stuffs. And everything we purchase.

lattice panels pergola kit

Quality

It is mind boggling how much of it is local. Our salt comes from Manti. 
Our eggs come from this very valley. We get our cured bacon from a family that has been doing it for over a century up in Salt Lake City. And then, from creameries up in Logan. And also in Heber, we’re getting our sweet cream butter and also our cheeses. And we are also buying our chilies from a local family that is three generations out of Mexico that is growing their chilies here —and that’s pretty amazing. And uh, even our coffee —we have a wonderful little family— three generation coffee growers out of the Dominican Republic. Their family lives here. They are all packed in 100 pound bags of green beans. They roast them. They pack them. We buy them because they live here. So, we keep our money here with small business people.

Service

So, we have quality, we have service. That’s another component. It’s not just table side service but it’s also service to the community. And this is our home. When people come here we want to be able to feel this is a community place with classic feel, with a classic breakfast. 
And that's fun.

"Let us all choose to be the leaders we wished we had." —Simon Sinek

pancake and steakhouse pulpit

Jim and Debbie are creating second chances.

Cleanliness

And then we also have cleanliness. How many times have YOU gone gone to the restroom and you will come back and, ‘Oh, the toilet is clogged up. There is no paper towels —I wonder what the kitchen looks like?'

Well, our number one goal is we want to get best of state like everybody else. But We want a new category, and that is the cleanest, most well-appointed bathrooms. I want people to know that our restrooms are spotless. And we leave our kitchen open so people can look in my kitchen and see it is spotless, also. That is meaningful.

pergola dining out

Pavilion kit cover for breakfast outdoors dining. #OutdoorDiningPavilion

Consistency

And so we have Q, S, C — Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and the last one font C, is Consistency.

How many times have you gone into a restaurant and had a great experience and go back and something has changed? And that food that you got is different and you’re going, “Huh, all right, I’ll give them one more chance and then if they screw up on that, I’m done.”

We want to make sure we maintain that consistency.

And We to take things to a different level. Instead of meaningless "Frick and Frack" hanging on the walls. We have one of the finest landscape photographers in the State of Utah. He’s going to turn the walls into a gallery. It’s going to be like an art gallery. It's going to be nothing but scapes of Utah. So, when people come in they are going to be blown away. And they are going to see, ‘Wow, where is that?’ and they’re going to be like, “Well, that’s Padre Bay. You’ve never been there? Wow, how do you live so long. I mean seriously, how do you live so long? And then, ‘Where’s that?’ And “Where’s that?” And all of his photos are and are beyond amazing really evoke amazing emotion.

Quality, service, cleanliness and consistency —that is how we do it. Why we do it is: True service is true religion.

Why Did We Pick Western Timber Frame?

And why did we pick Western Timber Frame?

Because they are Best of State. That’s the first thing I noticed. I respect that.

best of state award metals

You know when they have that many gold metals I know they are doing something right.

And when I saw the quality of their products, their guarantees, I was mesmerized by that. And 
I wanted to have one of the best Alfresco dining places of any place I’ve seen in the State. And when we get done with this is will probably be one of the better ones. It’s totally protected from wind and elements. It’s very tastefully appointed. I needed a great structure and we have it.

outdoor dining people

#OutdoorDiningCover Timber pergola kit set up for outdoor breakfast dining. True service is true religion.

When the guys from Western Timber Frame showed up to install this amazing timber frame pavilion, I said, “How long is it going to take you to build this, like a week?’

And they said, “No, we’ll probably have this done like this afternoon.”

And I said, ‘Well, I’ll buy you guys breakfast, lunch and dinner if you get it done in a day.’

It was amazing —they started at like 7 o’clock in the morning and six o’clock that night THIS SUPER STRUCTURE was up.

THAT'S AMAZING!

And, so I like dealing with local businesses and business that know what they are doing. Hopefully, I can follow in Western Timber Frame’s footsteps because they know what they are doing.

Jim spread his arms wide and shouted, “Voilà!”

timber frame pergola

Timber pavilion kit covers an for outdoor dining breakfast area. True service is true religion.

We have a table out there that twas used by the Salt Lake Tribune. It was reserved for them everyday for almost 60 years, so you can imagine what kind of stories were told at that table as they were discussing over lunch the history and happenings of Utah. And we have a really famous forger and murderer who masterminded his, you know, skulduggery —we call it the Darth Vader table. So, if you feel like you need to break up with your boyfriend or girlfriend and have some bad karma, dark karma, we have your table.

pancake steakhouse copper

And you know apostles, prophets, power brokers, you know and big business owners, common folks like you and I, have used those tables since 1916 and everything I have in my restaurant are in the pictures from the 30s. And its all out there and you can just take one look.

So, All of this stuff has survived since world war one, The Roaring 20s, The Great Depression —From World War I or World War II, all the way up to this day. We’ve been able to do a major restoration and maybe this stuff will last another century and another 14 and 1/2 million people.

Pavilion kit cover for breakfast outdoors dining. #OutdoorDiningPavilion

And so when people come in they are going to notice right off the bat, there is something different, when they see what we’ve done. And when you come in here it does have a different feel to it.

#OutdoorDiningCover Timber pergola kit set up for outdoor breakfast dining. True service is true religion.

Learn more about the vision of Jim and Debbie, owners of TruReligion Pancake and Steakhouse. Then stop by and enjoy an incredibly good meal, stellar company, with an historical environment!

Utah Stories: Western Timber Frame

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