Kelly Wolff has had a busy year.

In February 2007, Wolff and her sister were approved to open a Jimmy John’s gourmet sandwich franchise. The two started looking across the nation to find home for their business. They had run franchises before, including a tea shop and a Starbucks in their hometown of Minneapolis. Wolff went to the University of Puget Sound and lived in Tacoma until the mid-’90s, so why not here?

She moved here last Labor Day to start work on the shop – which opened about three weeks ago in a strip mall next to the Red Robin on Tacoma Mall Boulevard. Since then, she and her 25-person staff have been preparing simple sandwiches faster than she could imagine.

Business is going well, she said, but she appeared to be most excited about coming back and working in her second home, after spending 14 years in her first.

Why did you pick this franchise in this city?

I am an alum from the University of Puget Sound and was born and raised in Minneapolis. So I actually came out here in 1986 and fell in love with the area. I worked for Starbucks and worked for a European bread baker and a tea company. I have always been in food and beverage.

My sister and I had a business previously, and we wanted to do it again. When we were thinking of what to do, we fell in love with the Jimmy John’s brand because it’s so fun and it’s so straightforward.

When we were looking at businesses to do, we just fell in love with the brand and the concept and the freshness.

It sold itself on us. It found me.

Why did you decide to open a franchise instead of starting your own business?

I have been involved with other franchises – franchises that didn’t do anything for you. Jimmy John’s started 25 years ago and Jimmy actually built the company from the ground up. Their whole focus is on franchising. They have checklists and support people, and I can’t believe how many people came out here to hold my hand and make it easy.

You can never have even had a job before, open a franchise, and from their training and their checklist, you would be ready to open the door after seven weeks of training.

There’s so much risk when you come up with an idea. You could have the next hot thing or you can close your door in a month. It’s just really nice having somebody who has been successful for 25 years that you’re just following their game plan, as opposed to reinventing the wheel yourself.

Do you feel franchises take business away from locally owned businesses?

Take Starbucks, for example, right now. A lot of mom-and-pops are doing really well, and Starbucks is going through a little bit of difficulty. I don’t think we’re pushing out a lot of mom-and-pops. I don’t really know of a lot of mom-and-pop sandwich places, and they tend to be more delish. Our focus more is on just sandwiches. You can’t get salad, you can’t get soup, we don’t have hot sandwiches.

I think franchises are a good thing because they are consistent. People know what to get, people know what to expect. It forces everybody to put their best foot forward. And I think competition is a good thing – I don’t think it’s negative at all. It’s really up to the consumer to make that decision, who they are going to support.

Do you ever eat at competitors such as Subway or Quiznos?

Obviously I’ve been to the competitors before … to me, everything else is done pre-sliced. The lettuce is pre-shredded. It’s so different. That’s why a lot of people try it and that’s why they’re here four days a week.

I think the competitors are great. When my Jimmy John’s was being built, I’d go to the competitors for a sandwich.

How has business been since opening?

It’s been awesome. It’s really fun. I’d say for 95 percent of customers, it’s their first time in. And there’s that 5 percent that’s like, “Oh my God, Jimmy John’s!” We’ve had customers say they’d drive from Olympia to Seattle just to go to Jimmy John’s and now they’re like, “We only have to drive to Tacoma.”

It makes me feel really good and the staff loves, loves, loves working here, and that’s exciting. They’re just so happy to be a part of this. We don’t really take ourselves too seriously.

What have some of the struggles been?

Oh my gosh, there hasn’t been any. I have been blown away, I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall and wait for something to happen. I thought hiring would be terrible. I received over 200 applications, we interviewed 90 people. That was the biggest surprise. I kept thinking we’d get a delay by the health department and the inspections and the permit process and that would delay the opening. (But) no.

The construction company we used built the Seattle stores so this was like their sixth or seventh build-out, and I kept thinking they would have something happen.

Or, Jimmy John’s has to actually come out and inspect it. I thought they would find something to delay the opening. No. I keep waiting for something to happen and it hasn’t happened at all.

What’s the best part about working here?

I was born and raised in Minneapolis. I had never been to Seattle and I decided that this was where I was going to college. I came out in 1986 and fell in love with the place. I left in ’94 with Starbucks, I opened the Minneapolis market for Starbucks.

When we were looking for where to do Jimmy John’s we wanted a place we kind of knew because how do you pick real estate in a place you’ve never ever lived? And we were like, “Tacoma!” So I moved from Minneapolis to here last Labor Day. So it’s really exciting to be back here. I was gone 14 years, and a lot of things have changed and a lot of things have not. Like downtown – I don’t recognize it. It’s kind of fun to be back and have local ties here.

Brian Everstine: 253-597-8374

blogs.thenewstribune.com/business

Jimmy John’s

Address: 4027 Tacoma Mall Blvd.

Company: Opened 15 years ago by Jimmy John Liautaud. Headquarters in Champaign, Ill.

Stores: About 800 franchises across the nation. Six are in Seattle, and this is the first one in Tacoma or the South Sound.

Opened: About three weeks ago

Employees: 25

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week

Sources: The company provides meats to franchises, but local owner Kelly Wolff said she uses locally grown produce.