04/10/2026
Let’s turn yesterday‘s s**t show, into something positive!
There was a little note that was left this morning by a customer and it got me thinking. This is a long one, and going to get personal, so bare with me & read to the end.
After reading all of the negative comments until 1am, about not only my business, but me as a person. Then waking up at 6am & starting again. That really does something to someone. Especially when you know that 90% of them are not true, or they are old news, from years ago.
I don’t know if y’all know this, but people change. You can ask any of my employees & family, that I have definitely changed as a person, over the last five + years. I was a depressed, miserable person, until probably 2020. For years I would work & then go home & go to bed. No social life, a failing marriage to a wonderful guy, my husband & in-laws had to take my children everywhere. I missed absolutely everything in their life. In 2017 I lost my grandmother, the matriarch to our family & to Jumbos. She was so beautiful & absolutely loved me unconditionally to the end. In 2018 I ended my marriage. At this point I weighed 218lbs. I was miserable!
Fast forward to Covid 2020, life in our industry changed. It broke so many! I wasn’t going to allow that. I was working 90 hours a week at times. We of course had to layoff part of our staff, but the ones that stayed, worked just as much as I did. I did not own Jumbos yet, just ran it for my parents. It wasn’t easy, but we came out on top.
Many of you, if you’re any type of regular, you know Dave. If you’ve been to the food truck, he has cooked your breakfast. He loves to pour coffee and talk to the customers. He has made some amazing friendships through Jumbos after moving here to support me full-time in this business. He was literally my saving grace. He is known around town as the guy from Jumbos.
In 2024 I bought Jumbos from my parents, after running it full time for 8 years. People got confused, because they always thought I had already owned it, so then they thought I sold it. Non regulars or newcomers sometimes thought that I was Lisa, they still do, I get called it daily. There are people that think other long time staff members are Heidi. It’s definitely a confusing dynamic down there with so many long time staff & family.
What also doesn’t help, is that after running Jumbos & working there for 12+ years at over 200lbs, being miserable and depressed. I’m now 121lbs & happier in my life than I’ve ever been. Literally I’m almost half the person I was. People don’t recognize me. Literally, I’ve been asked numerous times over the last year, if I’m new, by people who have come in over the years.
The whole point here; Things have changed, times have changed, people have changed, the world has changed, and I have changed.
On another note, let’s address all of the negative comments & 1 ⭐️ reviews left yesterday. The intent behind leaving a one star review, is to demolish a small business. To defame them. To slander them. To end them. There is simply no other reason!
What is sad is, is what small businesses do for our community, including myself. The endless donations that are made to the baseball teams, the college, the people that reach out for their gifts for employees, the make a wish that we do with Costco every year, feeding the volunteers at the field of heroes over Memorial Day, and etc…
Not only that, but the things that I do for my staff. The helping them with buying a car, getting into an apartment, paying unexpected expenses, they weren’t planning for. The free meals I feed them daily, the weeks paid vacation, that is uncommon in our industry, the baby showers, the birthday gifts, and the Christmas gifts. The Christmas parties & the summer family pool parties. I employ over 20 individuals, in the summer it’s even more.
Your 1 ⭐️review aims at ending all of that. Your 1 ⭐️reviews aims at putting 20+ individuals unemployed.
So back to point of this whole post… the $.42!!
I have this app on my phone, that I can look at, and it tells me our daily numbers, my labor cost, how many people we served and so forth. In the bottom corner of this little report has the amount of people that ordered food. We see upwards of 8,000 people a month most months.
💸Jumbos is going to donate $.42 for every person that comes in our business in the month of April to a charity/organization that you all choose. That means the more customers, the more donated 🥳
So in the comments, please tell me your pick & at the end of the month, we will put them in to a randomizer app & choose who to donate to.
I have included some random pictures over the years for those of you who might be confused who I am.
Nice to meet you, I am Heidi & I own Jumbos 😘
