LIVE OAK (MPG) – A crowd of about 100 gathered on April 7 for the grand opening of Jack in the Box at 10045 Live Oak Blvd., Live Oak.

Festivities began at 11 a.m. where police, firefighters, residents, city officials, employees and construction personnel were all present.

Tull Construction of Yuba City built the restaurant beginning in June 2024. Tull Construction President Jesse Tull at the grand opening event described some of the challenges that slowed the building process.

“Utilities were expensive and problematic,” Tull said. 

Attendees were each given a chance to spin a wheel to determine which door prize they would receive. There were T-shirts, key chains, cups, hats and lanyards. 

Wendy Morgan, a training manager for Jack in the Box, was running the door prize give-away. Morgan, who lives in Marysville, started with Jack in the Box in 1989 as her first job. She has worked with the owners of the Live Oak Jack in the Box since 2010.

Partners Dharmesh Patel and Anil Yadav are the franchise owners. The Live Oak store marks the 241st Jack in the Box franchise for Yadav and the 17th for Patel. 

Yadav began working for Jack in the Box in 1984 as a teenager. Within a year and a half, he was promoted from fry cook to assistant manager and eventually manager. Although Yadav studied engineering at San Jose State, he left that field for the restaurant industry. In 1989, Yadav said he “took the risk” and bought his first Jack in the Box franchise.

Patel became Yadav’s partner in 2004. 

Yadav offered this advice, “Do the right thing, keep working hard and you’ll have success. There is no substitute for hard work. It’s been fun, painful but fun! We have an amazing team. It has been a great journey.”

After the ribbon cutting, all guests were treated to a complimentary by the new Jack in the Box.