By TORY N. PARISH
Observer Dispatch January 2006

UTICA – Keeping up with the Joneses has taken on a new meaning at a new local restaurant specializing in Mexican food.

Famous Joneses – from Tom to Star – all appear at BURRITO JONZ, at least on the menu, albeit spelled a little differently.

The restaurant opened on December 5th, 2005 on the second floor of the Adirondack Bank Building on Genesee Street. The creator and founder John Winter hopes the restaurant will be the first of many.

“This is a small start-up satellite kind of place to just get my feet wet. I want to franchise the concept” Winter said.

Like many downtown restaurants, BURRITO JONZ is open weekdays to catch office workers.

“I have never been disappointed, no matter what I ate.” Said Ken Kogut, a financial aid consultant at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY who has visited the restaurant several times.

BURRITO JONZ was projecting the movie “ The Big Lebowski ” on a huge wall Wednesday afternoon.

And while pop culture references abound in fast-casual Moe's Southwest Grill, where menu items reference the television series “Seinfeld”, BURRITO JONZ menu features the famous and not so-famous Joneses: the Star Jonz is a chicken quesadilla, the Tom Jonz is a beef burrito, and the Jim Jonz Special is a daring lunch special that comes with grape kool-aid!

With higher prices than traditional fast-food restaurants, fast-casual restaurants also tend not to be child-friendly, said Joe Pawlak, vice president of Technomic, a Chicago based food industry research firm.

“When you're sitting there at your computer, looking at your stocks, you don't want to hear a bunch of screaming kids in the background,” Pawlak said.

Unlike the other fast-casual restaurants, BURRITO JONZ does feature a kids menu where everything is $2.99 which includes a drink.

And while many analysts thought the segment would cater to baby-boomers, who traditionally have more disposable income, younger adults have been the clientele more often drawn to the fast-casual restaurants.

Regardless of its clientele, BURRITO JONZ sees success and franchise expansion on the horizon.

“But you must do it right” John Winter said.

Burrito Jonz Featured on National TV

By LARISSA O. PADDEN
Observer-Dispatch

UTICA — Local Mexican restaurant BURRITO JONZ recently was featured on CNBC. 

John Winter, the creator and owner of Burrito Jonz, was on the television show “ The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch ” Tuesday night on CNBC. 

“I wrote them an email, not thinking they would really answer, but they called me back,” Winter said. “They told me they liked my logo, the tagline, How's it feel to want, and the business' name, BURRITO JONZ , and that they were going to put me on the tv show.” 

Winter appeared on the segment of the CNBC show “ The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch ” called “ The Million Dollar Question ”, in which he got to show his restaurant's logo and tagline: “How's it feel to want?” 

The name BURRITO JONZ was a play on words, Winter said. 

“It came from 1970's slang,” Winter said. “Like when your jonzing for something, you're yearning for it, you crave and want it, you really really need it.” 

The television exposure can only help the restaurant's business, which already has been good since it opened Jan. 2nd 2008 at 470 French Road in South Utica, NY, Winter said. The restaurant previously was located in the Adirondack Bank Building at 185 Genesee Street .

“There's also this part of the show called “The Big Idea Effect” where they check back in and see how things have been going,” Winter said. “They've already told me they'd like to check back with me in six months or so.” 

The restaurants hours are 11:00a.m. to 8:30p.m. Seven days a week. 

For information, call 732-BONG (2664) or visit www.burritojonz.com.