At San Diego State University, students who majored in marketing and got a job at Jack in the Box “made it,” recalls Anna Gabele, vice president of product marketing and culinary innovation. She calls the brand a local celebrity, a nod to the chain’s San Diego origins. It has now grown into a leading national quick-service restaurant, ending 2023 with just under 2,200 stores.
She didn’t start off her post-college career with Jack. Instead, she delved into the consumer electronics and industrial storage space. “I don’t know if I imagined myself working for Jack’s at first, and it’s not where I started after college, but it was exciting to end up here,” Gabele says.
Before her foray into hospitality, Gabele’s research and development teams comprised electrical engineers and technological manufacturers, which admittedly she knew nothing about. However, she learned from them throughout her decade-long tenure. When applying for Jack, the quick-service industry felt intimidating… until the vice president of marketing told her, “It’s just burgers and fries, you’ll figure it out.”
“Thinking about it in terms of hamburgers and fries took away some of the fears I had because everybody has taste buds and eats, so I viewed it as a fun industry to dive into,” Gabele adds. “Eating and food is so emotional, and people can be passionate about it. I was intimidated at first, but I was also very excited.”
Gabele started as a senior manager of strategic initiatives in 2017, climbing up the ranks to director of product marketing in 2018 and eventually to her current role in November 2020. At almost eight years with the brand, a typical day in her life is still unpredictable. But she says this is what she loves most about working for Jack.
“The beauty of Jack in the Box is the idea that we’re not a giant brand, but we’re not small either. We can be nimble in our marketing practices and every day is a puzzle,” Gabele says. “A conversation may start in the morning because somebody on the team saw a TikTok and now we’re diving into something we didn’t expect to be working on. I love the level of spontaneity in this role.”
She points toward the hyper-competitive nature of restaurant marketing and the ever-shifting consumer tastes driving product innovation forward. Gabele is the finger on the pulse of what’s trending in quick service. For example, a recent trend tour in Miami led to the creation of the Smashed Jack, which sold out in two weeks with no paid media promotion. Over 70,000 burgers were sold on the first day, with one person ordering 27 on the same ticket.
“The development of the Smashed Jack was rooted in creating something we saw our guests wanting and not being able to get through a drive-thru. We saw lines around the block in Miami for smash-style burgers,” Gabele explains. “By the time Jack in the Box launched the Smashed Jack, guests came naturally because they were already telling us what they wanted.”
With an 80-plus item menu spanning several food categories, continuously creating innovative products that connect with guests is a challenge Gabele welcomes. In discussing her greatest successes at Jack, she says it would be taking what she knew from a completely different industry and applying it through a quick-service lens.
“The way we design our menu board and the customer journey, as far as creating items and appealing promotions, has been a big success for us as a brand,” Gabele says. “It’s a strategy I learned in other industries and brought to Jack in the Box when I started.”
It starts with creating products guests are talking about and seeing what’s trending outside of the industry. Then the investigation process begins through social media channels or trend tours such as the one in Miami. Specifically, Gabele drives connections with guests by creating a journey beyond hooking them with a compelling offer or trendy new item.
“We’re known for our crave-worthiness and variety, but it doesn’t stop there. We carefully design how we communicate new offers and maximize how the guests interact with Jack’s through the drive-thru, seeing what else we can do to build their check,” Gabele says. “We lean into things that will hook the guests at the door but add incremental value on top to make every guest more profitable, and this is what makes us stand out.”
In her role, the biggest challenge is not leaping too far into the future—something she often did in the electronics industry working with up-and-coming technology. She often finds herself wanting to move faster than what’s possible, looking toward what’s next and what’s trending. Sometimes this friction turns into frustration, taking six months to develop a product a competitor is launching tomorrow.
“It feels like a game, moving quicker towards the right answer, but having empathy for what we’re putting in the restaurant is more important,” Gabele adds. “We’ve spent a lot of time building our back of house and making our core menu simple without losing variety. We focus on the partnership with our operations team so we’re not developing something they’re unable to execute. We immerse ourselves in their daily job, working all the stations … For example, packaging continues to confuse me, but we work together for solutions.”
When Gabele started a family of her own, she says it was the hardest moment in her entire career. Not only was she a first-time parent, but she also had a team she didn’t want to let down. She was reminded of her childhood Girl Scout leader, who gracefully juggled her personal life, a career, and taught 8-year-olds how to sell cookies.
“I’ve always kept her in my mind as I navigated difficult transitions. I am a mom, but I am also a career person, and not only do I embrace it but I feel as if I can do it gracefully and show through an example that you don’t have to pick and choose,” Gabele says. “I can be a successful family person and business person. I think if you’re a great business leader, it doesn’t matter … It speaks for itself.”
