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Snapper Jack's keeps it fresh
A constant flow of customers through the recently opened doors has Gietzen, the eatery's general manager, and her staff working doubletime to serve up the two-handed burritos and the ever-popular tacos. Opened earlier this month, the beach-themed restaurant off Santa Rosa Road in the Plaza Mission Oaks shopping center continues the tradition of serving a simple menu of fresh Mexican food made popular by the original Snapper Jack's in Ventura. Started by Jack and Laura Plasmyer seven years ago, Snapper Jack's is a family affair that has found a loyal following throughout Ventura County. Jack Plasmyer said word of mouth from the first Snapper Jack's has fueled the stream of customers to the new restaurant. "It's all word of mouth," Plasmyer said. "That's your best PR by far. You can spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars on radio ads and billboards . . . but word of mouth spreads faster. It's really amazing."
A string of successful investments led Plasmyer to start thinking about opening a restaurant in the late 1990s. What was originally going to be a brewery in Ojai turned into a taco place in Ventura. Plasmyer said he followed the business model set by In-N-Out by offering a limited menu and using only fresh ingredients. He said Snapper Jack's menu was a collaboration between his wife, Laura, and her brother Dale Gietzen-Leslie Gietzen's husband. All four are joint investors in the new location. "The fish tacos are really what brings everybody in," Gietzen said. Made with either grilled or battered fish, the tacos are served with lettuce, cheese and topped with the Snapper 's Secret Sauce. Snapper Jack's also offers steak, chicken and potato tacos, as well a variety of burritos and a few combination plates served with beans and rice. The restaurant has also earned a reputation as having one of the best salsa bars in the county. It's a menu, Plasmyer said, that's unpretentious and was intended to appeal to the entire family. "I was going to open up a place I liked. If other people liked it, great; if they didn't, no problem," Plasmyer said. "That was my philosophy. If I'm going to spend the money and I'm going to make the investment of the time, then I'm going to do something I like and hopefully other people will like it too." Plasmyer said he and his partners have worked hard to ensure their Camarillo location continues to turn out the same highquality food that made their first restaurant so well-liked. Both Plasmyer and Gietzen are quick to attribute Snapper Jack's high consistency level to their head chef, Rigo Jaras. "Rigo is so good at keeping the quality," Gietzen said. "We work hard at keeping him happy." Between the two locations, Gietzen, a Camarillo resident, oversees about 50 employees, many of whom are local high school students. Plasmyer, an Ojai resident, said that although opening this restaurant took nearly three years from start to finish, the lessons he learned from the first Snapper Jack's helped him navigate numerous obstacles in opening the new location. "Given that we had opened the first one on a shoestring budget, it had kind of seasoned us a little bit to what was ahead of us," Plasmyer said. "We were able to stumble and not fall." Gietzen said the restaurant's opening wouldn't have been possible without a good working relationship among the four family members. "We all respect each other's abilities and areas of expertise and ideas," Gietzen said. "We don't see any rifts because we are all open and direct with each other." Snapper Jack's Taco Shack, 4850 Verdugo Way, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. (805) 384-0334. | ||||||
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