We recently learned that the Claim Jumper restaurant chain filed for bankruptcy and is changing ownership. The ensuing news coverage reminded me that Claim Jumper -- like Marie Callender's, Coco's, Polly's Pies and other chains -- was started right here in Orange County..
On Sept. 27, 1977, father and son business partners Carl and Craig Nickoloff opened the first Claim Jumper restaurant in Los Alamitos. (Seen in the photo above.) The 250-seat restaurant became known for its good food and large portions.
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In a 1999 interview with Nation's Restaurant News, Craig Nickoloff remembered, "We were wrapped, set and ready to go for about $250,000. Those are fees to a city today for a sewer hook up."
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The business' California Gold Rush theme was chosen by the Nickoloffs, who enjoyed Western movies. As they brainstormed, they kept coming back to the name "Claim Jumper."
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Never originally envisioned as a chain, Claim Jumper's popularity and Craig Nickoloff's love of a challenge led to the opening of a second restaurant, then a third, ...and so on.
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The first four restaurants were all in Orange County, and were built on the bones of older restaurant buildings. The fifth was opened in the City of Industry and was the first one built specifically as a Claim Jumper. Currently, there are 45 locations spread across the Western and Midwestern United States.
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Interestingly, Craig Nickoloff is a third generation Southern California restaurateur. His grandfather, Nicholas Nickoloff, a Bulgarian immigrant, started Nik's Coffee Shop in Long Beach in 1957. Carl, the second generation, ran Nik's for 25 years, and Craig got his start there washing dishes in 1963.
The original Los Alamitos Claim Jumper closed its doors in the 1990s. The threshold of the restaurant, however, was removed and attached to a Claim Jumper in Long Beach.