RAPID RIVER, Mich. (WJMN) – Jack’s Restaurant in Rapid River is celebrating their 80th anniversary this year. Famous for their handmade cinnamon rolls, last Saturday they held a 5 pound cinnamon roll eating contest to commemorate this achievement. 18 contestants participated and only one succeeded.
“We are capping off our anniversary week with a giant cinnamon roll challenge,” said owner Bobbi Ryan. “Jack’s has traditionally done things based on the year, so this year it was an 80 ounce or a five pound cinnamon roll. We challenged the guys to eat it in 19 minutes and 43 seconds, the year Jack’s was founded. At 75-years-old we thought we would do something cool because that is a pretty big anniversary and we did a 75 layer burger, not just the burger, but onions, pickles, and whatever, but it was 13 inches high. We did have one winner there, shoutout to John Stroppich. We sell smaller cinnamon rolls daily that add out to about two pounds or so and they have a hard time with finishing the one, so when making it five pounds it’s a whole-other ball game.”
“It took a good month, thank God she gave me plenty of notice because I have never made them that big before,” said Lori Curtice, the baker who made the cinnamon rolls. “Once a week I just tried to tweak it until I got it and I hope I got it. They all seemed to like it. I started at six this morning and didn’t finish frosting the final one until it was walking out the door.”
“The same as I said yesterday, we can’t appreciate our customers and our staff enough,” said Ryan. “We can’t come up with these crazy ideas unless I have a great staff behind me and customers to come in and participate. I appreciate everybody. Let’s keep moving on. I don’t know if I can make it to 100. I don’t know if I got 20 years left in me, but we’ll give it a try. “
