Business Beat Interview with Cactus Jacks at Nebraska State Fair - September 17, 2024
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Business Beat Interview with Cactus Jacks at Nebraska State Fair
On September 17, 2024, Grand Island Police Chief Kevin Denny conducted a Business Beat segment at Cactus Jacks, a food vendor at the Nebraska State Fair. The interview featured Jeff Leo, owner of Cactus Jacks, discussing the stand's history, menu, operations, and community interactions. The segment also included casual conversations with fairgoers.
Discussion Items
- Cactus Jacks Location and History: Jeff Leo stated he started Cactus Jacks 15 years ago, the first year the State Fair moved to Grand Island. The stand is located on the southeast corner of the fairgrounds, south of the Harlem Event Center and just south of the Grand Island Casino area. They mark their location with older vehicles.
- Menu and Signature Items: Leo highlighted the steak burgers, including the 'Willy Wonka' with Reese's pieces, the 'Redneck Ruben' (brisket, sauerkraut, bicho sauce), and the 'Jack Burger' as the signature item. He also mentioned smoked meats, nachos, and a mac and cheese dish ('Jack Mac' with brisket and jalapenos) that won State Fair's top food last year. A new item this year is the 'Clam and Jane'—a Cajun smoked chicken sandwich.
- Operational Details: Leo noted that the line moves extremely fast: approximately 11 minutes for a queue of about 50 yards. He employs seven people total, including two working with him. Prep work includes making 45 pounds of bacon every morning to keep up with demand.
- Community Feedback and Police Interaction: Chief Denny asked for suggestions on how the police department can improve. Leo responded that he finds the police do a wonderful job but suggested officers could wave back more often to community members, reflecting his rural upbringing where waving is common. He also noted that Cactus Jacks offers free meals to law enforcement (police and state patrol) as a perk.
- Fairgoer Interviews: Denny briefly spoke with patrons, including regular fairgoers and visitors from Atkinson, Nebraska, and Texas. Most expressed enjoyment of Cactus Jacks and recommended the Cactus Jack Burger.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or decisions were made during this informal interview and community engagement segment. The primary outcomes were a strengthened police-community relationship and public promotion of Cactus Jacks. Chief Denny noted the importance of modeling hard work and leadership, as exemplified by Leo's 14–15-hour workdays.
Meeting Transcript
Hey everyone, Kevin Denny, police chief here in Grand Island, and we're at the State Fair of Nebraska here in Grand Island. We're gonna go in the Cactus Jacks and talk to Jeff Leo and see what he has going on today. So follow me on in. Let's go. I need a bacon cutter. So it's day one. About to go into the fire and check out Cactus Jacks and Jeff Leo. They're gonna put me to work. I don't know what to expect, but play it by ear. So Jeff, we're here at uh Cactus Jacks. And how long have you been here and uh at State Fair where you're at now? 15 years. We started it. First year they moved to town. And so let's for so people who are just coming to the fair for the first time. Let's uh give them an idea of when they come in, one of the entrances, kind of what you're near or where you're at so they can they can roll up and uh taste some of your delicious food here at Cactus Jacks. Where are you? Where would you say you're located here in the state? Uh we always kind of try to identify as we're we're south of the of um Harlem Event Center on the south uh east side, southeast corner. Southeast corner, yep. Yep. We're uh we're just south of the uh the Grand Island Casino area. So if you're looking for cactus jacks, this is where we are. You you can look for the older vehicles. Now are these your vehicles, the trucks and stuff? Yeah, we drive them, drive them all year round. Drive them and everything. So you're looking for the old vehicles around here. One's up on the stands, and you got cactus jacks here. So tell me about some of the menu items that you have, what you got going on. Uh we're kind of got known for our especially steak burgers over the years, you know. We just got a great great lineup. They're all great. Uh they're just different, you know, and um the Willy Wonka's got Reese's pieces on it, you know, and so that's that's a unique burger, you know, there's not nothing like that out there. Uh we do a Ruben burger called Redneck Ruben, and it's actually, you know, we got a brisket, sauerkraut, and our bicho sauce, and then it really, it's a really good if you like Rubens, that's a good one, you know. Um the redneck rooted. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a great great sandwich. They're all good. You know, we got a little smoked meats on there and and nachos and uh last year we introduced our mac and cheese, we've got jack mac on there that's got brisket and jalapenos on top of that. And I actually won State Fair's top food last year. So any any specialty items this year over last year, or you just going with tried and true? Yeah, tried and true, but we do have a called a clam and a jane. It's a Cajun's uh smoked chicken sandwich. It's kind of been a hit this summer. Okay. So if you were just coming, if somebody was just coming here to the state fair, they've never had cactus jacks before, and you were out here recommending something to them. What is probably your signature item that you would recommend? The jack burger's probably their big jack burger, can't go wrong with that. Yep, can't go wrong with that.
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