- 8 minutes ago
Bon Appétit spends a day at Jordan Johnson in Philadelphia, home of the city’s most viral fish sandwiches. Former boxer and owner Jordan Johnson takes us behind the hype of his buttermilk-fried fish hoagie to see how his restaurant serves hundreds in a day despite opening just three days a week. From frying fish to making signature salmon fried rice, see how discipline, efficiency, and social media helped turn his food into a Philadelphia sensation.
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00:04You know that old saying, you find something that you love doing, you'll do it for free?
00:07I will do this for free. Food's my life, man.
00:10Aha, y'all see where I'm at? So we're trying the most viral fish sandwich in Philly.
00:16Jordan Johnson, the one and only, is a mad scientist out of this little shop right behind me.
00:20To thrive, let alone survive, is a restaurant only open three days a week.
00:24You must be doing something right.
00:25We went from 30 to 50 pounds of fish in a month to 6,000, 8,000 pounds in a
00:30month.
00:31We never focused on trying to build a hype or be famous or get followers.
00:36We always focused on the product, the customers, and the service.
00:39Jordan Johnson's is black owned. It's one of my favorite places to eat.
00:42Top place number one.
00:44You get a lot of fish. You pack it with fish.
00:48The volume of food that's going out of here, there's nothing like seeing it in action.
00:5349 hot right here.
00:55Growing up the way I grew up, you don't have that mom and dad telling you, like, you did a
00:59good job.
01:00You're bouncing from home to home.
01:01No matter what, you never gave up, and you kept your faith,
01:05and you one day create something to receive that thing that you never had.
01:27Guys, I'd like to welcome you all to Jordan Johnson's in Northeast Philadelphia, Mayfair section.
01:32We've been open since May of 2024.
01:35The restaurant isn't named after me. It's named after my son, Jordan Johnson Jr.
01:39Fortunately, this is my name also, so we're at Jordan Johnson's.
01:42The shirt says in the back, my life as told through food, come and taste my story.
01:46That is the slogan, because every time I think of food, I always think about a moment in my life
01:51of where I was.
01:52I would say all my dishes draw inspiration from someplace that I was at in life.
01:57Right now, the time is 9.10.
01:59We're about to enter into the restaurant and start getting all the things out that we need for the day.
02:04At 12 o'clock, we'll open for service and let the mayhem begin.
02:11If somebody asked me what kind of restaurant we were, I would say we're a fusionally eclectic seafood restaurant.
02:16Our number one selling product is our buttermilk fried fish hoagies.
02:19Comes in a couple of different ways.
02:21High sweet chili, mango habanero, honey buffalo buttermilk fried fish hoagie.
02:24We also have a variety of fried rice dishes.
02:27Our number two selling item in the whole building is salmon fried rice.
02:30We also have Cajun wings, Thai sweet chili wings.
02:33All our wings are marinated, minimum 48 hours.
02:35And we have jumbo fried shrimps also.
02:38Might run specials, but it's pretty much all seafood.
02:44This was a formal dining room when we first acquired this property.
02:48We converted this into a kitchen.
02:50We really wanted to focus on pumping high volume and high quality.
02:53Almost every single inch of this building is geared around efficiency and volume.
02:58There's hundreds and hundreds of orders that can come in throughout the day.
03:01We've been able to do what used to take four or five hours, now 20 minutes.
03:05So we try to keep all the orders within a 10-minute window and get it out fresh to order.
03:10This right here is our grandioso, larger-than-life ordering area.
03:16It came from the dine-in business.
03:18We'd have two, three hundred people in the building dining in.
03:21And this, we wanted this to be the complete opposite.
03:24Focus more so on the quality of the food, freshness of the food, consistency of the food, and just getting
03:28people in and out.
03:29It's a very small lobby.
03:30That was intentionally done.
03:32It was like, you know, either choose customers being comfortable while they're ordering food,
03:36or they would be waiting hours for food.
03:39This beautiful sign right here that everybody so admirably ignores, this says absolutely no waiting in the lobby.
03:47They'll just literally just stand here.
03:49They'll literally hold their phones up and start recording.
03:52And you know what I mean?
03:53And it's really uncomfortable.
03:55A lot of us don't feel like being on TikTok.
03:57We just want to work.
03:58And, you know, and there's a lot of action going on in here.
04:02This fryer right here was the fryer we started off with.
04:06We saw that that wasn't enough.
04:08So we got a second one.
04:10The business grew.
04:11We had to get a third one.
04:13The business grew.
04:14We had to get a fourth one.
04:16And we're still growing.
04:17So as of right now, there's seven fryers.
04:19These are oversized fryers.
04:21That's all I can fit right here.
04:22This hood is completely maxed out.
04:24We're only open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
04:27We work a total of 24 hours for the whole weekend.
04:31This restaurant operating in only two and a half days out of the week by far trumps any restaurant that
04:37I've ever owned and operated in every number you want to pull up in sales, in profit.
04:44The only peace of mind you have in this industry is when you're closed.
04:47You're not going to get the spills on the floor.
04:49You're not going to get, you know, hopefully you did everything right.
04:52The bill don't burn down.
04:53As the years went on, and I eventually took a step away from the business, I thought about how could
05:01I continue.
05:05Give me the mop quick.
05:06Y'all got more than one mop, right?
05:11This is a first.
05:12Had to bump it.
05:14All in a day's work, gentlemen.
05:17All in a day's work, gentlemen.
05:17What's that?
05:18Murphy's Law?
05:19Yeah, it's one of them type of things.
05:20There's a couple more of these going to happen before the day's out because Murphy's Law has to, you know,
05:26preside.
05:27You know, what are you going to do?
05:28You know what I mean?
05:28You have to pick and choose your battles, you know?
05:31So, but this is actually something small.
05:36It's going to be a buttermilk fried fish hoagie.
05:39This is our magic.
05:41It's our buttermilk fried fish.
05:42Each one of these trays are about 40 to 50 pounds.
05:45We'll go through about 12 to 15 trays of this in a day.
05:49Our seasonings, proprietary seasonings that are in here.
05:52So don't dare ask what's in here outside of buttermilk.
05:55The love, the time, the attention, the details, the years of just playing in the kitchen and finding those things
06:02that work cohesively together.
06:04We like to go skin side down into our flour mixture, a house blend of flour, cornmeal, and our house
06:11seasoning.
06:12We like to really load the hoagies up around here.
06:15So we want to make sure we're getting some really nice pieces.
06:18Make sure we get both sides.
06:22All right.
06:23Now we'll drop.
06:30We'll put that down.
06:32Hit our timer for five minutes.
06:36So we have that fish working beautifully.
06:40Frying this hard away.
06:41That's a beautiful golden brown that we've achieved.
06:43That's the color that we're looking for.
06:45And then there's always that carryover cook time, which will get a little bit deeper in color.
06:50You never know what God's going to bless you with.
06:53So if you got small pieces, then you might put seven, eight, nine pieces.
06:57Just make sure you load that puppy up so that way people are feeling that love.
07:01This is Sarkone's Roll.
07:03Just got delivered fresh.
07:05Sarkone's is a famous Philadelphia bakery in South Philly.
07:09A great, beautiful family that's been around for many, many years.
07:13This is not your traditional soft roll that Philadelphians are used to.
07:16We scoop out every single roll.
07:19And so we're just left with, you know, the magic right here.
07:23I like to put mayo on mine.
07:26About five slices of cheese.
07:29Like to build everything nice and neat.
07:31Just chopped this morning.
07:33This is romaine lettuce that we're putting on here.
07:35Fresh Jersey tomatoes.
07:37A lot of people don't like onions.
07:38I can eat onions just raw all day long.
07:41This is a honey, scotch, bonnet, pepper, and truffle.
07:43Sweet, spicy, savory.
07:45It's just a really great addition to the fish.
07:47This is our way of showing love.
07:49You know, people are coming out.
07:50These hoagies start at $20.
07:52Just like to make sure that the people are getting their money's worth.
07:55And, you know, we are in Philadelphia.
07:57Back in the days when you got a hoagie,
07:59that thing was like something, you know, that could feed a family.
08:02So we like to stay true to, you know, what hoagies used to be back in the days.
08:06I like to top mine off.
08:08Just a little bit of salt, pepper, and oregano.
08:10And this right here is a Jordan Johnson's buttermilk fried fish hoagie.
08:15In a day, we're roughly, you know, go through about 300 to 500.
08:19On a busy day, maybe 500, 600.
08:21Whatever we do, if we do four, it's all counted as joy because it's all a blessing.
08:31ETA, guys, six mango wings with two 12.
08:34Two hoagies, guys.
08:36No rush.
08:37Whenever you get a chance.
08:38So we just opened up.
08:40We have 25 orders right now on the screen.
08:42Seven minutes in the service.
08:44Jesus.
08:45It's a slow day for us.
08:4749 hot.
08:49Lime.
08:49Parsley shaker.
08:50Parsley shaker.
08:52Y'all need a hoagie for 50.
08:55Sell 50.
08:5686 pick up.
08:5886 pick up.
08:5886 pick up.
08:59Heard.
09:00One tie, one bump, bump it.
09:02187.
09:03187.
09:04187.
09:04Two chicken fried rice with shrimp coming up.
09:06When I was about 28 years old, I bought my first restaurant.
09:10I'm not classically trained as a chef.
09:13I got first put to the stove when I was six years old, and I got showed how to make
09:16white
09:17rice and scrambled eggs.
09:18I winded up in foster care shortly after that, and I was in the system from the age of six
09:23all the way up until 21.
09:25And I was in home after home, just bouncing from homes all through New York, and then eventually
09:30winded up in Philadelphia, which I made home.
09:32As I went into different foster homes, I always found myself in the kitchen.
09:37I was always wanting to cook dinner at the different homes I was in, and going through
09:41the cabinets, and playing with the seasonings.
09:43It's like a kid playing with colors and crayons, so you learn how to come up with your own different
09:47styles and colors, and that's what it was for me.
09:50Growing up in New York and Lower East Side, you know, in the dominantly Latin neighborhood.
09:54We had a store on 6th Street and Avenue D, and everybody, from Lillian Wall Projects,
09:59Baruch Projects, Jacob Rees Projects, everybody ate there when we were kids.
10:03They used to sell $1 pork fried rice.
10:05I always wanted to make fried rice, but what I did was I would look at and find out how
10:11did you make something, find out what the base is, and then I would deconstruct it and
10:15try to reconstruct it in a way that I would have a finished product.
10:19The second most popular selling item in the whole building is salmon fried rice.
10:25I don't know if you guys can handle the heat.
10:27I don't want to damage nothing.
10:30Boom.
10:30It's a whole lot of heat.
10:32It's a volcano.
10:34So we make sure we weigh out every single rice before it gets cooked.
10:37Let that get a little fry on it.
10:39We're going to dump our rice right on top.
10:42All of our proteins are weighed out.
10:44Really allows for us to really stay uniformed and consistent in delivering that same product
10:49that the customer has come to love throughout the years.
10:52We're going to add one heaping spoon for homemade hot chili oil.
10:58We call that the meat.
11:00A little bit of oil.
11:01Hot chili oil.
11:03After that, we're going to drop in our salmon.
11:06Salmon is already marinade season.
11:08Fried off.
11:09We're going to finish this off.
11:10A little handful of bean sprouts.
11:12One of my favorite things.
11:13I love the texture.
11:14Some fresh chopped scallions.
11:16One last toss.
11:17We're going to hit it with our magic.
11:20Turn that flame off.
11:22Let that sizzle.
11:24Try to get all that love inside the bowl.
11:26Give the people what they're paying for.
11:28And this is our signature salmon fried rice.
11:31This is just paying homage to 6th Street and Avenue D.
11:33That $1 pork fried rice that evolved.
11:37And I always feel as though food should always evolve.
11:40And that's what we try to do.
11:41We try to make everything we do unique in some way, shape, or form.
11:46Behind.
11:49172 hot.
11:50178 shrimp chicken coming up.
11:52About 30 seconds.
11:54Talk to me.
11:55Next rice, guys.
11:57So this particular restaurant in its current iteration opened in May of 2024.
12:03I took a hiatus from the business.
12:05I had a really huge sit-down, dine-in restaurant.
12:08The burnout came from working pretty much seven days a week.
12:12We were open six days a week.
12:13And then that one day that we were off, we had to restock and regroup and get everything back together.
12:17So there was never a day off.
12:19I missed out on the birthday parties.
12:21I missed out on the family reunions.
12:23I missed out on the baby showers.
12:24I missed out on weddings.
12:25Like, I could never celebrate those precious moments in life.
12:30Anybody who's been in this business, dedicated to this business, knows that the number one thing that kills all of
12:35us is the time.
12:36So I went on hiatus in search of balance in my life.
12:39Mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and, you know, financially.
12:43I had this idea that if I came back and I limited my menu, I shrunk my menu down and
12:50just focused on a couple of key things, which I find, I call it finding your Big Mac.
12:55What is that product going to be that we're going to give to the world?
12:58And I thought about fish hoagies.
13:00I love fried fish.
13:01I know places to get fish hoagies, but I didn't know where to get one that was just satisfied at
13:06Craven.
13:07So I thought if I came back with a really amazing sandwich, I thought that it would work.
13:12Thanks to social media, word of mouth and TikTok and Instagram and Facebook, those three engines, like, they really help
13:21catapult us to the level that we're at now.
13:24This is my office, so this is where we run payroll.
13:28This is where we conduct all of our interviews, meetings with staff or anybody that comes in.
13:34This is a complete contrast.
13:36Downstairs is where all the mayhem occurs, and upstairs is where you find the tranquility.
13:42This is our Instagram page.
13:44We have a little over 60,000 followers.
13:47We don't really record and use it ourselves.
13:50Ninety percent of everything you'll see is going to be with collaborations with maybe one of the food bloggers from
13:57the city or New York or some other place.
14:00Y'all see this fish hoagie, man?
14:02Look at that.
14:03The seasoning and love they put in that nice, fluffy rice.
14:06Jordan Johnson is not just for the hype.
14:08This is my first time here, but you can mark my words, it will not be the last.
14:12One influencer led to another influencer led to another influencer, and the business just went through the roof.
14:19We went from 30 to 50 pounds in a month to 6,000, 8,000 pounds in a month.
14:25The gift and the curse with the social media, I think we live in a space right now where people
14:30are in love with the illusion of success.
14:32We take a completely different approach when we go about this thing that we do.
14:35We really focus on the product.
14:38We focus on the customers.
14:38We focus on the business.
14:40So it doesn't mean anything for me to have a million followers if, you know, my sales taxes aren't up
14:46to date.
14:47The gift is being able to touch people with a product that you have created.
14:52That's the biggest reward, to see the smiles on people's faces.
14:55I just know that when it comes to quality, as far as food, it's always going to be the same
15:00expectation met.
15:02It's always going to be good.
15:03You can order three pizza fish for $12 or get sick for the $20.
15:07Definitely a bang for your buck.
15:08Food was delicious.
15:09It was unbelievable.
15:11Jordan Johnson is my favorite place to eat inside of Philadelphia.
15:14The top place, number one.
15:18Where I'm from, in the minority communities, a lot of us, we lack structure.
15:22And even when we're endeavoring into business, our businesses lack structure also.
15:26And this is a restaurant where not only is there volume here, but there is structure in this building.
15:31You know, you will do it the right way.
15:34There's no two ways about it.
15:35And that's a non-negotiable.
15:37Napkin, please.
15:38Napkin.
15:39Next time, please.
15:40While I actually want a napkin, just give me a napkin.
15:42Do not grab napkins.
15:44Just give out a bunch, all right?
15:45People are coming in here, spending money that they don't have to spend.
15:49And times are really tough right now.
15:50Regardless, contrary to popular belief, times are really tough.
15:53So, to he who much is given, much will be expected.
15:56Like, this is what you sign up for.
15:57You owe it to these people to give them your all.
16:02Right now, we're at the dungeon, Bozzi's gym.
16:05It's one of my trainers I had growing up.
16:07It was a very intricate part of my life.
16:09Taught me a lot, a lot of things in boxing.
16:11Instill that foundation for discipline and how to make sacrifices.
16:16A large part of what we do into the restaurant, this is the foundation of it that's translated into the
16:21culinary world for me.
16:23So, I started boxing when I was about 14 years old in Philadelphia.
16:29I hung up the gloves, like, probably, like, in my late 20s.
16:31I kind of, like, walked away.
16:32I'd like to say that I boxed for, like, a good portion of my life before I gave it up.
16:38Oh, Jordan was a young kid, man.
16:39All his brothers, back in, what's that, 70s?
16:43No, he's that goddamn, Bozzi.
16:45Back in the 90s.
16:46Back in the 90s, I mean.
16:48Uh-huh.
16:48This pad man.
16:49No, it's boss man.
16:51He's actually also a very, very dear customer of mine.
16:55He's a Friday, Saturday, Sunday type of guy.
16:57Two to three days a week, a week.
16:59Best fish in the city.
17:00When y'all get the fish, you gotta get the Supreme sauce.
17:03Make sure you get two Supreme sauce, not one.
17:07This was my original goal as a kid, was to just be able to hit this bag.
17:12They say it's eye and hand coordination.
17:14What I learned throughout the years, that's a very minimal part of it.
17:18This is a time-in thing.
17:19So that's what this helps you develop, your time-in.
17:22It's one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three.
17:27Everything is about, like, time and precision.
17:29In our restaurant, there's, like, no rest.
17:32You know, if you can get in a ring and somebody's trying to punch you in your face,
17:35you know, knock you out in front of thousands of people, you know,
17:39it's a similar type of feeling when you have hundreds of people coming out
17:43and they've paid for something and they're expecting you to deliver.
17:47So you want to knock these orders out.
17:49That's the best way I can put it, you know.
17:51You know me be the best.
17:53Whatever you do.
17:54I mean, he put his whole hearty, mind, and soul into it.
17:58You know what I mean?
17:59Whatever you do.
18:00You know what I mean?
18:01He's been doing that since he was young.
18:02He's always been, like, an entrepreneur.
18:04He always had that mindset.
18:06You know what I mean?
18:07Always had that mindset.
18:10Behind, heart, hurt.
18:12It's careful.
18:13That's the last one, right?
18:15Bryce on 10.
18:20It's just been such a huge blessing that I can't even put into words.
18:24I would love to franchise this model in the future
18:27so that other people can buy into something
18:30that allows them to have back the time with their family.
18:35That's what this was about.
18:36This weekend thing was about me being able to, you know,
18:39see my loved ones, see my friends, see my family.
18:43Doing this model, this business with this system that we have
18:46in this ecosystem, it allows me to have a personal life now.
18:50You have to focus on what's in front of you
18:52and not this illusion of what success looks like
18:57in the far-off future.
18:58Just by remaining focused and being disciplined and consistent,
19:01then just don't give up.
19:02You have no choice but to win.
19:04It has to work or it has to work.
19:06Like, there's no other options.
19:17Like, a certain amount of 알
19:19to you, try to relax.
19:21ominous sound
19:22Kill me
19:23Take it easy.
19:23Hi-Man's success.