7 Jack’s Orders Alabamians Grew Up On

Half of all Jack’s sales come through the drive-thru window, and many Alabamians know their order by heart before they reach the speaker.

Here are the Jack’s orders Alabamians grew up on.

1. Steak Biscuit

The Steak Biscuit contains a slice of fried steak on a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit.

Steak shares the biscuit lineup with sausage, ham, bacon and chicken.

The Ham Biscuit uses thick-sliced, country-style ham, and the Smoked Sausage Biscuit uses a hickory-smoked sausage link, sliced.

Jack’s biscuit sandwiches and breakfast plates are served all day, so you may not need to rush for one.

The product page puts the Steak Biscuit at 680 calories.

Availability and price may vary by location, the menu notes, so your Jack’s might not match the next one’s.

It’s breakfast in one hand.

2. Big Jack

Two all-beef patties, shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, onions, pickles, ketchup, mustard and mayo make up the Big Jack on Jack’s menu.

The Big Jack comes on a toasted artisan bun.

Jack’s lists it at 720 calories.

The Bigger Jack adds a third patty on a toasted homestyle bun.

The menu blurb for burgers and sandwiches names the Big Jack first, ahead of the Big Bacon and the Double Cheeseburger.

The Big Bacon adds two strips of bacon and American cheese to two all-beef patties.

3. Chicken Finger Dinner

Jack’s Chicken Finger Dinner comes with three or four chicken fingers, your choice of two Southern sides and a dipping sauce.

The menu calls the chicken fingers fresh, never frozen, hand-battered and breaded.

Sides on Jack’s menu page include coleslaw, green beans and mashed potatoes.

If you’re feeding a crowd, the Family Big Box comes with 15 chicken fingers, two large sides and five biscuits, or 10 pieces of fried chicken instead.

The Fried Chicken Dinner has two or three pieces of fried chicken, two Southern sides and a buttermilk biscuit.

Jack’s also sells the chicken fingers by the box, in 12-piece or 20-piece sizes.

You eat with your fingers.

4. Biscuits & Gravy

A made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit smothered in savory sausage gravy is the whole Biscuits & Gravy order at Jack’s.

You may have grown up on a Jack’s biscuit.

The menu also offers it as a double.

Jack’s lists it at 480 calories.

Sausage gravy also appears on the Breakfast Special and the Breakfast Deluxe, plates that pair it with scrambled eggs, grits and a biscuit.

5. Fried Pies

Fried pies are one of three items on Jack’s online dessert menu, as of mid-October 2026.

You can pair a pie with ice cream scoops or a milkshake, since both are on the same menu.

Milkshake flavors include cookies & cream and chocolate chip cookie dough.

Scoop flavors on the menu page include chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, peach and Moose Tracks.

The menu says you’re getting a pie with a fruit filling, fried.

Jack’s lists the pie at 270 to 310 calories.

Fried is the point.

6. Original Chicken Sandwich

A hand-breaded, deep-fried chicken fillet with pickles on a toasted homestyle bun is the Original Chicken Sandwich on Jack’s menu.

Jack’s anniversary announcement in November 2025 ties its hand-breaded chicken to tradition.

If you’d rather skip the fryer, the Grilled Chicken Sandwich sits beside it on the menu, with lettuce, tomato and mayo on a toasted homestyle bun.

The Chicken Biscuit puts a crispy chicken breast fillet on a scratch-made buttermilk biscuit.

It’s your call.

7. Crinkle-Cut Fries

Fries at Jack’s are thick and crinkle-cut, with the chain’s special seasoning.

The product page lists them at 260 calories.

Fries were also on the very first Jack’s menu, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.

If you order the Chicken Finger Snack, you’re already getting crinkle fries.

The First Walk-Up Stand

Jack’s founder, Jack Caddell, also owned the Pig Trail Inn, a Homewood barbecue restaurant that was a popular teenage hangout.

McDonald’s early success in the late 1950s inspired Caddell, who, the Encyclopedia of Alabama says, decided to establish Alabama’s first fast-food chain.

The first menu also had milk shakes and a “fish-on-a-bun.”

Jack’s says the stand sold 10-cent sodas, 15-cent fries and 20-cent shakes.

Not anymore.

If you live near Bessemer, Vestavia Hills or Alabaster, you’re in an area Jack’s reached within its first five years.

The Drive-Thru Window

Half of all Jack’s sales come through drive-thru windows, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama’s entry, last updated in December 2023.

Lunch is typically the top revenue producer at Jack’s, with breakfast a strong second.

The typical restaurant is a freestanding building of about 3,200 square feet with an average of 25 to 30 employees.

If you usually order at the window, you’re ordering where half of Jack’s sales happen.

How the Chain Grew

Jack's grew from 17 restaurants to nearly 80 across four states between 1970 and 1978, after Florida Capital bought the chain from Caddell.

If you remember when the chain pulled back, many locations closed in the early 1980s, particularly in south Alabama.

Then came 1989.

Benny LaRussa bought the sole franchise rights to Jack's from Florida Capital in 1989.

Jack's says it refreshed its brand identity in the 2000s and expanded into Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi.