Julie Glenn, “JuJu” to her grandchildren, dreamed of owning a business in Old Town Clovis for years. The small town feel of the Old Town community, and the yearly traditions held on Clovis and Pollasky Avenues, has kept her local for her whole life.
Recently, Livability.com ranked Clovis highly in their “Top 100 Places to Live in California” category, citing specifically Old Town Clovis as an area and House of JuJu as the example of the kinds of stellar restaurants Clovis hosts.
“I just dreamt of having my own place in Old Town, and never thought that that would become a reality,” said Glenn.
House of JuJu now has several locations: Visalia, Morro Bay, and a small town called Orofino in Idaho, that Glenn says reminds her of Old Town Clovis.
“Somehow we created and we kept this small town feel, in not such a small town…it’s not super small, you know, but it’s just really special,” said Glenn, adding that Orofino, Idaho only has a population of 3,000, “that’s a true small town. So it’s like no stop light, nothing.”
The Orofino location opened in 2021, amid worries that the pandemic would close the original location.
Increases in the cost of foods impacts her businesses all the time “Just recently we had another, ground beef has skyrocketed in price,” Glenn said, “You can only charge so the consumer so much. So we won’t cut back on our quality and we won’t cut back on our service.”
“But Clovis, Old Town Clovis, is what keeps us here. Even our city administrators, our city council –they are so supportive,” Glenn said, “Everybody has been seriously nothing but amazing to small business, to the community. So it’s just an impressive place to be.”
For some people, House of JuJu and Glenn’s other restaurants are central to their families and the important events in their lives.
“We have a lot of repeat guests,” Glenn shared, between regular weekday meals and special celebrations. “At On the Edge we had a couple who met there, had their first date there and they literally got married on our patio.”
“We’ve had people come and ask for a certain table back because their first date was at our place,” Glenn said, “Or our employees, one couple just recently got married and they met working here, I got to train them.”
Nearby to Glenn, a couple sitting quietly at a small table waited for her to finish speaking to say hi. “Her sister is the one getting married,” Glenn said.
Savannah Boyer and her husband Will both worked at House of JuJu, too.“I was here for years, my sister was here for years, and my other sister worked here,” Boyer said.
Glenn’s restaurants have everything that a restaurant can offer to Clovis, from breakfast and dinner, to coffee and cocktails.
The menu at On the Edge offers coffee and sandwiches in the daytime, and changes to charcuterie and wines at night, with live music on the patio.
House of JuJu remains in the gourmet burgers and potatoes realm, with local beers on tap.
And Papa’s Place, the most recently opened restaurant, named for the grandkids’ name for their grandpa, offers New Orleans inspired dishes and craft cocktails, with live music in a close, dark speakeasy environment.
From morning to night, and all the years of one’s life, it looks like JuJu and her restaurants are staples of Old Town Clovis society.