Since his release in 1999, James has come alongside countless men and women who are trapped in the cycle of addiction or coming out of prison. He found out along the way though that everybody has something that they are dealing with, and he has come alongside countless men & women to encourage, equip, and empower them to live out their God given potential.

One of his first jobs in Birmingham was with Leonardo’s Italian Dining. It was a recent startup, and he recognized it as a gold mine because of its location in the heart of Vestavia. He was waiting tables, eager to make enough money to start his own catering business, but he didn’t think the place could survive because of mismanagement and a toxic teamwork environment. He slowly began making positive changes in the small operation, but later admitted it was for selfish reasons. He loved the food, the customers, the atmosphere, but mainly the income it was providing for someone released from prison the prior year. He had a lot of catching up to do financially.

James soon caught the eye of the owner, Tony Falletta, who asked him to be his restaurant manager. When James found out the salary, he declined because he was making 3 times that as a waiter. Mr. Falletta then came up with an offer James could not refuse. He gave him the Dining Room Manager position but allowed him to continue waiting tables. It was a win-win for both of them, and under the leadership of James K Jones Leonardo’s tripled its profits and continued to grow each year. From 2001 to 2007 they saw almost zero turnover in their staff which was and is unheard of in the restaurant business. They went on to add banquet services and catering in 2002, and the business continued to prosper. In 2004 Mr. Falletta allowed James to reorganize the back of the house operations which resulted in greater productivity and saved over $50,000 annually in labor costs. In 2004 they began discussions of opening a second location south of Birmingham, but the family tabled the idea for fear that expansion would compete with their existing operation.

Following that decision, with nothing new to do at Leonardo’s, James set his sights on starting his own place. In December of 2006 he opened the doors to Kairos Kafe in downtown Birmingham. Kairos focused on the downtown lunch crowd and catering. James soon found out that owning a restaurant outright was not an easy task. He actually said it was one of the hardest things he had ever done, but he kept taking the next step until Kairos Kafe became a local brand. He won numerous awards and began appearing on Good Day Alabama as a local Chef. Behind the scenes though, Kairos Kafe brought both of his passions together by hiring men and women coming out of prison or addiction. James also began a weekly email newsletter sharing his journey that attracted thousands from 2007 to 2015.

In 2010, Pastor Bill Heintz from The Foundry Ministries approached James about the possibility of opening a Kairos Kafe west of Birmingham that would employ the residents of his recovery program. James, a longtime supporter of The Foundry, was intrigued by the idea and began a discussion between his Board and their leaders. After a few months he realized it couldn’t work because The Foundry was a non-profit and Kairos Kafe was a for-profit business so there was no ethical way to mingle the two. James formed a great relationship with the leaders there, and they asked him if he would do consulting and training with their foodservice people. James agreed to help for a few weeks, but once he understood the condition of their operations, it took almost a year to get them to a good place. When James finished consulting with the Foundry they were breaking even in food cost, which had previously been losing tens of thousands of dollars per month, they had recipes and manuals to produce quality meals, a structure for program participants to learn job skills through while providing the meals, and an operations manual for their food service director.

In 2012 James decided to open a second location north of Birmingham in Gardendale. On Opening day, the city had to call in the local police to direct traffic there, and the first six weeks were the busiest weeks of his life. Then, around June of 2012, the hype seemed to wear off and people moved on. James learned that bigger was not always better because now he had a huge foodservice operation in a bedroom community that couldn’t support his overhead. By October of 2012 James realized he would have to close or face bankruptcy. It was one of the darkest days of his life, but in the end, he learned more through that massive failure than he ever did through any of his successes. He remarked that being successful could make you arrogant, but failing at something didn’t make you a failure, but actually made you humble and empathetic with an ability to help people.

It was during this time, and at that failed location that James met Haley Hobart, who would later become his wife and the other half of Team Jones. After their wedding, Haley came alongside James to help him repair Kairos Kafe, and after one look at the seven-year history of sales she had a plan. She made a graph to show him the difference in profits between the restaurant sales and the catering sales. The catering profits were five times more, so with the blessing of their board members, they closed the restaurant and focused on Catering and Events. This enabled them to get back in the black, and Kairos already had an established name and following so it made perfect sense.

In May of 2014 James & Haley welcomed the arrival of their first child, Lula Mae Jones. After she was born, James became very dissatisfied with being in the food business and began to ponder what a life of ministry would look like for him and his family. He agonized over the long hours spent away from his family and the energy it took to run a successful food service operation. In August of 2014, during 21 Days of Prayer, Haley and James devoted all their energy into praying about ministry. On day 17 James got a message from one of his friends at The Foundry. Their Food Service Director was resigning, and although they knew James would not be interested, they felt like they should offer it to him.

He and Haley spent a few days talking it over and praying about it and they realized it was the next thing to do, so James accepted the position and Haley continued to oversee the catering at Kairos Kafe. By January of 2015 James was convinced this was what he needed to do, so they made the decision to close Kairos Kafe and focus all their energies on The Foundry.

For the next five years, James transformed the Food Services into a Culinary Training Program, developed leaders in the Staff and Program Participants, developed a new curriculum for their ReEntry Program, all while preparing over 1000 meals per day. In 2018, after graduating from Highlands College, James restructured The Foundry’s Rescue program to the community, and partnered with Walmart, Publix, and many others to create a Mobile Food Truck, The Foundry Food Pantry, and a Community Garden. In August of 2019, during 21 days of prayer, almost five years to the day, James and Haley received the direction to start their own business, that focused on helping businesses and organizations reach their full potential through Leadership, Teamwork, and Growth.

Their first client was Hobie Hobart State Farm Agency, owned by Haley’s brother, who was excited to be the first business to roll the dice on Team Jones. James and Haley went in, and through a process developed through both of their experiences, helped Hobie locate his “why” for being in his business, helped his team understand themselves and each other through their personalized “Team Jones Profiles”, and helped grow his agency through Social Media and involvement in the local community.

It was a win-win for all, but after a few months James began missing a key ingredient: food. He told Haley they had to find a way to incorporate food into Team Jones, but how to make that happen was a daunting task. They toyed with the idea of opening a small restaurant or storefront, but James didn’t ever want that huge overhead again because it drained his creativity. After weeks of praying, writing, talking, and thinking he had a lightbulb come on.

In a moment of clarity, while making out a delivery order for his Thanksgiving Dinner, he realized that if he offered his services as a Chef, and people ordered their own groceries, they could totally remove all the overhead and middle men, and he could get back to what he loved most: preparing delicious goodness for people! He immediately tested out the idea with several friends and acquaintances. After going into a local business and setting up a live omelet bar, and seeing the joy on the faces of those he was serving, James knew that he had found the missing piece.

EXPERIENCE

·      Co-Founder of The Team Jones Company

·      Director of Rescue Ministry- The Foundry Ministries (2018 – 2019)

·      Director of Food Services- The Foundry Ministries (2014 – 2018)

·      Owner/Operator/Chef Kairos Katering, Inc. (2006 – 2015)

·      Food Service Consultant (2005-2020)

·      Restaurant/Catering Manager- Leonardo’s Italian Dining (2000-2007)

·      Chef’s Apprentice- Chattahoochee River Club (1992-1993)

·      Kitchen Supervisor- The Speakeasy Pub (1990-1992)

EDUCATION

High School – General Education Diploma, Brevard Correctional Facility 1996

Highlands College – Ministry Leadership & Pastoral Leadership (Class of 2018)

ServSafe– Certified Food Safety Trainer, National Restaurant Association (2012)

CITI Program (University of Miami) – Certification in Human Subjects Training & Behavioral Course (2016)

OTHER

·      Taught Transformational Classes for UAB TASC (2006-2012)

·      Speaker for Kairos Prison ministries (2007- 2015)

·      Taught Reformation classes for Shepherd’s Fold (2010- 2014)

·      Prison Ministry (2000- current)

·      Taught Life after Prison Classes for Donaldson Correctional Facility (2009-2011)

·      Mentoring (1-2-1) numerous men fighting addiction and/or coming out of prison (2000- present)

·      Men’s, Business, and Marriage Small group leader for Church of the Highlands [2013- present)

·      Implemented the 12 Keys to Life After Prison for The Foundry Ministries ReEntry Program (2016)

·      Church of the Highlands Intern (2018-2019)

·      Serves as a Board Member of UAB’s IRB Board (2016-present)

·      Fox 6 Guest Chef – Teaching and training our community to create delicious goodness (2007 – present)

·      Managed Kitchen in Brevard Correctional Facility -Led a team to prepare and serve meals to 1,000 + men daily (1993-1999)