CJ's History

Realizing Columbia's need for hot wings and cold beer, Cheri and John Sevcik opened CJ's in 1989.

In the beginning business was slow, and without financial help from any local institutions, funds ran very low. CJ's had to rely on word of mouth advertising, and the hope that people would return.

At first they thought their clientele would be mostly college students. As it turns out the dining room filled with the perfect mix of families: young and old, dates, friends, downtown business people and students. "They all have the same thing in common, the ultimate wing fix," said John.

In 1997 CJ’s business had grown and the kitchen was churning out nearly 1,500 pounds of chicken wings each week. Because of the limited refrigeration space, and potential spoilage of wings over the weekend, CJ’s often ran out of wings on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. This was difficult to for a lot of people to understand, but most made a return trip.

In 2007 CJ’s scaled back its hours by discontinuing its lunch service and serving only dinner. After 18 years of hard labor, Cheri and John had lost a bit of the fire and were ready to pass to the torch to new owners with the energy to revitalize CJ’s and grow it to new levels.

In March of 2009 CJ’s was purchased by Ty and Ashley Moore. A local couple, and CJ’s regulars, Ty and Ashley saw big potential in the fading Columbia staple. “We didn’t want to see it close its doors and vanish all of the sudden, it’s just too great of place with too much potential,” said Ty.

While all of the recipes have remained exactly the same from Cheri and John’s tenure, return customers will notice some changes in appearance. What used to be a waiting room is know CJ’s Split T Sports lounge. The sports lounge features 15 tables and 5 big screen TV’s ranging in size from 42 to 73 inches. “Ashley and I are sports fanatics, especially about the Tigers. The one thing we always wanted to do was go get some wings, a cold beer, and watch the ball game, but there was only that one 27 inch TV and it was usually on the Discover channel.”

CJ’s now has the best of both worlds. The original restaurant remains intact and unchanged, but what used to the waiting room is now a sports lover’s paradise, and is there any food that pairs better with a ball game then hot wings?