BEAUMONT (AP) — The businessman who founded the national restaurant chain Jason's Deli more than 40 years ago in Texas has died.
A Jason's Deli statement says Joe Tortorice Jr., founder and chairman of the board, died Saturday at age 70. A company spokeswoman says Tortorice had battled cancer.
The Beaumont-based company says Tortorice was the grandson of Italian immigrants and it was his father's investment in a little sandwich shop that inspired him to open his own restaurant. From a single location that opened in Beaumont in 1976, Jason's Deli now has almost 300 locations across the U.S.
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