Jim Hasslocher, founder of the Jim’s and Magic Time Machine restaurant chains and a former president of the National Restaurant Association, has died at age 93.
At the time of his death, Hasslocher’s family-run restaurant company was preparing to open a new concept called Frontier Burger, a tribute to the patriarch’s beginnings in the business some 69 years ago.
After serving in an engineering unit during World War II, Hasslocher got a job at his uncle’s bicycle-rental stand in San Antonio. As a sidelight, he started selling burgers and slices of watermelon.
He parlayed that side business into Frontier Enterprises, the operator of 19 Jim’s branches and two Magic Time outlets.
Hasslocher also operated the restaurant atop San Antonio’s landmark tourist attraction, the 750-foot Tower of the Americas.
Daughter Susan and son Jimmy followed Hasslocher into the business, where they worked side-by-side with their mother.
The board of the National Restaurant Association voted Hasslocher as the association’s president for the 1986 term.
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