Shannon Gober opened John’s City Diner in 2004 on the bones of Birmingham’s iconic John’s restaurant. The recession took its toll on the downtown neighborhood, he said, but he’s also seen a Loft District rebirth. Throughout the changing business environment, Gober has developed a clear sense of his diner brand and a healthy perspective on Magic City competition.

We tend to think of business competition as being one against external forces, but Gober said John’s has struggled mightily against its own history. The inaugural years of John’s City Diner were plagued by mistaken identity, he said, with customers unclear about the difference between the diner and the former restaurant. “We want to pay a lot of homage to that restaurant being there, to what it meant to the city, but also at the same time let people realize that we are a completely different restaurant,” Gober explained.

Part of that effort has been the series of physical changes to the diner, creating a space that’s visually distinct from the old John’s restaurant, according to Gober. But he’s also created a food perspective that sets the diner version apart, he said, focusing on local ingredients free of things like antibiotics and GMO tinkering.

Gober hasn’t simply had to differentiate himself against the old John’s, though. He’s also had to face a classic business problem: if an idea you helped pioneer has become the new standard, where do you go from there? The standard, in this case, being chicken and waffles.

“One of the things that we put on our menu several years ago was chicken and waffles, and we were really the first restaurant that I’m aware of to really go full-force with chicken and waffles,” Gober said. “And that has been something that really has almost developed a cult following if you will, and now, if you look around, you see chicken and waffles on menus all over the place.”

The waffle tale doesn’t come up as a complaint, but in the story of John’s newest menu revisions, which include two variations on the original dish. By adding Nashville and Hong styles, Gober is able to evolve the dish and incorporate new food ideas. The new dishes “introduce some things that are really who we are, which is elevating these old-school classics,” he said, “so we constantly look for those things that are popping up or things that might be a little different that people in Birmingham maybe haven’t had.”

Meanwhile, Gober acknowledges that the growing restaurant options in the Loft District around John’s could be construed as a threat. But he doesn’t see it that way. More business density means more people in the neighborhood, he explained, and more potential customers. “As far as we’re concerned, we’re happy to have it,” Gober said.

“And so before, where downtown really felt more like a city center, now our area in particular — here within a couple blocks of the restaurant, in the loft district — has kind of become a neighborhood area, almost like you would see in any residential neighborhood out there.”