Justin Earl, co-owner, The Jerks soda fountain, Cartersville
d COMMUNITY
Getting to Know …
Justin Earl, co-owner, The Jerks soda fountain, Cartersville
BY JILL BECKER
Company owners typically don’ t want their employees being called jerks, but at Justin Earl’ s year-old business in downtown Cartersville, that’ s their official job title. That’ s because Justin is co-owner of The Jerks, an old-fashioned soda fountain where the staffers slinging drinks behind the bar are called soda jerks, just like back in the day.
The 51-year-old Justin and his wife, Rachel, opened the business last January after purchasing the 1800s-era building it occupies and doing extensive renovations.“ We brainstormed for weeks about what downtown needed and what could complement the history of the building,” says Justin.“ Many people think of soda fountains as a 1950s-era diner, but actual soda fountains, usually as part of a pharmacy, experienced their biggest boom in the late 1800s, with another boom in the 1930s due to Prohibition.”
Photo by Megan Treglown
16 | NW GEORGIA LIVING MARCH / APRIL 2026
Justin learned quite a bit about the history of soda fountains after he and Rachel decided that’ s what would go in their new building. He even led a lecture on the topic at the Bartow History Museum last year. He can tell you, for example, that restaurants today still use jargon that originated in soda fountains, like“ 86” and“ in the weeds.”
The research he’ s done has transformed The Jerks into quite the authentic soda fountain experience, with everything from lemon sours and egg creams to lime rickeys and Roy Rogers on the menu. They also serve ice cream floats, and given their countless possible ice cream and soda combinations, you could try a new version every visit for a long, long time.“ We’ re also getting known as a unique lunch place with our grilled cheese sandwiches we make on our cast-iron waffle machines and our deviled eggs,” says Justin.“ We just launched chicken salad and pimento cheese, too— all made in-house from scratch.” Another selling point is that sodas in cans and bottles just can’ t compare to their fountain sodas.“ They just taste different, better,” swears Justin. Here’ s more about Justin and The Jerks.
How long have you lived in Cartersville? Almost 46 years.
Did you grow up going to soda fountains?
I didn’ t. As a kid growing up in Cartersville, the closest thing to a soda fountain I remember was the
Justin and his wife, Rachel
lunch counter at Woolworths in Cartersville Plaza.
What’ s been people’ s reaction to The Jerks so far?
We’ ve been overwhelmed with fans of what we’ re doing. In fact, we had to close last March to restaff and recalibrate. We never expected the crowds we experienced those first couple of months.
Are most of your customers older individuals who are familiar with soda fountains, or are there also a lot of younger folks who are new to the concept?
The variety of customers has been the biggest, most pleasant surprise. We knew older folks would enjoy the nostalgia and kids would enjoy anything sweet and delicious, but that’ s just a small part of who enjoys The Jerks and why. We have teenagers and young adults who come for the unique experience, we have young families and others who come specifically because we don’ t serve alcohol, we have downtown workers who come for lunch, and we have people come to see us for date night. What we see most is everyone sharing their special occasions with us: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, guests visiting from out of town, even a gender reveal.