Chambana Sun

One of the Champaign-Urbana's-- and the state's-- most successful entrepreneurs says Illinois politicians are punishing business owners they should be nurturing, decrying a "lack of empathy and compassion for the makers" that is driving them to leave the state.

Jimmy John Liataud, 58, billionaire founder of the Champaign-based Jimmy John's Sandwich franchise, made the comments on an episode of Tucker Carlson Today, the daily long-form show hosted by Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson.

"You're based in Illinois. You're from Illinois. You're...the Vito Genovese of sandwiches in Champaign-Urbana. But is there a future for business in Illinois?," Carlson asked.

Liataud responded.

"I'm not a pro on giving advice on what its like in Illinois, but you cannot treat business owners-- you cannot put so much burden on the people who are the makers," he said.  "And I appreciate that taxes are important, but you just get to a breaking point. And Illinois has just lost sight of how the money is made."

"The chicken lays two eggs-- you get one and I get one. Don't beat the s#%"&* out of the chicken," Liataud said. "Throw him an extra kibble every once in a while, and maybe he'll lay three eggs. It's brutal. It's just brutal-- the lack of empathy and compassion for the makers."

"We're 24/7, 365. We don't get days off. We have to show up at work and stick the key in the door for three dollars at a time. It's a hard business to succeed in," he said.

Liataud, a Florida resident since 2007 who recently moved to Nashville, grew up in the Lake County suburb of Cary and attended Elgin Academy in Elgin, where he says he "graduated second to last in his class."

He started Jimmy John's in 1983 with a $25,000 loan from his father, entrepreneur James P. Liataud, who told him if he didn't succeed he would go to the U.S. Army for two years.

He got the idea after visiting a friend at Southern Illinois University and seeing a spartan sandwich shop there. His first store opened in Jan. 1983 in Charleston.

Liataud's parents met at University of Illinois. His father was mixed-race and his mother was a Lithuanian immigrant who moved to the U.S. in 1952, after the Soviet invasion.

Liataud told Carlson that at one point, as Jimmy John's was expanding its national franchise network, the company was buying 10,000 hotel rooms in Champaign-Urbana per month, hosting visiting franchisees and managers for training.

Jimmy John's has 2,800 locations and was purchased by Roark Capital Group of Atlanta in 2016