Business Model Helps Franchisees Expand Their Portfolios
- PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans has earned a spot on Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 150 Franchise Brands for Multi-Unit Owners.
- PJ’s business model embraces and encourages multi-unit ownership.
- In late 2025, the 48-year-old coffee brand embarked on an initiative to emphasize its New Orleans roots with its menu, training and branding.
- The PJ’s Coffee franchise has nearly 200 locations in operation and is expanding in the U.S. and internationally.
PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans has been awarded a coveted spot on Entrepreneur magazine’s Top 150 Franchise Brands for Multi-Unit Owners. And for good reasons… plural.
The brand has taken care to encourage multi-unit ownership with flexible real estate formats, operational systems that streamline training, and ongoing advice when an owner wants to scale. Those factors combined to help PJ’s Coffee hold down No. 89 on Entrepreneur’s list.
Entrepreneur determined the ranking by assessing PJ’s Franchise 500 score (another of the magazine’s carefully curated hierarchies) along with several multi-unit ownership-related factors. Three of those factors are multi-unit franchise fee discounts, the percentage of the brand’s multi-unit franchisees and the average number of units owned by each franchisee.
Multi-Unit Ownership
Many PJ’s Coffee franchisees start small, but some own multiple units from the get-go. In June, for instance, L’Express-Franchise.com reported the franchise signed a seven-unit deal with Estepp Energy, a family-owned operator of 13 convenience stores in Kentucky.
Multi-unit owners Teddy Amar and Andrew Jones (above, center and right) committed to three PJ’s Coffee locations in Louisiana in December 2017. “We decided to look for a brand that was scalable,” said Jones. “Coffee is universally loved, and adding some New Orleans flair and exceptional customer service made it easy to grow in our current markets.”
Perhaps surprisingly, multi-unit ownership is the rule rather than the exception in franchising. International Franchise Association research found that multi-unit owners operate almost 60% of all franchised units. Many of those owners began with one unit and leverage their increased operational expertise to scale with additional locations, according to the IFA.
That type of scaling validates a franchise’s power and value, says Ryan Stansbury, PJ’s executive vice president of franchise development. “One of the strongest measures of the strength of a franchise system is whether the people who know the business best choose to keep investing in its growth,” Stansbury says. “Whether our franchisees are preparing to open a second or third café or are building a larger portfolio, our job is to give them the systems, training and ongoing support they need to establish their first cafés and build on that success as their ambitions grow.”
Growth of the PJ’s Coffee Franchise
And grow they have. A recent news release states that PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans has nearly 200 stores open, four of them international. The brand is no coffee-come-lately. Phyllis Jordan – note her initials – founded the brand in 1978 based on the idea that great coffee is born of superior beans and roasting techniques along with passion for the art of coffee-making.
New Orleans natives and brothers Paul, Steven and Scott Ballard bought the company in 2008. They’ve stayed true to Jordan’s vision, with PJ’s Coffee serving hot, iced and frozen coffee drinks made with the finest Arabica coffee beans. Brand president David Mesa Jr. described PJ’s beans as “the top 1 percent of coffee in the world” in a QSR Magazine article.
PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans franchisees still prepare the brand’s famous Original Cold Brew™ Iced Coffee using Jordan’s cold-drip process. The process maintains the beans’ flavor and strength, but the resulting brew is two-thirds less acidic.
Refining Its Image and Hospitality
With the PJ’s Coffee franchise battling big competitors like Starbucks, Dunkin’, Scooter’s and Dutch Bros, the franchise needed to reassert itself. To that end, its leaders revisited the brand’s unique asset – its New Orleans roots – and rolled out The Big Easy initiative system-wide late in December 2025.
QSR Magazine drilled down into initiative in its article, quoting Mesa as saying its moves aren’t revolutionary but just lean further into the spirit of New Orleans. The city is known for its hospitality, food and beverages, he noted, so we chose to emphasize those roots. “That is a differentiator that our competitors can’t compete with us on,” Mesa said.
The article noted sweeping modifications to PJ’s branding, training, operations and menus, all with a central purpose: improving unit-level economics.
Stores’ décor and staff uniforms got new looks that ensure all locations have a consistent look; the ambience is accented by a carefully chosen New Orleans music playlist. Franchisees and baristas were trained to embrace New Orleans hospitality when they interact with guests. Food offerings were pared by about 65% and beverage flavors by about 50%, the article said. Then PJ’s added regionally influenced items such as Bananas Foster and King Cake coffees.
PJ’s Advantages for Franchisees
Today the revitalized PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans franchise is expanding throughout the United States and globally. Franchisees are attracted to several perks, among them:
- A simple-to-run business model.
- Lean staffing and labor costs.
- An enduring demand for coffee. The 2026 National Coffee Data Trends Fall Report, issued in September 2026, finds coffee consumption steady at 66% of American adults. The report also notes that specialty coffee consumption has reached a record high.
- Steadily increasing revenue. PJ’s says same-store sales have increased annually since 2013.
- Access to premium Arabica beans, supported by the company’s ownership of a coffee farm.
For more information about the brand and its franchising opportunities, please visit the PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans website.
