PJ’s Coffee focuses on nontraditional growth

PJ’s Coffee of New Orleans is starting to expand beyond its Louisiana roots by emphasizing nontraditional locations.

The 64-unit chain, owned by Covington, La.-based Ballard Brands LLC, added six new units in 2012, an 11-percent increase over 2011, and has added eight new locations this year. The company plans to open 10 more units by year’s end, said Ballard Brands founder Paul Ballard.

“We ventured into casinos, hotels, health care facilities, restaurants with the coffee,” Ballard said.

The company has begun to grow outside its Louisiana home, opening units at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and in El Dorado, Ark.

“We’ve worked ourselves outward over the past five years to the Gulf Coast. Arkansas presents the southern touch point for us heading into Middle America,” Ballard said. “You’ll also see us head toward Texas and Atlanta.”

Besides PJ’s Coffee, Ballard Brands has developed a corporate and franchising base with the 70-unit WOW Café in 30 states, the five-unit Original City Diner and its 24-hour express quick-service extension, and the two-unit Boardhouse sandwich brand.

The coffee concept has been especially well suited for nontraditional development, such as in the New Orleans International Airport, the L’Auberge Casino, 11 Royal Sonesta hotels, and the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center in Houma, La.

“With our nontraditional contracts, we don’t have a lot of boundaries,” Ballard said.

“PJ’s has all the offerings of a premium coffee café, but there’s a little bit of New Orleans in it,” he said. “It comes through in our food offerings and our service.”

Ballard said Phyllis Jordan, the founder and “PJ” in the brand, was a pioneer in the cold-coffee segment. “It’s in the base of what we do,” Ballard said. “A lot of folks even refer to it as New Orleans-style iced coffee.”

This week, PJ’s introduced single-serving cups in grocery stores. The cups are available in four roasts — Carnival Blend, French Roast, Hazelnut and Decaf — and are also sold at PJ’s coffeehouse units.

“Single-serve is an aggressive, growing segment in the coffee industry,” said PJ’s roast master Felton Jones.

Ballard said his company, which began as a PJ’s and Smoothie King franchise group, continues to seek franchisees for its other concepts. Ballard founded and owns Ballard Brands with his brothers Scott Ballard and Steve Ballard.

Ballard Brands, then the brand’s largest franchisee, acquired PJ’s Coffee from Raving Brands Inc. in 2008. “It ended up being a blessing,” Ballard said. “We were able to bring in the PJ’s to the WOW brand. The cultures were very connected. That’s when we became a portfolio company.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following clarification:

Clarification: April 18, 2013  This story has added the ownership of Ballard Brands to include brothers Scott Ballard and Steve Ballard.

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
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