Just Love Coffee

What Just Love Coffee does

Just Love Coffee & Cafe is a U.S. specialty coffee franchise founded in 2009 by Rob Webb and headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, with a coffee roasting facility in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The company began as an online hand-roasting operation created to fund adoption-related giving and opened its first physical cafe in 2011. It now operates a network of franchised cafe locations across 33 U.S. states, alongside retail bean distribution through Whole Foods and Fresh Market, and catering delivered through an EZ Cater channel partnership.

The company's core product combines hand-roasted specialty coffee with an all-day food menu prepared on waffle irons rather than conventional commercial kitchen equipment, a method that eliminates the need for ovens or hoods and supports a small-footprint cafe format. Supporting products include a mobile loyalty app (Earn Love Sip Rewards), an online merchandise shop, digital gift cards via SecureTree, and a corporate and event catering program. Distribution is omnichannel: franchised cafes, direct online ordering through the company website and mobile app, the EZ Cater platform, and grocery retail bean SKUs.

The business model is primarily a franchise model that monetizes through a one-time $39,000 initial franchise fee, a 6% ongoing royalty on gross sales plus a 2% system development contribution, and unit-level cafe sales of food and beverages at an average ticket of $12-$16. Systemwide per-location gross sales are projected at $400,000-$800,000 annually, with food and coffee splitting roughly 50/50. Secondary revenue streams include catering and wholesale bean sales. Total franchise investment ranges from $482,500 to $743,000 with a minimum liquid capital requirement of $135,000-$150,000.

Name

Just Love Coffee

Legal name

Just Love Coffee & Cafe

Website

https://justlovecoffee.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Just Love Coffee & Cafe is a U.S. specialty coffee franchise founded in 2009, operating hand-roasted coffee cafes across 33 states with a proprietary waffle-iron food menu. It serves franchise investors, retail coffee bean customers at Whole Foods and Fresh Market, and catering clients via EZ Cater.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Coffee Cafe Franchise

NAICS

Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515), Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (311920)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Bakery Products (2050)

akta.pro primary industry

Coffee Chains & Franchise Cafes (THAFADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Coffee Roasters with Cafe (Roastery Cafes) (THAFADAE), Specialty Coffee & Tea Retail (Beans, Leaves, Accessories) (CRAHAGAI)

Keywords

• Specialty coffee cafe
• Coffee shop franchise
• Hand roasted coffee
• Waffle iron menu
• Coffee catering services

Headquarters

HQ city

Brentwood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Franchise Fees: Initial franchise fee of $39,000 paid by new franchisees upon signing the franchise agreement.
2. Royalty Fees: Ongoing royalty fees of 6% of gross sales plus 2% for system development collected from franchisees.
3. Cafe Food and Beverage Sales: Revenue from in-store sales of hand-crafted coffee drinks, waffle-ironed food items, and retail coffee beans. Average ticket price between $12-$16 per customer. Sales split approximately 50/50 between coffee and food.
4. Catering Services: Catering orders for events including office meetings, weddings, parties, and community events. Additional revenue stream for franchisees.
5. Retail Coffee Beans: Hand-roasted coffee beans sold in bags at Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and other retail locations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Just Love Coffee hand-roasts specialty coffee at its Murfreesboro, Tennessee facility and franchises community-oriented cafe locations that serve the coffee alongside an all-day menu cooked on proprietary waffle irons. Beyond cafes, the company sells retail coffee beans, gift cards, catering, mobile app loyalty rewards, and franchise opportunities to entrepreneurs.

Product overview

Just Love Coffee & Cafe is a specialty coffee shop franchise with a unique business model combining hand-roasted specialty coffee with an innovative all-day food menu cooked on waffle irons. The core product is the cafe experience (Just Love Coffee & Cafe), supported by a mobile app with loyalty rewards, catering services for events, an online merchandise shop, gift cards, and a franchise program for entrepreneurs. The company operates as a franchisor with independently owned and operated cafe locations across multiple U.S. states.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Just Love Coffee & Cafe The core cafe offering: hand-roasted specialty coffee drinks, an all-day breakfast and lunch menu cooked on waffle irons, craft beverages, and a community-focused cafe environment. Locations are franchised and locally owned across 33 U.S. states, with dine-in, takeout, delivery, and on-site catering services.
• Just Love Coffee Mobile App (Earn Love Sip Rewards) Mobile loyalty application for iOS and Android that powers the Earn Love Sip Rewards program. Customers receive 50 points at signup (free coffee), earn points on app orders, and redeem them for drinks, food, and bakery treats at participating cafes.
• Catering Services Full-service catering for corporate meetings, school events, weddings, showers, and casual parties, offering hand-roasted coffee, cold brews, signature refreshers, sandwiches, wraps, breakfast items, fresh fruit, salads, and sweet treats with delivery, utensils, napkins, and condiments included. Orders are fulfilled through the EZ Cater platform connecting to local Just Love Coffee cafe locations.
• Just Love Coffee Franchise Franchise opportunity for entrepreneurs to open a Just Love Coffee Cafe location. Total investment ranges from $482,500 to $743,000 with a $39,000 franchise fee and minimum liquid capital of $135,000-$150,000. Projected gross sales range $400,000-$800,000 annually. Includes training, site selection, buildout support, marketing guidance, and ongoing franchisee support.
• Just Love Coffee Online Shop E-commerce storefront selling Just Love Coffee merchandise and bags of hand-roasted specialty coffee beans, complementing retail distribution at Whole Foods, Fresh Market, and other grocery partners.
• Just Love Coffee Gift Cards Digital and physical gift cards for Just Love Coffee Cafe, sold through the SecureTree platform, allowing customers to gift drinks, food, and merchandise redeemable at participating cafe locations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average ticket price $12-$16 per customer due to food upsell
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• EZ CatercoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party catering platform partnership allowing Just Love Coffee cafes to fulfill catering orders for corporate events, meetings, and celebrations. Customers can place catering orders through EZ Cater's platform, which connects to local Just Love Coffee locations.
• Whole FoodsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRetail distribution partner where bags of Just Love hand-roasted coffee beans are sold in Whole Foods stores alongside Fresh Market and other retailers.
• Fresh MarketminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRetail distribution partner where bags of Just Love hand-roasted coffee beans are sold in Fresh Market stores alongside Whole Foods and other retailers.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Scooter's Coffee: Scooter's Coffee is a rapidly growing specialty coffee franchise with a similar combination of hand-crafted beverages and food offerings. It targets franchisees and operates across multiple U.S. states, making it one of the closest direct comparables in scale, model, and category.
• Foxtail Coffee: Foxtail Coffee is a specialty coffee roaster and cafe franchise expanding across the Southeast U.S. It offers a similar hand-crafted coffee and food menu in a community cafe format, with direct overlap in target markets and franchisee profiles.
• Black Rock Coffee Bar: Black Rock Coffee Bar is a specialty coffee franchise scaling rapidly across the western and southern U.S. It competes for the same franchisee candidates and similar small-footprint real estate as Just Love, with comparable menu structure around hand-crafted drinks and light food.
• Biggby Coffee: Biggby Coffee is one of the largest U.S. coffee franchisors with hundreds of locations and a community-oriented brand identity similar to Just Love's mission-driven positioning. Its franchise economics, multi-state footprint, and operator-friendly culture make it a strong comparable.
• The Human Bean: The Human Bean is a coffee franchise with a drive-thru focused operating model. It competes with Just Love for franchisee capital in the specialty coffee segment and represents a contrasting format but similar unit-economic framing for prospective operators.
• 7 Brew Coffee: 7 Brew is a fast-growing drive-thru coffee franchise that competes directly with Just Love for franchisee capital and U.S. real estate. Its speed and beverage focus contrast with Just Love's sit-down cafe model, but both target similar specialty-coffee-drinker demographics.
• PJ's Coffee: PJ's Coffee is a New Orleans-based specialty coffee roaster and franchise with cafes across the U.S. It shares Just Love's vertical integration of roasting and cafe operations, plus a comparable franchise growth model and Southern U.S. concentration.

Broad incumbents

• Dutch Bros Coffee: Dutch Bros is a publicly traded, large-scale coffee chain with an aggressive franchise and company-owned growth strategy. It dominates the specialty coffee franchise category and sets the bar for unit economics, brand awareness, and franchisee expectations that smaller players like Just Love must compete against.
• Panera Bread: Panera is a national cafe-bakery chain with a comparable coffee + all-day food menu and franchise/company-operated hybrid model. It represents the broader cafe-bakery competitive set that Just Love's waffle-iron menu and cafe positioning competes against for share of stomach.
• Dunkin': Dunkin' is one of the largest coffee and breakfast franchise systems in the U.S., offering a comparable combination of beverages and food in a franchise-operated format. While its scale and brand dwarf Just Love's, it competes for franchisee capital and breakfast-daypart traffic.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/justlovecoffee
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCXu0bRQX_6CV2v5h707jRIg
• Facebookfacebook.com/justlovecoffee
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/just-love-coffee-roasters/about
• Instagraminstagram.com/justlovecoffee
• Pinterestpinterest.com/justlovecoffees

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Just Love Coffee