PJ's Coffee Franchisees Committed to Community Health
By: PJ's CoffeeThere are plenty of big perks to being your own boss – a flexible schedule, greater earning potential and more control over your career. For PJ’s Coffee franchisees, there’s yet another plus to being a business owner: They help build healthier communities.
While coffee has health benefits all on its own, PJ’s has taken extra steps to create products designed with health and fitness in mind. That way, guests can find drinks and food items that fit their diets and help them reach their goals. These initiatives add value for both franchisees and the communities they serve, since tailored menu options drive sales and build repeat business.
PJ’s and Eat Fit
PJ’s works with knowledgeable organizations to formulate the healthy options on our menu and help customers make healthy choices. We partnered with Ochsner Eat Fit in 2017 to develop nutritious, great-tasting drinks for customers who want to eat clean, feel better, or manage diabetes, blood pressure or cholesterol.
Eat Fit is a New Orleans-based organization that aims to take the guesswork out of dining out healthfully. Its registered dieticians work with both restaurants and customers at no charge to develop helpful apps and special menus that make it easy to eat smart on the go. Their app doesn’t count calories – it provides useful resources like recipes, grocery shopping guides and nutritional informational on its partner restaurants’ menu items.
“Communities are asking for things like this, and they’re becoming more aware of the importance of what they put in their bodies. Not just how that affects their weight, but how it affects how they feel that afternoon,” Molly Kimball, Registered Dietician and Eat Fit founder, said. “They don’t want to splurge every time they go out. These coffee shops are part of our everyday routines, and that makes it even more important to find products that we can still enjoy, but that are adding to our overall health and not taking away from it.”
Eat Fit helped PJ’s create its signature Protein Velvet Ice – a big success across the system. This high-protein drink is a velvety-smooth mix of our low-calorie PJ’s Original Cold Brew concentrate, fat-free milk and whey protein. It’s the perfect alternative to a high-calorie or high-sugar blended drink for those who are trying to cut down on either. It also keeps guests feeling fuller longer, so it helps curb appetite and can even be used an a meal replacement.
Protein Velvet Ice started out as a limited time offer – and it was a huge hit. We listened to our customers and made it a permanent menu item. Now, every single one of our seasonal flavors is available with Protein Velvet Ice. (Healthy King Cake, anyone?) This gives our franchisees a competitive edge, as health-conscious customers turn to PJ’s to get their favorite flavored, blended drinks without the guilt.
Easy Ordering
The Eat Fit designation makes it simple for customers to quickly choose the healthy option they want. There’s a list on the Eat Fit app and the PJ’s Coffee website of all PJ’s Eat Fit options. Eat Fit drinks have:
- No added sugar for coffee and tea drinks
- Less than 1 tsp of added sugar for smoothie and blended coffee drinks
- Fat-free milk
- Less than 175 calories
What’s Next?
PJ’s low-fat, sugar-free and high-protein beverages allow customers to have their cake and drink it, too. Going forward, Eat Fit will help PJ’s round out its menu with nutritious food options, as well. Through these initiatives, franchisees enhance their communities and capitalize on the growing demand for healthy options.