We’re blooming in the Sunshine State! New owners have just taken over an established Jamaica Blue café in Mackay, kicking off with a Free Coffee Day on 27th June to get to know the local community.
New franchisees Chris and Jaymee were previously frequent visitors to the busy Caneland Central shopping centre where the Jamaica Blue is located. Becoming regulars at the café, they slowly began to fall in love with Jamaica Blue and its recipe of award-winning coffee, contemporary dishes and stylish store design.
While they weren’t from a hospitality background – Chris is a Boilermaker by trade and Jaymee a Healthcare Business Consultant and Stay-at-Home Mum – they had always dreamed of running their own business.
“We’ve always wanted to own our own café. We love coffee and good food and providing a great service to a community.”
“After attending a Jamaica Blue information night on Zoom, we knew that this was the road we were going down to make our dreams come true,” says Jaymee.
“We have always loved the Jamaica Blue brand, coffee and delicious food. So when this particular café became available, everything just sort of fell into place.”
“Our favourite café became ours.”
Sharpening the Tools for Success
With 160 franchises around the world, Jamaica Blue franchisees hail from all walks of life. Owned by Foodco, one of Australia’s top franchise groups, our diverse network is able to draw on a wealth of experience.
While some of our franchisees come from a hospitality background, others like Jaymee and Chris do not. The one thing that is essential is an entrepreneurial spirit; our expert team can give them the other tools they need to succeed.
Jamaica Blue has developed a bespoke training system to give new franchisees the knowledge they need to hit the ground running. With around 100 stores currently operating in Australia, over the past 30 years we’ve learned exactly what it takes to run a successful franchise.
“The preparation was excellent,” says Jaymee. “The CORE training in Sydney was thorough and interesting but heavy on the learning – in a good way!”
CORE is the Centre of Retail Excellence, Foodco’s innovative training facility at our Sydney headquarters.
Our tailored 3-week training program incorporates training at CORE, online programs and in-store field support to instill our new franchisees with the skills, knowledge and confidence required to run their own Jamaica Blue café. It is led by an experienced team of trainers, business and food coaches.
“Our Business Coaches have been available and helpful all the way through, giving us some really great support and encouragement.”
One of the key benefits of joining an established franchise like Jamaica Blue is accessing the marketing expertise of our national team, who run regular digital campaigns and innovative in-store promotions across the network that are tried and tested. For example, our national loyalty program has thousands of keen participants.
However, all of our franchisees are encouraged to get involved with marketing and tailor initiatives to their local communities. “We loved being involved in the marketing for the launch to help build that excitement,” says Jaymee.
A Community-First Approach
As Mackay locals who are familiar with the area, Jaymee says they are looking forward to getting to know more of the regulars and building their reach at Caneland Central. The Free Coffee Day on 27th June was a great way to bring new people into the cafe.
“We’re also looking forward to getting involved with the community through local groups and businesses.”
We’re thrilled that Jaymee and Chris have realised their dream of owning a Jamaica Blue store and can’t wait to see how they thrive in Caneland Central. Our business coaches and national team will be with them every step of the way.
Awaken Your Café Dream
If you’ve always dreamed of owning your own café, check out our latest opportunities. It might just be time that you escaped into your dream life with Jamaica Blue.
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