LAPLACE – The 2013 class of the River Region YEA! program recently visited the roasting facility of New Orleans based PJ’s Coffee. The field trip, the first of six in the program, focused on demonstrating to the future business owners how products are sourced, manufactured and packaged for distribution.

PJ’s owner Paul Ballard and Master Roaster Felton Jones Jr. walked the students through the entire facility and showed them the process of how a green bean from South America eventually becomes a bag of ground PJ’s Coffee French Roast.  

Ballard spoke to the students about the birth of PJ’s Coffee on a small cart in the French Market of New Orleans and described the growth process of the business into the growing multi-state franchise that is now producing coffee for the supermarket shelves. Jones educated the future business owners on sourcing the coffee beans from farmers, pricing the coffee and maintaining the quality PJ’s customers expect.

John L Ory Assistant Principal Chrystal Sylvain said, “The students were full of questions and listened intently as Mr. Jones described the process of roasting the beans for a specific time to get the flavor just right. I enjoyed learning how a cup of coffee is made, and the students gained a new perspective on the process of starting a business.”

The students were allowed to ask questions of both the owner and master roaster and were given freshly ground coffee to take home and a special PJs mug.

The next field trip in the program will take the students to a food franchise to learn the behind-the-scenes aspects of owning and operating a franchise.

“It was very important for them to hear about Phyllis, the founder of PJ’s, starting on a cart in the French Market because it showed the students that every big business started off small, but with a lot of work and business skill you can grow into a famous brand,” said YEA program manager Buddy Boe.