The Louisiana Family Behind Two National Brands with Paul Ballard

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Some of the great restaurant and food brands in our country have roots here in Louisiana and today’s guest is hoping to continue adding to that legacy. Paul Ballard is the co-owner and co-founder of Ballard Brands, which includes PJ’s Coffee and WOW American Eats. Both brands have experienced monster growth across the country, and we wanted to sit down with Paul to hear his story and learn more about what makes a business so successful. 

The story begins at Tulane University, where Paul met his wife, Torry. Their shared love for coffee blossomed into a passion that would eventually lead them to acquire PJ's Coffee, a brand founded by Phyllis Jordan, a pioneer in specialty coffee. They opened location number eight at the time, and the business has grown to more than 180 locations nationally and abroad.

Paul shares insights into the origins of PJ's, the importance of quality control, and the brand's impressive growth. Plus, we discuss the challenges of maintaining product consistency across franchises, the value of optimism in business, and the exciting future plans for PJ's and WOW American Eats. 

Here’s some of the key topics we discuss: 

☕ PJ’s Coffee Growth Story: From 8 locations to 182+

🏆 Lessons from Scaling a Franchise: Keeping quality high while growing fast

🚀 Entrepreneurial Mindset: The power of optimism & thinking big

🔥 WOW American Eats: How a midnight wing idea turned into a nationwide brand

 

0:00 - Intro

0:55 – The beginning 

5:42 – Explosive growth

9:05 – Maintaining Quality

13:10 – Future plans

17:45 – Core values

22:23 – WOW American Eats

28:42 – Balancing time and energy for all the brands

34:38 – Overruled or Sustained rapid fire

36:15 – Lessons learned

41:29 – Paul’s superpower

43:10 – Favorite books

Visit us online: https://www.scottvicknair.com/

Watch the Podcast on YouTube: https://bit.ly/3TgD9jP