When it comes to breakfast foods, Americans have their favorites. Donuts and waffles are two at the top of nearly any list.
What Makes Donuts Franchise Opportunities a Sweet Option?
Opening a donuts franchise may seem like a sweet proposition. Donuts are a staple of American bakeries. They’re good with a cup of coffee. And they’ve experienced a renaissance in recent years as a food that’s gotten a bit of a makeover, so they’re more popular than ever.
Just Love Coffee Cafe would like you to consider an alternative: the waffle as part of the Just Love Coffee Cafe franchise.
It’s as beautifully versatile as the donut, and our cafe has distinct advantages over donut franchises. Let’s take a look.
Waffles vs Donut Comparison
A quick Google search nets several recipes of donuts trying to be waffles, but none of the waffles trying to be donuts. That’s because waffles are fantastic just the way they are. They don’t need to be anything but their fluffy, buttery, delicious selves. But let’s look deeper than flavor.
Nutritionally, Waffles Beat Donuts
If we’re watching what we eat—and these days, more Americans (184.8 million of us) are health conscious than ever—the nutrition information between waffles and donuts matters. Especially for investors considering opening a donuts franchise.
The nutrition breakdown is this:
- Donuts have 55% more calories than waffles
- Donuts have 56% more carbs than waffles
- Donuts have 79% more fat than waffles
- Waffles have 60% more protein than donuts
- Waffles contain 151% more water than donuts
Waffles Take Savory Flavors Better than Donuts
That may be an opinion, but it’s a pretty safe one. A lot of dessert shop franchises have tried different things with donuts, including savory recipes, and they just don’t take quite as well as with waffles.
Perhaps it’s the fundamental difference in how the two foods are made—donuts tend to have their additional flavors piped inside them as a creamy filling, whereas waffles have their extras piled on top.
Maybe it’s because, at a donut franchise, donuts are fried in oil, which changes the way the dough absorbs the flavors that are added to it. Waffle batter that’s cooked on a hot griddle surface isn’t quite as altered in the cooking process, so has more room to be enhanced by the addition of savory ingredients, like bacon, fried chicken, or even sausage gravy.
Of course, we invite everyone into their nearest Just Love Coffee Cafe to try our Breakfast Slider or Flyin’ Pig waffles to judge for themselves.
Waffle Irons Can Cook More than Waffles
Here’s where the real magic starts. The Just Love Coffee Cafe kitchens do so much more than waffles with our waffle irons.
Some donut franchise kitchens are set up with a conveyor system to make large batches of donuts, and only donuts. This makes those kitchens huge. Others are more traditional deep fryers that can be used for other recipes and therefore get away with smaller kitchens.
That would need to be something the investor considered at the time of signing the donut franchise agreement.
The Just Love Coffee Cafe waffle iron kitchen, however, can pivot on a dime to create many of our inspired menu items, from the Bacon Tater (a hash brown waffle with cheese and bacon) to the Dippers (sausage or chicken wrapped in waffled biscuits and served with either sausage gravy, syrup, or mustard). And that’s just breakfast!
Just Love Coffee Cafe’s Menu is More Complete (and Inspired) Than Most Donuts Franchise Menus
The Just Love Coffee Cafe menu serves all-day menu items with the waffle iron twist. The best part for the franchise owner is that, unlike a dessert franchise, this is just one of the multiple streams of revenue and a pretty lucrative one at that. On average, food sales account for around 50% of total store sales.
Cakes franchises do one thing well: cakes. Donuts franchises do donuts. With a Just Love Coffee Cafe franchise, we do many things well.
We can do dessert-style items, like the Chocolate Chip Cookie Waffle, or Cinnamon Rolls waffle-style. We also do savory breakfast items like the womelette, which is a traditional omelet ingredient made in a waffle iron.
We’re frequently told by our customers that our waffle iron-inspired menu is their favorite part of coming to Just Love Coffee Cafe. They love to post photos of their Roast Beef & Cheddar Melt or their Grilled Italian Caprese sandwich on their social media.
We don’t need enormous kitchens, ventilation hoods or deep fryers, industrial grills, or other expensive kitchen equipment to have a delightfully full and tasty menu our customers love at Just Love Coffee Cafe franchise locations.
As a result, our franchise locations don’t need large footprints, which makes them smoother and easier to run, and they have lower overhead with just the waffle irons doing the work for a fantastic menu selection.
Most Donuts Franchises Focus on the Donuts, Not the Coffee
Just Love Coffee Cafe wasn’t even intended as a direct-to-consumer coffee business in the beginning. Rob Webb began hand-roasting coffee beans as a means to fundraise to support families going through the adoption process.
Through the roastery, people trickled in asking for cups of coffee. They set up a small table with a “name your own price” system, and the rest happened organically. Word of mouth grew so well—despite the roastery not even being visible on internet maps—that Webb decided to open two pilot stores.
From there, the Just Love Coffee Cafe franchise brand grew with incredible swiftness. The year-over-year performances indicated strong customer retention and a target audience that appreciated the waffle iron-inspired menu as well as the appreciation customers have that a portion of their money goes toward a charitable cause that helps families grow.
We’re about so much more than waffles and even coffee. How many donuts franchise opportunities can say the same?
How Owning a Just Love Coffee Cafe Shares the Love in So Many Ways
Community Minded
The Just Love Coffee Cafe leadership team encourages franchisees to develop strong relationships in their communities. That can be through charitable endeavors or causes that are important to franchisees, and it doesn’t have to be related to the adoption arm that Webb still contributes to today.
Just Love Coffee Cafes embrace their communities, and frequently, the communities embrace back in a very strong way.
Support for Owners
Every kind of family is important to us, and that includes adding franchisees to the Just Love franchise family. We give as much support to our franchisees as possible, so investors can open their location in as little as 90 days! Can a donuts franchise say the same?
The Just Love Coffee Cafe’s smaller footprint and consumer-friendly design make it possible to open quickly from the day investors sign the leasing agreement on their location. We can even help with contractor recommendations in certain geographical areas.
We also provide extensive training for you and your staff through the opening phase and beyond. Franchisees also receive extensive marketing support and access to our confidential operations manual for daily operations assistance. We are just a call or email away, too!
Members of the Just Love Coffee Cafe executive team will be on-site at the grand opening of every franchise location to celebrate each opening and to assist with the earliest days of operations, too.
Investors Find a Purpose and a Place
With Just Love Coffee Cafe, we are thrilled to have our franchisees become part of our franchise family rather than go to donuts franchises. Many of our franchisees have found purpose in their own communities and a sense of place providing customers with somewhere they can relax, have a quality cup of coffee and a tasty meal, and catch up with friends or enjoy a good book.
Find your place among us instead of at a donuts franchise. Our waffles are better anyway. Contact us today to learn more!
