When Mokas Coffee & Eatery began 20 years ago, food was an afterthought.

The concept, born in Salina, Kansas, specialized in high-quality specialty beverages and coffee. But as most brands do to thrive and survive, it decided to evolve. Mokas eventually made room for a kitchen. First came breakfast, then lunch, followed by breakfast all day.

“Our differentiation isn’t just we serve coffee or we serve food,” says Jason Ingermanson, president of Mokas and CEO of JRI Hospitality, the chain’s parent company. “We serve coffee to the best of our ability … We look at food the same way.”

Mokas transitioned from a coffee shop to a cafe to a full-blown eatery in 2024. The chain changed its name accordingly. Not only because it wanted its branding to be accurate, but it also wanted to make sure it was prepared for another evolution—franchising across the country.

Officially donning the label of an eatery wasn’t the only change ahead of franchising. In 2022, Mokas brought roasting in-house.

“As we looked at the opportunity of our growth and the opportunity of franchising and really understanding that it was the time for growth for Mokas, we determined that the best way for us to control the quality that we demand in the coffee that we serve is by taking on the roasting piece into our business as well as some of the other beverage accents that we use, such as syrups and powder mixes and things like that, really getting to be a little bit more proprietary in what we’re offering versus every other coffee place,” Ingermanson says.

Mokas is starting this franchising journey with four locations across Kansas, but plenty of restaurant experience to draw from. In addition to operating the coffee chain, JRI Hospitality serves as the largest franchisee of Freddy’s, owns Arizona-based Chompie’s—a decades-old New York deli business—oversees a country club and golf course, and does its own real estate and development.

Mokas signed its first franchisee in 2024, who is expected to open the first location sometime in mid-2026. There’s also a pipeline of about 20 potential operators that have participated in Discovery Days, and Ingermanson expects to have another signing within the next 90 days. The intention, according to the executive, is to take what JRI learned from franchising with Freddy’s and “be the best we could at launch of Mokas franchising.”

“We wanted the first franchisee and all franchisees after that to see us as, ‘Wow, these guys only have four locations, but they provide the tools, the expertise, and the partnership that a brand of 300-plus locations would be able to offer to me,’” Ingermanson says. “‘And they’re very focused and excited on giving young entrepreneurs the chance to franchise something very much like Jason got his opportunity with Freddy’s when he was young and started getting into his own businesses.’”

Looking further into the future, Mokas plans to grow regionally, meaning the central and south-central U.S. The company’s website lists several growth markets: Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Ingermanson wants to leverage the brand’s recognition in nearby trade areas instead of diluting it by jumping to California or the East Coast. The regionality also supports effective roasting and distribution of coffee to franchisees without jeopardizing product quality.

All of Mokas’ locations are either endcap or inline, but the brand is willing to go with whatever it and the franchisee agree is the best opportunity for guest traffic, ROI, and brand awareness. Ingermanson notes that many other coffee concepts make drive-thru a requirement for operators, but he disagrees, pointing out larger urban areas where foot traffic is plentiful and a lot of customers don’t have cars.

However, he does want franchisees to open spaces between 2,200 to 3,000 square feet—a building large enough to accommodate dining. After all, the “M” in Mokas’ logo is two upside-down coffee cups overlapping, but also ears of two heads in conversation.

“That’s where we believe connection for long-term success is going to exist. We believe that humans are always going to want to be connected,” Ingermanson says, “Our guest is always going to want to be connected in more than just a drive-thru experience. So we take our hats off to the folks that provide coffee and drive-thru experiences, and I think there’s some wonderful concepts out there that do that. That is not who we are. We require the connection of our guests, and we want them to go home and talk about special moments that they had where they shared fresh flavors, whether it was our food or our drink and be able to tell others about that.”

Ingermanson thinks Mokas was already franchisable in the years leading up to the move. That’s because his restaurant group runs decisions through certain filters: Do we believe in what we’re doing? Do we believe that we’re offering something unique and supportive for a franchisee? Do our decisions meet our core values of who we are and why we do things? Is it a good return on investment for franchisees? And have we done everything possible to not oversimplify things just for the sake of franchising?

With these questions in mind, Mokas and Ingermanson are careful about balancing the idea of the brand being franchisable but not taking away the elements that made it special in the first place.

Ingermanson will also be meticulous about how he and his team select franchisees. The ideal candidate is not necessarily someone with much experience, but one who’s ambitious, dedicated, and believes in supporting communities and growing with team members and customers.

“[Guests] are the priority of everything that [franchisees] do, and the ultimate objective is putting a smile on that guest’s face every day with the experience of the high-quality coffee that gets them excited because they love coffee, they love caffeine, that’s their start of their day, that’s what makes them happy, or when they want to connect with someone over a wonderful meal and potentially a coffee that is well-executed,” Ingermanson says.

Source: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/story/mokas-coffee-eatery-builds-franchise-model-around-connection/