NEW ORLEANS - PJ's Coffee has lost roughly 30 percent of its stores in New Orleans due to hurricane Katrina, officials announced today.

The 40-store coffee shop chain, founded 27 years ago in New Orleans by Phyllis Jordan, reports that stores in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and northern Louisiana were spared damage.

The company plans several relief initiatives to help storm victims. As early as the week of Sept. 19, customers and supporters of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort can stop by PJ's Coffee to aid the relief effort in a number of ways.

1) PRESERVATION BLEND: PJ's Coffee will produce a limited edition Preservation Blend coffee and contribute $2 from the sale of each bag to relief and preservation funds for those Hurricane victims who desperately need financial assistance today and in the future.

2) KIDS DROP: Supporters are encouraged to donate items for the children affected by the Hurricane. The 42 PJ's Coffee locations across the Southeast will collect toys, clothes, non-perishable food and children's books to be provided to the young victims.

3) PRESERVE FLAGS: Rallying communities-at-large to show support for the Gulf Coast Relief Effort, PJ's Coffee has produced "Preserve New Orleans" small flags to be distributed in exchange for a $5 contribution to the Preserve the Gulf Coast relief fund.

4) PRESERVE T-SHIRTS: Proceeds from the limited edition "Preserve New Orleans" t-shirts will also be contributed to relief efforts, but more importantly, PJ's seeks to create an increased spirit of cooperation and collaboration at the community level.

"Our PJ's family is hurting much like so many families and business owners from New Orleans and cities along the Gulf Coast," said Chris Morocco, president, PJ's Coffee. "We believe we have a responsibility and an opportunity to rally communities around all of our stores to give in unique ways and to keep on giving beyond those important contributions to relief organizations. It is also important that we send a message about the future, that we rally people around the idea of preserving and restoring history-rich communities like New Orleans."

Thanks to a partnership with an Atlanta roasting facility, PJ's Coffee can continue to roast its trademark blends while it waits to assess the state of its private roasting facility on North Peters Street (which sits between the Mississippi River and the world famous Pat O'Brien's).

Meantime, some of the wounded coffeehouses are slowly beginning to reopen. The locations that are able to resume business are doing well, as Hurricane victims turn to familiar PJ's Coffee to recapture a sense of normalcy in their lives.

"We have seen such resilience and intestinal fortitude from our employees, our franchisees and our partners like our New Orleans-based creative team, Innovative Advertising, who developed all of our creative collateral from hotel rooms," said Morocco. "Felton Jones, our longtime Roast Master, was very proactive in ensuring that we had a back-up facility to roast our unique bean profile and continue to supply our operating stores. The human spirit is alive and well at PJ's, and we encourage communities to support any and all brands with a relationship to the Gulf Coast. They need our involvement, our commerce and our compassion."

ABOUT PJ'S COFFEE

Founded in 1978 in one of America's leading coffee ports, New Orleans, PJ's Coffee sets the standard for selecting, roasting and brewing coffee. With 42 coffeehouses in the United States, PJ's Coffee is poised for growth. Operating under PJ's Coffee and PJ's Coffee and Wine Bar, it expects to have 200 franchises signed by the end of 2005. Its coffee can be enjoyed in-store or at home by purchasing PJ's Coffee and coffee products in-store or at www.pjscoffee.com.