NEW ORLEANS (January 4, 2005) - PJ's Coffee, founded 27 years ago in New Orleans, kept its roasting facility operating through the hardships of the last three months with the help of an exceptionally dedicated roast master and his team.

As part of its unique roasting process, PJ's keeps its beans in very small batches, thus guaranteeing freshness and contributing to an especially rich and bitter-less coffee. But after the damage inflicted on the roasting house, located on North Peters Street, and its coffee supplies, no one knew if the roasting facility would ever re-open.

"We went to the roasting site as soon as government officials said it was safe to return," said Felton Jones, PJ's Roast Master. "When we got there, we found a small batch of green coffee beans that was not damaged by the storm. The discovery was our call to action, and we devised a plan." Born and raised in New Orleans, Jones saw it as his mission to help his city in any way possible. After working with PJ's Coffee for 10 years, there was no doubt in his mind that the small batch of green coffee beans was a sign.

Cooking hot meals in an efficiency kitchen and using a file cabinet for a pantry, Jones and his production supervisor, Brian Beck, work night and day in the facility in order to guarantee that it is business as usual for the PJ's stores in New Orleans.and around the country.

For the last two and a half months, Jones and Beck have dedicated their weekdays to maintaining PJ's life support and their weekends to visiting family - which, at this time, live five to nine hours away from New Orleans. Their efforts reinforced what New Orleans Gambit Weekly reported recently, proving that PJ's is determined to support the city that has been there from the beginning, naming it "New Orleans' #1 coffeehouse" time and time again.

The 40+ store coffee chain originally lost no less than 30 percent of its stores in New Orleans, including Orleans, Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes. Within the past several months, more than 15 locations have reopened, while several are on the road to opening by year's end. Among a few others, two stores at Tulane University are expected to open in late January or early February.

Thanks largely to the efforts of Jones, PJ's was one of the few restaurants that was able to open successfully and operate relatively soon with stores maintaining an average of 80-100% of its pre-Katrina staff.

By offering exceptional coffee and great food to contractors and out-of-towners and employment positions to the locals, PJ's has the rare opportunity to support the rebuilding of its city on a daily basis.

"With each re-opened store, we have customers telling us how grateful they are to walk through our doors and be in a PJ's again," said Nicole Hutson, PJ's Coffee brand manager. "If we can bring back any sense of stability and normalcy to our customers, even for the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee and a muffin, then we've succeeded."

As part of its efforts to support the Katrina Relief effort, Jones created a commemorative Preservation Blend to rally local communities around the preservation efforts. A portion of proceeds from the sale of the limited edition whole bean coffee will be contributed to Katrina Relief efforts.