By 1808Delaware
Central Ohio’s crowded coffee map is about to pick up a dusting of powdered sugar as Beignets & Brew, a young Florida-based café chain built around hot New Orleans-style beignets and specialty coffee, is preparing to open its first two Ohio locations. One will serve Westerville and northern Franklin and southern Delaware counties, while the other is headed to the Hilliard area.
Specific opening dates have not been announced, but the company lists both cafés as “Coming Soon.” Visit Westerville places the Westerville opening sometime in 2026.
Two Addresses For The Ohio Debut
The Westerville café is planned for 7381 State Route 3, inside Northgate Plaza near the Maxtown Road intersection. The storefront was previously occupied by GNC, which has closed at that address. Northgate Plaza extends from 7345 to 7393 North State Route 3 and includes Kroger and a collection of restaurants, retailers and service businesses. The property’s location in Delaware County places Beignets & Brew along one of the busiest commercial stretches in the Westerville area.
The company also plans a Hilliard café at 2495 Hilliard Rome Road in Silver Horn Center. That address previously housed Dirty Dough Cookies, which opened there in 2023 but is no longer included in the cookie chain’s location directory.
The Westerville café has begun advertising for a general manager, another indication that preparations are moving forward. Neither hours nor the identities of the local franchise operators have been disclosed.
The Beignets Take Center Stage
Beignets & Brew is not simply a coffee shop with another pastry case near the register. Its fried dough is made to order and serves as the center of the concept. Traditional beignets arrive warm and covered in powdered sugar. The company’s menu also offers bite-sized versions and several dressed-up varieties, including Nutella, cinnamon sugar, Cinna-Swirl and Turtle beignets covered with caramel, chocolate, cream cheese drizzle and pecans. Customers can pair them with blueberry, buttercream, caramel, chocolate, honey, Nutella or icing dipping sauces. Larger boxes are designed for groups, with assortments of traditional and specialty flavors.
Beignets also turn up in sundaes, including Bananas Foster and an Old Fashioned version. On the savory side, the menu includes chicken tenders with powdered-sugar beignets and maple syrup, a breakfast croissant with egg and cheese and a choice of bacon or sausage, and a honey-butter chicken croissant.
Seasonal offerings rotate through the menu. Current selections include strawberry cheesecake beignets, a banana cream latte, coconut cream matcha and a mango-peach refresher, although those choices may change before the Ohio cafés open.
Coffee With A New Orleans Accent
The drink menu ranges from straightforward espresso, cappuccino and cold brew to much sweeter specialty creations. Bayou Bold, the chain’s house drip coffee, combines beans from Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala and Indonesia. A chicory blend adds a more distinctly New Orleans flavor, while café au lait pairs brewed coffee with an equal amount of milk.
Specialty choices include Biscoff Cookie Butter, Nutella, Honey-Cinna Lavender and Salted Caramel Mocha lattes. Most are available hot, iced or frozen. The menu extends beyond coffee to chai, matcha, loose-leaf tea, smoothies, lemonade and caffeinated “Power Fizzies.”
Alcohol is available at some existing cafés, but the company has not said whether beer, wine or mimosas will be offered at either Ohio location.
A Pastry With A Long Journey
The chain’s signature food has traveled much farther than Florida. French colonists brought beignets to New Orleans during the 18th century, according to New Orleans & Company. The traditional version is a square of fried dough served immediately under a generous coating of powdered sugar, often accompanied by café au lait. Beignets became so closely identified with Louisiana that the state legislature named the pastry Louisiana’s official state doughnut in 1986.
Beignets & Brew takes that familiar foundation and pushes it toward the modern dessert-café market, adding elaborate toppings, seasonal drinks, colorful interiors and products suited to social-media photographs.
From One Florida Café To A Growing Franchise
Beignets & Brew began in Destin, Florida, in May 2023. In a little more than three years, the concept has expanded through franchising into a multistate business with cafés operating or planned across the Southeast and beyond. The company says its founding team includes restaurant entrepreneurs with experience developing a chain of more than 1,600 locations, although it does not identify those founders by name on its website.
Its franchise model is designed for relatively compact spaces. Beignets & Brew says a typical café occupies between 800 and 2,000 square feet, with an estimated initial investment of $250,000 to $450,000. Once a lease has been signed, the company estimates that a location generally requires 90 to 180 days to open.
For Central Ohio customers, however, the equation will be much simpler: hot dough, a cloud of powdered sugar and a cup of coffee, with no trip to the French Quarter required.
