Ziggi’s Coffee is brewing west as it breaks into the California market with the announcement of its 20th franchise agreement. The Colorado-based coffee concept welcomes franchisees Claude and Aurora Jones who plan to open a location in Citrus Heights, California, a city just east of Sacramento.

Ziggi’s now has franchise agreements for locations in Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and California. With 11 units open, nine opening soon and 16 in development, Ziggi’s is on a path primed for growth.

“This is an exciting time to be part of the Ziggi’s franchise as we continue to draw interest inside and outside our home state of Colorado,” says CEO Brandon Knudsen who co-founded the company with his wife Camrin. “Claude and Aurora are passionate about the business and their community, making them ideal franchisees to bring our quality coffee and superior customer service to California.”

Claude, with a background as a network engineer, and his wife Aurora, are setting out on a completely new adventure, one they weren’t quite expecting; business ownership.

“I’ve been ‘working’ for someone else, doing the same thing for the past 22 years, so it’s nice to start something different,” adds Claude. “It’s that feeling of the unknown but it’s a healthy unknown and it’s thrilling.”

After a turbulent year, including a layoff, Claude and Aurora began to look for a way to work for themselves.  An internet search for coffee (something they both love) franchises, unveiled Ziggi’s and a courtship began.

“We had a small windfall of money, so we thought, ‘let’s do something with it. Let’s put this money to work for us,’” Claude said. “When we came across Ziggi’s, we were inspired by Brandon and Camrin’s story and it looked promising. We couldn’t wait to try the products.”

After months of phone and email chats spent getting to know the outstanding Ziggi’s team, the Jones family flew to Colorado to see the company firsthand. But there was one caveat; “We told them, if we fly out there and aren’t ‘Wowed’ by the product, we’re not going to sign,” he says.

Having tried other coffee shops and ending up disappointed, it was important to them to invest in a business with good people and high quality products.

“Arriving at our first Ziggi’s location, Aurora and I tried various coffees, our son had a smoothie and our daughter just had to have some tea because, tea is her ‘thing,’” says Claude. “She took one sip, her eyes grew big and she said, ‘Dad, this is so good!”

But they didn’t stop there. The family visited several locations, as well as the coffee roaster, and tried as many Ziggi’s beverages as they could. “It was all fantastic. We tried every one of them and every one was great. They weren’t too sweet but had depth of flavor and character.”

They were sold. Now, Claude and Aurora are officially the first franchisees to bring Ziggi’s to California and can’t wait to get up and running. With Aurora running the business day to day, they are eager to get their first unit open, a drive thru model for convenient customer service, and plan to open additional units in the future.