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Where Are They Now? From Chick-fil-A Team Member to Thriving Coffee Shop Owner

Jan. 28, 2025

Learn how the peach milkshake is made

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JoJo’s Espresso focused on customer experience, hospitality


Working at a Chick-fil-A restaurant teaches valuable skills, including customer service, hospitality and an introduction to entrepreneurship. Chick-fil-A Owner-Operators provide opportunities unique to their local restaurant, which could include mentoring, development sessions and education assistance. This series highlights how working in a Chick-fil-A restaurant prepared former Team Members for their future careers.

Taylor and Hana Whiddon’s son Josiah, born with a heart defect, passed away seven weeks after birth. He was lovingly referred to as “JoJo,” a nickname given by his two-year-old brother.

“After he passed away, we went through a grieving process and a whole year went by,” Taylor said. “And around that one-year mark we kind of started thinking about a coffee shop.”

The Whiddons, who never dreamed of becoming business owners, sought a way to remember their son and honor his memory. From there an idea was born – JoJo’s Espresso.

From coffee trailer to coffee shop
Taylor found his passion for coffee around age 25. He liked the ambiance of coffee shops and slowly over time, his taste for coffee evolved too.

“Over those years, I started drinking black coffee and really enjoying the tasting notes on the bag, how the coffee tasted and noticed I could describe it better,” he said.

Taylor came to Hana, a nurse at the time, and shared his desire to open a coffee shop.

“It was kind of out of left field for me,” said Hana. “What I’ve learned about Taylor over the years is when he gets passionate about something, he gives it his all, 150 percent. So, I knew whatever he wanted to do, it wasn’t going to fail because he wasn’t going to let it fail.” 

After months of planning, the couple opened JoJo’s Espresso in July 2020. They started serving neighborhoods from a coffee trailer in Germantown, Tenn. A trailer meant mobility, so they eventually expanded and traveled to neighborhoods in the broader Memphis community.

“They just welcomed us with open arms. When we would go to neighborhoods, people would have us park in front of their house and invite their whole neighborhood out. It just became a routine and tradition every Saturday to go to a different neighborhood,” Taylor said.

As the coffee trailer grew in popularity, the couple began thinking about a storefront. In November 2022, JoJo’s Espresso opened a 850-square-foot shop.

“I think about those Saturdays and how they helped boost our business and for people to know about us. We see a lot of people from Germantown especially, but also outside of the city because one day, they went to our trailer. And now they come to our storefront,” Taylor said.

Hana has fun decorating the store, transforming it into annual fall and Christmas themes their community loves.

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An early introduction to business, hospitality
When Taylor was 16, he worked as a Team Member at Chick-fil-A Germantown. Whether working the drive-thru, front register or helping guests, lessons from his time in-restaurant have helped as he became an entrepreneur.

“My time at Chick-fil-A really helped me years later here, have that same level of excellence that was taught there. I can teach that now to our employees,” Taylor said. “Anytime I walk back into a
Chick-fil-A now, it’s still the same going years back to when I worked there.”


While consistency is important, Taylor said engaging with customers was one of the top skills he learned – both from Chick-fil-A and his father, who spent his career in sales. His team talks about customer service a lot.

“Any business you start, you’re going to have customers and learn how to deal with people,” Taylor said. “Chick-fil-A taught me a respect level for any customer that walks in, whether they’re having a good day or a bad day.”

Chick-fil-A restaurants are locally owned and operated, giving Team Members the opportunity to see entrepreneurship firsthand.

Anthony House, who’s been the Owner-Operator of Chick-fil-A Germantown since 1996, remembers when Taylor was a Team Member nearly 20 years ago.

“You think of someone like a Taylor, you think of someone that’s just a bright young man, hardworking,” Anthony said. 

“When I think about our young folks that go on and have success like that in their careers, for me it’s nice to think that maybe I played a small part in that. And hopefully in the time that he was here, he learned some things that helped him land where he is at, which is amazing.”

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 With community support, JoJo’s Espresso to expand again
In early 2025, JoJo’s Espresso will open a nearly 5,000 square-foot storefront in the same plaza it’s currently located in. This will bring exciting updates, including a commercial kitchen for bakers to make goods like cinnamon rolls and scones.

They will also open a new location in a hospital not too far down the road.

Taylor and Hana expressed deep gratitude for those who support their business and when reflecting on what makes the coffee shop successful, said it’s the experience above all else – creating a cozy environment staffed by friendly people who serve delicious coffee.

They, and customers, are reminded of the “why” every time they walk in the door. A sign with photos of JoJo displays a message honoring their late son, including gratitude for the immense love and support following his passing.

“The community carried us through a season of grief,” Hana said. “To see JoJo’s Espresso go from a thought and idea to having the support, wisdom and guidance from family and friends, then to open this business and have complete strangers loving on us and helping us grow through that has been everything.”