Jo Jo’s opens in location of former Flightline Café

    LIMESTONE — Signifying the official opening of business, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held at Jo Jo’s, formerly the Flightline Café, in the Loring Commerce Center. The resturant has been serving up breakfast and lunch to hungry patrons since the beginning of the month. The business is owned by Van Buren native Jo Jo Ouellett. Ouellett owns Jo Jo’s with his partner in life and business, Kathy Banks, with whom he is engaged.     This is the second Jo Jo’s in Aroostook County. The original Jo Jo‘s, located in Van Buren, has been experiencing success for over two years.
    “We started a little cantina bus, and it just started growing,” Ouellett said. After starting the first Jo Jo’s venue, the couple bought what was Josie's diner. Because of the success the business experienced, they ended up buying the whole building and expanding. Jo Jo‘s in Van Buren is at the point where there isn‘t any room for expansion, which is why Jo Jo found himself interested in the Loring café.
    “It's kind of funny, everybody told me "you're crazy," when I bought the old cantina thing, but business was so good from that, I ended up buying Josie's,” Ouellett described, “when I bought that, they said ‘You're nuts, there's enough restaurants in town,’ but yet, I did well enough to buy the building and expand. When I decided to look at [the former Flightline Café], they said 'you're bananas.’”
    Regardless of criticism, Ouellett is optimistic about business, stating that if he’d stopped every time somebody told him that he was nuts, he wouldn’t have left Denver.
    While some may speculate that a recession is not the most pleasant of times to open a business, Jo Jo disagrees.
    "That's the best time to do it ,” he explained. “When things are great and everybody has cash, the prices are through the roof on everything — property, equipment, stock. In a recession, not everybody's got a whole lot of money so now you can get property cheap, you can get equipment cheap, this is the time to move on thing.”
    While the timing may have been right, Ouellett researched the business to make sure it was the right investment for him. While the Van Buren Jo Jo’s experiences peaks and valleys (which, he said, is normal for a township), Jo Jo’s Loring locations has consistency, being in a business district.
    While the books at the two locations are undoubtedly unique, their menus also have slight deviations.
    “(At the Loring Jo Jo’s), I have broccoli puffs; in Van Buren, I don't,” he said. “In Van Buren, I have liver and onions, but here I don't. This is more of a grab-and-go venue,” he added.
    Both of Jo Jo’s locations have their own special challenges, according to Ouellet, but he likes challenges.
    With the opening of the second Jo Jo’s, Ouellett and Banks have been discussing the possibility of extending the hours of operation for the Van Buren Jo Jo’s to include Sunday from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m.