Jeremiah Joe Coffee has two locations in Ottawa. Their downtown store is located at 807 LaSalle St, Ottawa Il 61350. Learn more on their socials or the official website. The deals for Restaurant Weeks will only be at the downtown location.

Restaurant Weeks are officially underway as of yesterday! From now until March 21st, Ottawa’s chefs and restaurants will showcase special themed menus designed to highlight the best of Midwest comfort and culinary innovation. Read the event description here for more information.

This time, our bite-sized interview series takes us to Jeremiah Joe Coffee. We spoke with Pamela Cronkright about the plans for Restaurant Weeks. First, we got to learn about the history of Jeremiah Joe’s.

“We’ve been open since 2002 and my husband had a business degree,” she explained, adding that he had been determined to do a personal project of sorts.

“In the meantime, our church bought a downtown building, the famous department store building, and knowing that DeWayne wanted to do business, they asked us if we were interested in doing anything like a bookstore or a coffee shop. And in the early days of the internet, we found a coffee consultant. And that was kind of risky, because literally, when we we hired, Amy sent us a photocopied set of papers on how to do a coffee shop. The first day we opened was the first day we pulled shots of espresso.” 

“So, we had our young family at that point, and it truly was a little mom and pop start up, and it’s been good to us for 23 years.”

Pamela also explained the story behind the business’s name.

“My oldest daughter, Madison, she has some intellectual disabilities, and we did not know that at birth. It was not until she was like two or three, when her disabilities became more apparent to us, and that was honestly just a struggle for us,” Pamela said. 

“Somebody in their attempt to encourage me, knowing that my faith was important to me, gave me a scripture from Jeremiah about how they know the plans God has for us that are good plans to prosper, not to harm, and instead of being encouragement, it felt like a struggle, like, how can that be true for Madison? How can there be a good plan?” 

Pamela explained the story eventually helped her realize lessons about what is and is not important, and the value of what and how people offer, in different ways.

“It’s really just a shift in my thinking about people and their strengths, And so we wanted to put that ‘Jeremiah’ in the name of our coffee shop because we wanted it to be a place where everybody was welcome. Like at the Barista level, at the customer level. No matter what station of life they’re in, we wanted everyone to have a place at the table. Like, there’s something good, and you have something to offer that makes things more beautiful,” she said.

The story of Jeremiah Joe is truly a heartwarming one. After we learned about the story behind Jeremiah Joe, we got to hear about what’s in store for Restaurant Week.

“One of our big announcements this week, is that we are opening another store in Utica, and so we were wanting to do something new… we’re going to do a ‘you pick two’ kind of thing, where you pick a drink, and you pick one of our classic food items.” 

Then, we got to hear about the exciting new options you’ll be able to try! Here’s the first of the drink choices:

“It’s a Bourbon Barrel aged coffee, and then we make cold brew out of that, and so the aroma of the bourbon is just delightful.” 

“The second drink option is a Pistachio shaken espresso, so it’s two shots of espresso, and you shake it with a full cup of ice, and then we sweeten it with a little pistachio syrup and splash it with some oat milk. That’s coffee forward and slightly sweetened.” 

“And then the third option is for somebody who might be less inclined to be coffee forward, which is our Shamrock Shiver right now. You can do that with or without coffee, but it’s frozen, and it’s made with ice cream, white satin chocolate and green mint… then whipped cream and caramel frozen blended, so that should hit three different coffee palettes.” 

With a variety of drink choices, there’s something for everyone at Jeremiah Joe Coffee! Pamela told us about the accompanying food options.

“We have a homemade biscuit with the sausage, egg and cheese, or the bacon, egg and cheese, or you can do the meatless option. Especially good, since it’s Lent,” Pamela explained. “If you don’t want the breakfast sandwich, we have our homemade cinnamon rolls, which are large and delightful made from scratch. Choice three is our egg bite frittatas, and so we have a ham and Swiss or a veggie and cheddar. So, you’ll pick one drink, one food option.” 

As part of Restaurant Weeks, Jeremiah Joe Coffee will be donating a portion of the proceeds from their Pick 2 deal to the Ottawa Food Pantry.

We also asked Pamela if she could pick out any favorites from the menu.

“Our most popular drink is the Jeremiah Joe Mocha… But that also comes hot, so that’s just going to be a white satin chocolate with your espresso, then whipped cream, and caramel drizzle on top of it. That’s just about our signature drink from the beginning. 

“Our thumbprint cookies are only a dollar and their homemade from scratch, and they’re just fantastic. It’s the perfect add-on when you just want something sweet to finish.”

We hope this bite-sized blog will inspire your next order at Jeremiah Joe Coffee! With Restaurant Weeks ongoing, there’s never been a better time to grab a coffee at Jeremiah Joe’s or try something new.  

For our last question, we asked Pamela what her favorite aspect of being a part of Ottawa’s restaurant scene is.

“For me, just coming back more full time into the coffee shop scene. I love working with the baristas. I love working with the customers. We literally have watched people Be born, grow up, go to college, come home, and start a family. It’s just crazy to watch it in front of your eyes. Just being part of the community is my favorite.”

And we couldn’t agree more! Many thanks to Pamela!

Ottawa’s Restaurant Weeks are underway. Join us in a two-week long celebration of community and cuisine.