When New Brunswick Restaurant Week Heats Up, Gloria Jean's Stays Cool

A woman in a wide-brim sun hat was fanning herself with the morning newspaper when she wandered up to the counter.

“Do you have anything cold?” she asked.

Leslie Conroy, the store manager at Gloria Jean’s Coffees at 120 Albany St., didn’t miss a beat. She is accustomed to customers asking all sorts of questions about the types of drinks and various flavors on the menu.

From vanilla horchatas to wildberry smoothies to iced mocha lattes, you might say she has all the drink possibilities and flavor combinations, ahem, down cold.

“I feel like we have a lot of flavors,” Conroy said. “I love when people feel like we wouldn’t have something that they like or something that’s out of the normal, like a flavor that someone would want. And, we usually have it.”

Gloria Jean’s Coffees, located in the Albany Street Plaza building, will offer a special during New Brunswick Restaurant Week: buy one drink, get one at half-off from 2 p.m. to closing on menu items only.

Restaurant Week is such a big event in City Center that it will run for 15 days, starting Sunday, July 16. With more than 20 dining establishments taking part this year, it’s an invitation to pull up to a booth and try something new.

And that’s perfect when you’re talking about Gloria Jean’s Coffees.

What helps this Australian-born chain stand out in a crowded grab-and-go coffee market is its comfy interiors.

“I like it because we have booths,” Conroy pointed out. “It’s just bright and inviting in here, and I think our customers really like to sit down and stay for a while.”

So, you can really spread out and make yourself at home while you’re sipping your, say, nitro-infused cold-brew coffee while munching on your slice of New York cheesecake, blueberry scone, raspberry crumb cake or other item from Gloria Jean’s array of sweet treats.

Conroy and the crew of six or so workers typically serve a lot of Rutgers students from September through May. Throughout the year, the clientele seems to include a lot of New Brunswick police officers and some of the construction workers from some of the nearby projects who are no doubt looking for something cold.

“We still sell a lot of hot coffee, though,” Conroy said. “We get a lot of men who come in the morning and want their black coffee.”

By: Chuck O'Donnell
Photo Credit: TAPinto New Brunswick