{"id":346717,"date":"2026-07-21T00:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/346717\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T00:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T00:47:14","slug":"a-j-chocolate-house-launches-franchise-expansion-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/346717\/","title":{"rendered":"A.J. Chocolate House launches franchise expansion plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINTER PAR, Fla. \u2014 A European-style chocolate cafe with two Central Florida locations is looking to expand through franchising<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A.J. Chocolate House<\/a> has launched a franchise campaign targeting walkable downtowns and tourism destinations across Florida, the Southeast and potentially other parts of North America.<\/p>\n

Edwin and Katherine Jablonskas opened the company\u2019s first U.S. location on Park Avenue in Winter Park in August 2023. A second location opened on Canal Street in New Smyrna Beach in 2025.<\/p>\n

The company traces its roots to Vilnius, Lithuania, where Edwin Jablonskas and his father, Algimantas \u201cA.J.\u201d Jablonskas, founded the business in 2002.<\/p>\n

A.J. Chocolate House offers handcrafted chocolates, cakes, coffee, wine and other cafe items. The business also generates revenue through wholesale accounts, corporate gifts, private events and seasonal sales.<\/p>\n

The company reported approximately 40% year-over-year growth across its restaurant, retail and wholesale operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t think we would franchise this quickly,\u201d the owners said. \u201cWhat prompted us to go for it was an overwhelming response from customers, colleagues, even someone on our own staff who approached us, wanting to invest in the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company partnered with West Palm Beach-based Accurate Franchising to develop its franchise program.<\/p>\n

Future locations are expected to occupy approximately 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. The company is primarily seeking entrepreneurs, owner-operators and hospitality-focused investors.<\/p>\n

The initial franchise fee is $35,000. The company estimates the total investment will range from $302,767 to $757,667, depending on lease terms, construction and equipment costs. Franchisees will also pay a 6% royalty fee, according to the company\u2019s franchising website.<\/p>\n

A.J. Chocolate House said Florida and the Southeast will be its initial focus, but the owners have also received interest from potential operators in Canada and resort communities elsewhere in North America.<\/p>\n

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\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINTER PAR, Fla. \u2014 A European-style chocolate cafe with two Central Florida locations is looking to expand through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[141980,147,145,28,141981,90549,139,141,140,141982,144,146],"class_list":["post-346717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-a-j-chocolate-house","tag-central-florida","tag-channel-9","tag-florida","tag-franchising-expansion","tag-lithuania","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-vilnius","tag-wftv","tag-wftv-channel-9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}