More Texas favorites are moving to Nashville. Jo’s Coffee Shop, known for its iconic “I love you so much” mural in Austin, opened its first Tennessee location on Friday, April 10.
It’s also Jo’s very first shop outside of Texas, where the brand has 10 locations scattered around Austin and Houston.
Located inside of Hyatt’s Dream Hotel between Fouth Avenue North and Printer’s Alley, Jo’s serves up coffeehouse classics alongside signature drinks like the Turbo, a creamy iced latte with hazelnut and white chocolate. Plus, there’s a variety of Texas-style tacos, pastries, and sandwiches on the menu every day.
“It has always been a dream for the brand to expand outside of Texas, and when our team was visiting Dream Nashville last year, we just immediately saw the potential,” Hyatt Austin Regional Food and Beverage Vice President Jamie-Lynn Argenta said.
The flagship Austin location of Jo’s Coffee features a red ball logo on top. Merchandise for sale in Nashville includes nods to it.
Argenta started working for Bunkhouse Hotel Group, the longtime owner of Jo’s, in early 2024, and a few months later, Hyatt acquired the brand.
“We have opened around two stores a year for the last three years in Austin and last year we opened our first Houston location, so our expansion has been happening locally for a bit longer,” she said. “We feel proud of the team, processes we have streamlined, menu, retail offerings, and now that we have it dialed in, we feel confident we can continue to grow.”
Why Texas brands are choosing to come to Nashville
Austin-based Jo’s Coffee opened its first location outside of Texas in Downtown Nashville on April 10, 2026.
Jo’s isn’t the first Austin brand with a Nashville expansion.
Boot brand Tecovas debuted its downtown Nashville store in 2021, Torchy’s Tacos made the trip in 2024 with a Midtown restaurant and Kendra Scott’s Yellow Rose jewelry store opened in 12 South earlier this year.
One of Austin’s most notable barbecue joints, Terry Black’s, also has a Nashville restaurant “coming soon” to the Germantown neighborhood. Like Jo’s, the Nashville spot will be Terry Black’s first location outside of Texas.
Austin and Nashville have long been compared given their shared prominence in music history and similar economic growth trajectories as the country’s growing “it” cities in their own times. But now they’re swapping businesses, too.
Nashville clothing brand Imogene + Willie brought its rustic style to Austin’s South Congress Avenue in 2022, and Hattie B’s Hot Chicken opened its first Austin restaurant in 2024. Now, Justin Timberlake has plans to bring his Broadway bar and restaurant Twelve Thirty Club to Austin, with a projected opening in 2027.
So why is Jo’s joining the migration?
“Nashville felt like a natural extension for our brand since there’s a lot of synergy between Nashville and Austin,” Argenta said. “Both cities have a strong sense of community and incredible food and music scenes. It felt like a natural fit – right place, right time.”
Is Nashville getting an ‘I love you so much’ mural?
In 2011, musician Amy Cook spray painted the now-iconic “I love you so much” mural in Austin, Texas, outside of popular coffee shop Jo’s.
While Jo’s officials said they appreciate the Instagrammable impact of its red-and-green “I love you so much” mural on Austin’s South Congress, there are no plans to bring the motto to Nashville.
Even as the company grew across Texas, the mural remained a South Congress novelty, apart from retail items nodding to the popular spot.
Brother-sister duo Liz and Lou Lambert launched Jo’s Coffee in 1999, an easy stop next to their Hotel San Jose. In 2011, Liz Lambert got into an argument with her then-girlfriend, musician Amy Cook.
In a grand apology, Cook took a bottle of red spray paint and wrote “I love you so much” on the side of Lambert’s coffee shop. While Lambert has since sold her majority stake in Bunkhouse Hotel Group, the mural remains an iconic piece of Jo’s and the greater Austin community.
Where is Jo’s Coffee Nashville?
Now open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., the Nashville location of Jo’s Coffee is located at 210 4th Ave. N., inside of the Dream Hotel.
There, Nashville tourists and residents alike can find Austin’s favorite specialty Jo’s House Coffee Blend with La Colombe, lemonade-tea concoctions, matchas and a plentiful food menu – without even hopping on a plane.
Hadley Hitson covers business news for The Tennessean. She can be reached at hhitson@gannett.com. To support her work, subscribe to The Tennessean.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TX fav Jo’s Coffee launches in Nashville’s Printer’s Alley