Central Ohio is getting a new spot for coffee and something a little more fun to eat alongside it. Beignets & Brew, a Florida-based coffee and beignet shop, is planning to open its first two Ohio locations in Westerville and Hilliard.
The two shops are listed as coming soon at 7381 State Route 3 in Westerville and 2495 Hilliard Rome Road in Hilliard. There isn’t an opening date just yet, but both locations are already hiring, so it looks like the Ohio expansion is moving along.
The company was founded in Destin, Florida back in 2023 and has been expanding ever since. Its concept is pretty straightforward: coffee, made-to-order beignets, and a menu of sweet and savory breakfast options.
So, what exactly is a beignet?
Pronounced ben-yay, a beignet is a deep-fried pastry traditionally associated with New Orleans. The version most people picture is a puffy, square piece of fried dough buried under a generous amount of powdered sugar, usually served alongside coffee.
The pastry has French roots and is believed to have made its way to Louisiana with French and Acadian settlers in the 18th century. Over time, beignets became part of New Orleans’ food culture, eventually becoming one of the city’s best-known culinary exports. Louisiana officially designated the beignet as its state doughnut in 1986.
That New Orleans connection is a big part of the Beignets & Brew concept. The company’s menu includes traditional powdered-sugar beignets, but it goes considerably beyond the classic version.
The traditional beignets come in orders of four or a dozen, while the menu also has 24-piece bite-sized beignets for sharing. For anyone who wants a little more going on, specialty options currently include Nutella, cinnamon sugar, turtle, and Cinna-Swirl beignets.
There are also dipping sauces including chocolate, caramel, honey, buttercream, blueberry, icing and Nutella. Beignets can even make their way into dessert territory with options like a Bananas Foster beignet sundae. Basically, it’s a sweet treat heaven.
The coffee menu is similarly broad.
Along with the usual espresso drinks, lattes, cappuccinos, cold brew and café au lait, Beignets & Brew serves a New Orleans-style chicory coffee. The company’s regular drip coffee is a medium-dark roast made with Brazilian, Colombian, Guatemalan and Indonesian beans.
Specialty drinks currently include a Biscoff Cookie Butter Latte, Nutella Latte, Salted Caramel Mocha Latte and a Honey-Cinna Lavender Latte. There are also frozen coffee drinks, matcha, chai, smoothies and other non-coffee options.
For something more substantial, the menu includes breakfast croissants, honey butter chicken croissants and a slightly chaotic-sounding Chicken & Beignets, which pairs chicken tenders with powdered-sugar beignets and maple syrup.
The company says its beignets are made fresh to order, and its franchise materials describe the cafes as relatively small locations designed around specialty coffee and freshly made food.
For Columbus-area fans of New Orleans food, this should make for an interesting addition to the local coffee-and-breakfast scene. The Hilliard and Westerville locations are both currently listed as coming soon, with opening dates still to be announced.
We’ll keep an eye out for more details as construction and hiring progress. To stay in the loop yourself, you can follow Beignets & Brew on Instagram, or head over to beignetsandbrew.com.
Featured image via Beignets & Brew (Facebook).
