A cafe where the coffee comes with a side of pugs is coming to Jacksonville. CuppaPug, a pugs-only cafe concept that got its start across the Atlantic, plans to open a location at 14180 Beach Blvd. in November, roughly 3 miles from the Atlantic Ocean near San Pablo Road.
The roughly 2,400-square-foot space is currently in permitting with the City of Jacksonville, according to the Jacksonville Daily Record. The Jacksonville outpost will be owned by Aaron Pieterse and Matthew, who own the broader CuppaPug business, along with local partner Andrea Nichols, a Jacksonville Beach resident who spent a week studying CuppaPug's original London operation before signing on. Nichols has spent more than 30 years working in information technology and real estate, per the same account.
CuppaPug offers coffee, treats and time with pugs, and the Jacksonville location will offer visits with resident, alumni and adoptable pugs alongside snacks and drinks. It will also include a retail section featuring t-shirts, bags and items from local artisans and businesses, the Daily Record reports. Customers will be able to bring their own pugs for a discount or drop pugs off for playtime, and reservations will be recommended though walk-ins will be allowed. An entry fee is planned but has not yet been determined.
A Business Built on Direct Ownership, Not Franchising
CuppaPug has operated for four years and now has seven locations spanning Europe and the United States, with its first cafe in London. Rather than franchising, the company uses direct ownership stakes in each new location, according to the report. The brand plans to add sites in Australia, Dubai, Las Vegas, New York and the United Kingdom.
Founder Aaron Pieterse has 10 pugs of his own, and the idea for the business traces back to a personal experience: his pug Gaston needed expensive medical care, an experience that helped inspire the cafe's rescue-focused mission, according to background reported by Bdaily. That framing helps explain why every CuppaPug location, including the one planned for Jacksonville, centers on dog rescue and adoption rather than just novelty pet visits.
Other U.S. branches offer a glimpse of what the Jacksonville cafe might look like day to day. CuppaPug's first American location opened in Escondido, California, in late 2024, charging $30 for 50-minute adult play sessions with a 50 percent discount for guests who bring their own pug, according to CBS News 8. A second U.S. branch followed in Frisco, Texas, last September, running a 20-guest hourly reservation system that keeps food service counters physically separate from the dog playrooms, as reported by D Magazine.
Navigating Florida's Rules on Pets and Food Service
That kind of separation isn't just a design choice — it's largely required. Under Florida Statute 509.233, public food service establishments regulated by the state's Division of Hotels and Restaurants are generally barred from allowing live pets inside indoor dining areas, per the Animal Legal & Historical Center. Getting around that typically requires a local municipal exemption ordinance along with strict sanitation standards, handwashing signage and cleanup protocols — the same kind of permitting process the Daily Record reports the Jacksonville location is currently working through with the city.
CuppaPug will partner with Pug Rescue of Florida & Georgia, with the two working together to raise awareness, support pugs in need and connect adoptable pugs with loving homes, according to the Daily Record's reporting. The Jacksonville cafe will contribute a portion of its sales to the rescue and make adoption applications available on-site, though customers cannot take newly adopted pets home the same day. Founded in 2003 as Pug Rescue of Florida before expanding into Georgia in 2021, the nonprofit saves roughly 195 pugs and pug mixes a year and incurs more than $349,000 in annual operating costs, according to Pug Rescue of Florida & Georgia, which relies entirely on volunteer foster homes rather than a physical shelter.
Local Treats and a Personal Connection to Pugs
The Jacksonville cafe expects to sell dog biscuits made by Barkin' Biscuits, a microenterprise vocational training program at the North Florida School of Special Education that employs students ages 18 to 45 with intellectual differences to handcraft treats using produce from Berry Good Farms. Students handle the recipe prep, mixing, baking and packaging as part of building job and independent-living skills, according to Berry Good Farms.
For Nichols, the venture is personal. She became a pug owner six years ago, and her pug Sebastian became her sidekick; she now has two pugs and a Bernese mountain dog, and had planned to adopt a third pug earlier this month, per the Daily Record's report. Across all of its locations, CuppaPug donates $1 from every customer booking fee to its partner rescue charities to help cover medical care and rehabilitation costs, a model that Time Out reports began at the original London cafe and has since carried over to every new branch.
The Jacksonville opening also fits a broader pattern taking shape across Florida, where pet cafes increasingly double as adoption hubs for local nonprofits. Hoodline previously covered a similar concept in Altamonte Springs, and the Orlando Cat Café rolled out a national franchising model across the Southeast in January 2025 after helping facilitate nearly 1,200 adoptions since 2019.
