A Letter of Gratitude to Our Community

12/24/25

Christmas time for me is a time for reflection on the things I am grateful for, and I want to take a moment to speak directly from the heart and say thank you.

Thank you for choosing to support a small local business and welcoming us in your daily routines.

Small businesses like ours are not just storefronts or menus or logos. They are made up of people. Real people who live here, who show up every day with hopes and responsibilities, who are working toward something better for themselves and their families. Our team members are your friends and neighbors, students, athletes, future leaders and business owners. When you support Nova Joe’s, you are not just buying a cup of coffee or a meal. You are investing in their goals, their confidence, and their future.

From the very beginning, my wife and I have shared a simple but deeply important mission as business owners: to treat people with kindness and to use our business as a way to positively impact lives. We believe that businesses can be places where people feel valued, encouraged, and seen. We believe that great people, making a great product, tend to create great results. Over the last year, we are incredibly proud of the team of great people we have assembled and the work we have done together to build something that matters for this community.

A great deal of that work has been focused on what you experience when you visit us. We have been intentional about returning to the very original Nova Joe’s breading, about crafting a food and coffee menu that is free of as many artificial colors and flavors as possible, and about moving away from seed oils to beef tallow. These choices take time, care, and effort, but they reflect what we believe in and how seriously we take the responsibility of serving this community well.

We also want to be honest and say that we know our work is not finished. There is still more to do, especially in the areas of speed and efficiency. We are committed to improving, learning, and growing. We are deeply grateful for the patience, kindness, and thoughtful feedback you continue to share with us, because it pushes us to be better than we were yesterday.

What humbles us the most is the realization that none of this exists without you. Your decision to support a local business like ours carries more weight than you may ever know. It creates jobs. It builds confidence in young people. It strengthens families. It keeps opportunity alive right here in Batesville.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for being a part of our lives, and for allowing us to be a part of yours. We are grateful for your support, and we look forward to serving you and this community with even greater care in the year ahead.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

With gratitude,


Jonathan and Scarlett
 Chramer

Nova Joe’s Batesville

The Return of the Original Nova Joe’s Breading

11/21/2025

For well over a year we have been working toward one goal that mattered deeply to us and to so many of you. It has taken patience, persistence, and more behind the scenes effort than most guests will ever see. Today we finally get to share the news we have been waiting to celebrate for a long time.

The ORIGINAL Nova Joe’s breading is back.

When we first opened our doors this breading helped set the tone for what Nova Joe’s would become. It delivered a flavor and texture that guests immediately connected with, and it quickly earned a reputation as best in class. Many of you told us that our chicken was better than offerings from the biggest and most recognizable brands in the industry. That kind of praise means a lot to a small independent restaurant trying to build something special in a local community. The circumstances of 2020-21 disrupted many businesses and suppliers, and we were not immune. The breading, which was foundational to Nova Joe's, became unavailable as suppliers and distributors alike were forced to make hard choices, leaving restaurants like ours to make the best of it with what they could.  

Last year when we took over the business, one of the top priorities we had was to do the work to bring back the original Nova Joe's breading. But the road to bringing this breading back was not simple. Independent restaurants do not have massive supply chains or corporate teams to snap their fingers and make change happen. We rely on real relationships and the willingness of partners to go above and beyond. Over the last year we have spent countless hours in conversation with our foodservice distributor and the supplier who originally supplied this proprietary blend. We worked through sourcing challenges, ingredient approvals, production testing, and long wait times that can feel endless when you know the final outcome is worth fighting for.

There were moments when the process felt slow and moments when it felt impossible, but we kept going because we knew how much this mattered. We knew because you told us. Over the last year we heard repeated feedback that the breading did not taste the same as it originally did. Those comments are never easy for a restaurant to hear, especially when you take pride in quality. But every bit of feedback served as motivation. It reminded us that our guests notice details. It reminded us that what we do matters. And it reminded us that excellence is worth the extra work.

Behind the scenes, our partners were working hard with us. They did not treat us like a small account. They treated us like a team worth supporting. We are genuinely thankful for our distributor USFoods, specifically Daniel Liles and Doug Keeney, who walked this long road alongside us and shared our desire to bring this recipe back to life.

All of that work has brought us to today. The flavor is back. The texture is back. The quality is restored. And we could not be more excited to serve it to you again.

Being an independent restaurant is not always easy. It means pushing through challenges with limited resources and making big things happen without a corporate safety net. But it also means we get to build something with real heart. Something shaped by our community. Something driven by passion rather than pressure. And moments like this remind us why we do what we do.

Thank you for supporting us through this long journey. Thank you for giving us honest feedback. Thank you for believing in a hometown brand that is committed to delivering best in class quality every single day.

The original breading is back and we cannot wait for you to taste it.

Jonathan Chramer