Dyersburg, TN - October 15, 2025 - Timm Johnson, owner of Green Frog Coffee and Grill (formerly Java Cafe in Dyersburg), operates a growing coffee and dining business with locations in Dyersburg, North Jackson, South Jackson, and Middleton. The business first opened in 2009 and marked its 16th year in 2025, continuing its tradition of serving quality coffee and food to the West Tennessee community.
Johnson’s unexpected journey into the coffee world began in 2007. Sitting inside the old Java Cafe, he was working on a book when the baristas became overwhelmed with customers. Without hesitation, he set his project aside, jumped behind the counter, and started helping. What began as an impromptu shift led to a career he never saw coming.
"I never had any clue that I would be owning or running a multi-location coffee business years later," admitted Johnson.
That first step behind the counter quickly turned into more responsibility. He was soon offered the general manager position, and before long, the opportunity came to purchase the business. Johnson didn’t hesitate.
"I bought [Java Cafe] and opened the downtown Jackson location at the same time," he explained. "From there, over the years, it's just been some ebb and flow. We've had some wins and had some losses with the locations, but right now we feel pretty comfortable where we are."
One of the early highlights of Johnson’s journey was creating Green Frog’s signature drink—the Dirty Snowman—in 2008, inspired by his childhood love of snow cream. Today, it remains a customer favorite.
Green Frog Coffee and Grill is known for its quality and variety. Every dish and drink are made to order, and the menu is broad and diverse.
"We probably have the widest variety menu in West Tennessee," said Johnson. "We are like a Starbucks, we're like a Smoothie King, we're like a sandwich shop, we're like a hot plate lunch shop, we cook burgers, we have Asian dishes... it's a pretty complex menu."
Much of that food is made from scratch.
"We make several of our own products ourselves, like our ice cream, we make ourselves; our Ho Ho egg rolls ourselves, we make all of our soups ourselves, and then, of course, anything like the omelets are made to order," shared Johnson.
Johnson believes what sets Green Frog apart is both consistency and service.
"We really strive to be one of the cleanest and one of the friendliest places in West Tennessee. We spend a lot of time training our staff. We also, on our pay scale, try to pay more than other shops around us to recruit only the best employees," he said.
That philosophy is summed up in Green Frog’s mission: “We want to be a place where people want to work and where customers want to come back, again and again. We try to achieve this by being friendly, clean and a quality place, where people have an expectation that is met every time.”
The company recently introduced the Good Guarantee—a promise that every customer will be served in a timely, clean, and friendly environment. If it’s not good, it’s not Green Frog—and if it’s not Green Frog, it’s free.
Beyond food and coffee, Johnson values Green Frog’s role in the community.
"Owning Green Frog Coffee and Grill has allowed me to interact with tons of people in the community, from the banking business to the schools to interacting with other entrepreneurs," Johnson said. "One of the things I really enjoy is when we are able to offer a special discount, which we do often... We try to let people know that we are there and that we care about them... The main impact is with our employees, trying to provide them with a place and an opportunity to work, that's a great place to work, where they can get a reasonable amount of pay and not only make ends meet but have a great quality of life. That's what we strive for."
But the journey hasn’t been without struggle.
"Owning Green Frog Coffee and Grill has had some big challenges,” Johnson admitted. “I’ve been on the brink of financial disaster at least three times over the past several years. Just starting out and not having enough capital to operate was one problem. Incurring a lot of debt and expansion and then COVID just created a multiple stack of issues that we had to navigate. Luckily, I was blessed with some partners along the way. I’m the only owner now. And then there was some family that helped me through it. But there were definitely some challenging times, financially."
Even with those obstacles, Johnson sees the business’s resilience as its biggest success.
"I would definitely say that our success has been that we’re still around after 16 years, and we’re looking forward to growth in the upcoming years. I feel like we’ve spent a lot of time building a brand and I feel like people understand that we’re just not about food and drinks. We really want to serve people and give them a boost for their day, whether it’s through kindness or [getting] exactly what they expected when they ordered. We want people to leave in a better place than when they came in."
About The Mill Workspace: The Mill Workspace, a DBA of Northwest Tennessee Entrepreneurship, Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)3 entrepreneur center located in Dyersburg, TN and focused on serving entrepreneurs in the nine counties of Northwest Tennessee. They help businesses through one-on-one counseling, workshops, and multi-week programs all designed to help businesses in the region start up and grow.
Programs at The Mill are funded in part by a grant from LaunchTN.
