When you build a smoothie and coffee bar that celebrates the beloved TV sitcom Friends, people will come. Boy, will they ever.
Mj Laidlaw opened her tiny Central Perth café in downtown Perth on April 26. The place hadn’t even been open a month when it welcomed visitors all the way from Timmins, who had driven eight hours just to see it. As Friends character Chandler Bing might have said, “Could that BE any more impressive?”
“Response has been amazing,” says Laidlaw, 26, who promotes Central Perth primarily on social media. She posts about five times a day on Facebook and is also active on Instagram and TikTok.
OBJ360 (Sponsored)
Matching donations matters: How local companies help enable life-saving care for children in need
Self-storage company Access Storage is proud to support healthy communities where its employees work and live – and in the case of Ottawa, that means joining a host of other
Touchdowns & Team Building: Why Ottawa’s Top Companies Are Hosting Events with the REDBLACKS
With a renewed roster and sold-out premium spaces in back-to-back seasons, the REDBLACKS are doubling down on game day experiences that aren’t just for die-hard fans, they’re for forward-thinking businesses
Online, she showcases happy visitors sipping on smoothies with Friends-inspired names like the “Phoebe and J” (strawberries, bananas, cinnamon and vanilla frozen yogurt) and the “Rachel Greens” (spinach, bananas, cucumbers, ginger and mango). The coffee is, of course, known as a “cup of Joey” — found on the menu under the heading “How you brewin’?”
Clearly, Laidlaw is a superfan.
“It’s the best sitcom ever,” says the young entrepreneur, who started watching the show when she was 13 and became captivated by the coffee shop where the friends met. “It’s always been my dream to have a cool spot for people just to come hang out,” she explains. “I saw Central Perk in Friends and I just got this idea in my head that it would be kind of cool to call it Central Perth.”
This is her first foray into the hospitality business after six years as the manager of an Urban Planet store in Kingston and a stint as an account executive at myFM radio in Perth. The café is completely self-financed, with fixtures such as the coffeemaker and front counter sourced from Facebook Marketplace. And Laidlaw is currently the sole employee, working seven days a week. “I’ve never had this much fun before in my life,” she says. “I come here every day and it doesn’t even feel like I’m at work.”
She is deliberately starting small, offering a short menu of smoothies, slushies, coffees, teas and other beverages — including nut-free, dairy-free and vegan options. Visitors can also pick up Friends merch, such as socks, greeting cards and t-shirts. Baby onesies emblazoned with Joey’s catchphrase “How you doin’?” hang on the wall behind the counter near an exposed brick wall and chalkboard menu that evoke the sitcom set.
For now, Central Perth is located in a compact space at the back of a nostalgia and collectibles shop called Kernel Mustard’s Emporium (22 Gore St. E.), but Laidlaw dreams of expanding.
“Eventually, I want it to look just like Central Perk,” she explains. She already has an orange couch similar to the one that held pride of place on the show’s set (it’s currently in Kernel Mustard’s window) and she plans to set up a photo booth so that customers can recreate the show’s famous coffee shop scenes.
Laidlaw’s mentor Steve Darling, owner of Kernel Mustard’s, says it’s been a pleasure to coach her as she has planned and opened her business.
“She asks some interesting questions,” he explains, adding that she often acts on advice immediately. “She listens to the things that you went through and she already knows how to navigate through those rocky terrains.”
He’s confident, too, that her planned expansion will go well. “There is no ceiling for somebody like Mj.”
Award-winning Ottawa travel writer Laura Byrne Paquet shares her sightseeing tips for eastern Ontario and beyond on her website, Ottawa Road Trips.
