Why 'JoJo' returned to her downtown Tucson restaurant after retiring

For Tucsonans who rely on downtown for work, dining, nightlife or weekend outings, JoJo’s is once again being shaped by the person whose name is on the sign. Jo Schneider retired from the restaurant in 2022, but the 73 year old owner discovered that leaving behind the gathering place she had built at 76 W. Washington St. was harder than expected. She returned in summer 2025, taking a front of house role while her son manages the kitchen and bookkeeping.

Schneider said she came back because she missed the daily rhythm of welcoming customers and supporting her staff. Her return also brings the restaurant’s story full circle. What is now JoJo’s began as La Cocina, later operated under the name LaCo, and has been redesigned around a broader menu and a new identity. The current name is a family tribute, based on the nickname children in Schneider’s life used for her.

The restaurant’s roots in Tucson reach back to 1984, when Schneider opened Bentley’s House of Coffee and Tea on Speedway. She had moved to Tucson from Cleveland in November 1983 and had never worked in a restaurant before becoming an owner. Influenced by her entrepreneurial father, she believed a business might offer independence and allow her to spend more time with her children. Instead, she quickly learned how demanding restaurant work could be.

Her children nevertheless became part of the business, washing dishes and working the cash register as they grew up. Schneider said working beside them gave the family a shared understanding of the labor required to keep a restaurant operating. She credits persistence, support from the Tucson community and the employees who helped her learn the business with carrying Bentley’s through its early financial struggles and beyond.

After roughly 25 years at Bentley’s, Schneider began to feel that the coffee house had changed. When she opened it, customers were more likely to share tables and talk with one another. Bentley’s later became one of Tucson’s first cafes to offer internet access, and Schneider noticed that people increasingly spent long stretches working on laptops instead of interacting with the people around them. The community atmosphere she valued seemed to be slipping away.

That concern led her downtown in 2010, when she heard that a restaurant in Old Town Artisans was available. Schneider visited the space several times before deciding she could transform it. At the time, she recalled, the property was run down, with plastic tables and boarded up buildings. She focused on its outdoor potential and imagined a community restaurant with a stage. She purchased the business Aug. 5, 2010, renovated it over several weeks and opened Aug. 30.

Today, Schneider concentrates on the parts of the work she enjoys most, greeting diners, checking on employees and helping maintain the welcoming environment that has defined the property. Her son Ben Schneider and his wife, Carolyn O’Connor, have helped guide the restaurant’s newer direction. O’Connor operates nearby CERES and Dandelion Cafe, and the couple traveled through Italy and other parts of Europe while developing ideas about service, portions and ingredients.

JoJo’s now offers separate brunch, lunch and dinner experiences. Brunch runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Lunch is offered Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a grill focused on items such as chicken, house made burgers, salmon and grilled vegetables. Diners can order those offerings as plates or salads, and the restaurant says the streamlined menu is designed to get food out in 10 to 15 minutes for downtown workers. Some familiar standards and popular sellers remain, but the menu is intended to move beyond the Mexican restaurant expectations associated with the name La Cocina.

Dinner places more emphasis on shareable dishes, entrees and family style service. Customers can choose a casual meal such as a burger, fries and a margarita, or select more elaborate, higher priced dishes. One featured item is a Francesinha inspired by a meal the Schneiders encountered in Portugal. JoJo’s version combines pulled pork, bacon, melted cheese and an egg with a sauce built from birria, tomatoes, onions and beer reduction. The restaurant also serves a new bar area called the Monsoon Room, located on the east side of the property where Dusty Monk and Tallboys once operated. It has dark green walls, vintage lamps and a jungle inspired design, with small plates and alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks. The room is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursdays and until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

For Schneider, the menus and name changes are less important than the atmosphere that has endured through each version of the business. She describes the restaurant’s environment, history and people as what make it special, and sees her return as the culmination of a life spent bringing people together. After discovering that retirement did not suit her, she says she is grateful to be back in the place she helped build, serving the Tucson community one more time.