The chain is owned by the multinational fast casual restaurant conglomerate Retail Food Group and has more than 599 stores in 40 countries, including over 140 in Australia.

Analysis of a regular 'Gloria Jean's Mocha Chiller Coco Loco' revealed it contained 95.5 grams (3.37 oz) of sugar, which is 106 percent of an adult's recommended daily intake.

[14] In April 2010, Gloria Jean's Australia was accused of breaking a joint venture agreement with a small US-based coffee supplier, Western Export Services.

[18][19] As a direct result of this donation, national youth mental health foundation headspace pulled out as a partner of the suicide awareness campaign R U OK?, of which Gloria Jean's was a major sponsor.

[23] In February 2014, a Gloria Jean's franchise in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield was fined $110,000 for underpaying staff following an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman which found that 22 workers were paid as little as $8 per hour (or around half the minimum wage).

[24] In December 2022, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission won a civil court case against the owner of Gloria Jean's, Retail Food Group, resulting in Michel's Patisserie and Gloria Jean's franchises receiving repayments and debt erasures totalling $10 million as part of a settlement relating to allegedly illegitimate marketing expenses and allegedly being sold loss-making shops.