While Denis P. J. and Eugene had been running the family-owned J. M. Burguières Co., Limited, twenty-nine year-old Jules struck out on his own. Like his grandfather who traveled to America from France in the early nineteenth century, Jules moved to Cuba and then to Florida from Louisiana, where he became a major player in the development of the sugarcane industry for the next twenty-five years. In 1913, he became involved with Southern States Land and Timber, an enterprise of New Orleans and New York investors that owned over 2,000,000 acres in south Florida. Within a few years, he acquired an interest in the company. He was also involved in sugar research and land development during the 1920s. During World War I, Jules received an appointment as Food Administrator for Palm Beach County, Florida, and was elected Chairman of the Florida Development Board, the predecessor of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Upon the death of his older brother, Denis, in 1936, he returned to St. Mary Parish and assumed leadership of The J. M. Burguières Co., Limited and the Cypremort Sugar Company. As he had in Florida, Jules distinguished himself in Louisiana as an authority on sugarcane, playing an active role in numerous organizations. In addition to his sugarcane interests, he was instrumental in the development of the Intracoastal Waterway and made The J. M. Burguières Co., Limited a partner with the Caffery family at the Côte Blanche salt mine in St. Mary Parish. Jules possessed a passion for reading and researching the history and the innovations of sugarcane around the world, collecting what Louisiana State University described as "one of the finest private sugar collections ever assembled in this country." Numbering over one thousand books, the collection also includes travel books dating back to the 16th century.
Jules died a bachelor in 1960, leaving his estate and his fine reputation to his 26 nieces and nephews.
