Florence could get a new drive-thru coffee franchise if the Boone County Planning Commission approves a zone change request.
7 Brew Coffee, an Arkansas-based drive-thru coffee chain, is aggressively expanding across the United States. As of today, 7 Brew operates over 300 stores. In early December, the franchise announced it would open seven new stores in Ohio, including one at 9281 Fields Ertel Road in Cincinnati.
The chain specializes in customizable coffee drinks, energy drinks, teas, and smoothies, among other beverages. It also features several ‘secret’ menu items, which have helped the brand garner popularity on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
What differentiates it from other coffee franchises is its drive-thru only, similar to other rapidly growing chains such as Dutch Bros.
Now, Brew Team KY LLC, a Lexington-based coffee franchisee, is seeking a zone change request that, if passed, would allow for the opening of the first 7 Brew Coffee in Northern Kentucky. Brew Team KY operates seven Brew stores in Lexington, Louisville, Bowling Green, Versailles, and Jeffersonville, Indiana.
Brew Team KY seeks to change the zoning designation of a 1.56-acre plot of land – located at 8109-8113 US 42 in Florence – from Suburban Residential One and Office Two to Commercial Services. The zone change would allow Brew Team KY to construct a 510 square foot drive-thru coffee shop with a 280 square foot remote storage/cooler accessory storage.
The plot is bordered by Tire Discounters, Take 5 Oil Change and a White Castle to the north, single-family residences to the south, a Marathon gas station to the east, and an O’Reilly Auto Parts to the west.
The Boone County Planning Commission’s Zone Change Committee approved the zone change request with conditions on Wednesday, Dec. 18, as confirmed by zoning administrator Michael Schwartz to LINK nky.
The planning commission held a public hearing on Dec. 4 to discuss the zone change request. The legislative body and the public discussed the project.
During the hearing, Mike Hill, a land design and development agent representing 7 Brew, compared the store’s drive-thru operation to Chick-fil-A’s.
“There’s no menu board,” Hill said. “There’s no speakers. They have staff with iPads outside of the building that come to your car and the drive-thru lane, kind of like a Chick-fil-A model, and you order your drink directly from the staff on the iPad.”
7 Brew features two drive-thru lanes. Customers order their drinks on the left side of the building, where they are greeted by an employee who inputs the order digitally. From there, they wait in the queue until they are handed the drink on the right side of the building. Hill told the planning commission that each lane could hold approximately 10 to 12 cars. When the lanes are at full capacity, 20 to 24 cars can fit around the building.
“They (Brew Team KY) provided a project narrative, which is attached to the staff report, with a trip generation memorandum that shows that this facility will generate fewer than 100 cars at peak hour,” Schwartz said during the hearing.
7 Brew’s hours of operation are Sunday through Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 11 p.m.
The full Boone County Planning Commission will hear the zone change request during the legislative body’s next meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 8. If the planning commission approves the request, it will move on to the Boone County Fiscal Court, which has the final say on all zone change requests.
