7 Brew drive-thru coffee to open first of 80 Houston locations in Spring Town Center
August 8, 2023
Arkansas-based 7 Brew is getting ready to open the first of dozens of new locations in the Houston area.
The 7 Brew Drive-Thru Coffee franchisee, 7 Brew Texas, recently put up a stand on a 0.7-acre pad site it has leased at the Spring Town Center, at 21420 Kuykendahl Road, just south of the Grand Parkway. The stand was transported in two parts from Arkansas and put together after the groundwork on the site next to a Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers was completed, said Payton Medlin, marketing manager for 7 Brew Texas.
Houston-based Citadel Construction was the general contractor for that work.
“It’s a pretty quick setup once they have the groundwork laid,” he said. “And so now it’s all about hiring, building our team and getting our name out.”
The plan is to hire about 50 employees and have a grand opening in October. The 510-square-foot coffee stand will offer two-lane drive-thru service as well as a walk-up window and a few outside picnic tables.
7 Brew signed the ground lease in August 2022, according to NewQuest leasing agent Lara Lee LaMendola.
NewQuest developed and owns the 60-acre Spring Town Center along Kuykendahl Road north and south of FM 2920.
It’s home of the first of around 80 locations 7 Brew plans to open overall in Greater Houston. The rapidly expanding coffee chain entered the Texas market last year with its first location in Longview. There are now 18 stands in the Lone Star State run by a handful of different franchisees based on their location.
7 Brew Texas operates locations in central and southeast Texas, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio. It just opened its first San Antonio-area stand in Universal City and plans to open a second next month. The first one will come to Austin next year, Medlin said.
The plan is to open about 30 locations in Austin and 40 in San Antonio, Brew 7 Drive-Thru Coffee CFO and COO Robert Abdallah said in an email.
Thus far, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows four additional 7 Brew project registrations in the Houston area, including at 14083 Westheimer Road, 3777 N. Fry Road, 12430 Tomball Parkway and 7071 State Highway 6. Brew 7 has also signed leases for a site at Highway 6 and Spencer Road and two in the Conroe area, one at FM 1488 and one at Loop 336 and West Davis Street, according to Abdallah.
“We definitely don’t have our entire portfolio laid out just yet,” Medlin said. “But the Houston market being so large, we’ll be all the way up into Conroe, down to League City (and) over to Katy.”
Overall, 7 Brew – whose name comes from its original seven coffees – has more than 110 locations in 20 states, with Texas being its western-most state so far.
It aims to offer a friendly atmosphere and “cultivating kindness” with music, employees that form a connection with customers as well as with charity and community work.
7 Brew is not the only coffeeshop chain that is making its Houston debut this year. In June, German coffeeshop The Coffee Fellows GmbH opened its first U.S. location at 4900 Bissonnet St. in Bellaire and plans to open three additional locations in Katy, River Oaks and the Heights in late summer and early fall. During 2024 and 2025, the company plans to open 10 to 25 additional locations in Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio, with more Texas locations to follow.
Also in June, Citizens, an Australian-style café-restaurant, opened its first location outside of New York at 907 Westheimer Road, across from the new Montrose Collective mixed-use development.
And in May, Mexico-based all-day cafe and juice bar Ojo de Agua opened its second U.S. location after Miami in the River Oaks District, at 4444 Westheimer Road, D-140, across the street from Hopdoddy Burger Bar.
Original Press Release: Houston Business Journal.
