7 Brew coffee opening first Pa. location in Berks
Franchise owners plan to open 50 locations throughout the region
There is a new type of coffee shop making its way into Pennsylvania and its first location will open in Berks County in October.
7 Brew is a drive-thru coffee concept that started in Arkansas and is expanding across the U.S.
Exeter Township residents Cortney and Travis Odom and their friends and business partners Kelly Oven and Oven’s father, Jeff Coghlan, are franchise owners of the first Pennsylvania 7 Brew location under construction at the Spring Market Shopping Center, 3582 Penn Ave., Sinking Spring. When it opens, it will bring 50 new jobs to the area.
According to Cortney Odom, the Berks location will be one of an anticipated 50 new 7 Brew locations the group’s company — Brew Family LLC — will be building in central and eastern Pennsylvania, northern Delaware and New York.
“We own a couple of Moe’s (restaurants) together,” Cortney Odom said of the business partners.
Travis Odom owns 12 Moe’s Southwest Grill restaurants in Pennsylvania — including two in Berks, one each in Delaware and Montgomery counties — and Delaware and Maryland.
In fact, Cortney Odom was in Vestal, N.Y. last week training staff for this week’s opening of Brew Family LLC’s first 7 Brew franchise. That area in New York is home to Oven and Coghlan. Odom said the team plans to open four locations in the Vestal area.
“But most of the 7 Brew locations will be in Pennsylvania,” she said during a telephone interview.
Odom’s role with 7 Brew will be as operator, along with Oven. She said Travis Odom will be working on the real estate side of this new franchise enterprise, helping to identify future locations.
What is 7 Brew
7 Brew serves espressobased coffees, chillers, teas, 7 Energy, smoothies, shakes and sodas. There are a potential 20,000 unique drink combinations with customers able to customize their drink selection, according to the company.
“7 Brew is a newer concept drive-thru, with two drive-thru lanes,” Odom said. “We only offer beverages. There is no food.”
Customers don’t go inside to order, and there is no ordering window. Instead, employees come outside with an iPad, talking to guests at their car window, Odom said.
“We are able to get more than 20 cars through the line in less than six minutes, while having genuine conversations with people as they come through,” Odom added. “Our employees can get to know customers. They have that genuine interaction at the car.”
With 20,000 possible drinks, Odom said the company’s employees will help customers zero in on what they want by asking questions about favorite flavors and drink types and making recommendations.
Why 7 Brew
Asked why she chose 7 Brew as a business option, Odom said when she heard about the brand she was immediately drawn to the company and its commitment to cultivating kindness, spreading joy and positivity. That culture, she said, drew her in.
“We flew to Arkansas to see the brand, and when we stepped inside, to take a tour — I just knew,” she said. “I had a sense of what I was supposed to do. I knew I had to bring it to the Northeast.
“It is an infectious feeling seeing customers. If they aren’t smiling when they come through, they are when they leave.”
The mission of the company, she said, is to cultivate kindness with every drink “through our service, speed, quality, energy and atmosphere.”
“Because getting your daily dose of energy isn’t just about quality and speed. At 7 Brew, it’s about the connections we make,” the company states on its website.
Coming to Berks
7 Brew’s building in Sinking Spring is about 500 square feet, Odom said. Construction consisted of prepping the site pad before a prefabricated stand was trucked in and dropped onto the pad via a crane. That installation happened Aug. 17.
“It was so much fun to watch,” Odom said, adding that it only took a couple of weeks to get the pad site cleared and utilities to the property.
Now that the stand has been installed, Odom said they are waiting for equipment to be delivered and installed, as well as supplies.
“We look to start hiring in mid-September, and we plan to open Oct. 23,” she said.
Interested candidates can apply to join the company’s “Brew Crew” at brewfamilypa. 7brewcareers.com/.
What comes next
Odom said she and her partners are well underway in identifying future 7 Brew locations.
She said there will definitely be additional 7 Brew stands in Berks, and plans are also underway in Montgomery and York counties, as well as along the 422 corridor, she said.
Odom added that they are also looking in the Allentown area. She said the team is targeting opening the 50 new 7 Brew locations within about seven years.
7 Brew opened its first location in Rogers, Ark., with seven original coffee drinks. According to information on its website, the company’s original goal was to change drive-thru coffee, “serving premium coffee in record time and making new friends while we’re at it.”
The company operates 118 stands in 18 states and is expanding through franchise opportunities.