7 Brew’s meteoric growth shows no signs of slowing momentum

There has been a lot happening in Gabe Moore’s seven years with Fayetteville-based coffee shop, 7 Brew.

Moore’s wife, then girlfriend Makayala, was a power tools sales rep to Home Depot. She met the original founder of 7 Brew Ron Crume, who quickly noticed her energy, enthusiasm and charisma. Crume gave her a business card and asked if she’d be interested in joining his coffee franchise.

Moore tagged along to the meeting — there were seven stores at the time — and the two of them became baristas, eventually working their way up to shift leaders, store managers and general managers. When CEO John Davidson and a group of entrepreneurs led a buyout in 2020 through a parent company called Brew Culture LLC, Gabe and Makayala stayed with the fast-growth franchise, which is technically a QSR — quick service restaurant.

From the original first location in Rogers in 2017, 7 Brew has grown to more than 250 stores and the goal of reaching 300 will likely be done in the next year. Beyond that, the franchise has contracted to open as many as 3,500 stores in the coming years — and that’s just domestically. There could be even more growth if 7 Brew decides to branch out overseas or in Canada and Mexico.

“There has been a lot of growth and a lot of changes, all positive and moving in the right direction,” said Moore, who is now co-director of franchise coaches for 7 Brew.
Moore trains many of the franchise owners and their employees to ensure the consistency and quality of the company’s drinks and service. Originally offering just seven types of drinks — thus the name 7 Brew — a person can order from more than 20,000 drink combinations at each of its drive-thru locations.

“Our drinks are caffeinated, the majority of them,” Moore said. “We do have smoothies, shakes, Italian sodas, things that are not caffeinated, but everybody needs a little jolt of energy.”

CULTURE CLUB
There is an employee and a customer culture with 7 Brew that Moore works religiously to instill and keep on brand. Workers learn how to combine all of the drink flavors and combos through his training, which includes him being in the shop with new hires and teaching the basics and tricks of the trade.

It’s also important to connect with customers. Moore said coffee drinkers don’t pull up to a speaker box, place their order and drive around to the payment window. Customers are greeted in line by a 7 Brew employee with an iPad. The order is taken, the money exchange occurs, and there is a level of customer engagement encouraged to be friendly and to some extent, educational about a customer’s drink desires as well as their daily business.

“I think the culture is extremely infectious and addicting, and it obviously helps,” Moore said. “The customers have that ability to mix and match and try different things, and I think that’s part of the loyalty. They know they have that ability when they come through the line, and who doesn’t want to come through and have a quick drive-thru experience where it’s extremely positive and you have a real human-to-human interaction? I think that’s a big part of our loyal customer base.”

The whole experience — a rich offering of drink products, customer service beyond a traditional drive-thru, upbeat music in the driving lanes, and encouraging words and interaction between employees and customers — is meant to differentiate from other competitors in the quick-service restaurant space. It’s “drinks only” and “drive-thru” only, and there isn’t any reason to mess with the successful formula.

LOOKING FOR LAND
While Moore is part of the team that helps control the retail setup and customer experience, the foundation for success for a 7 Brew location occurs long before he ever lands on the ground.

Moore credits the company’s real estate team for finding locations that work for the 7 Brew business model.

“Identifying the right site is huge, right?” he said. “You don’t want to open a stand that’s in the woods, but you want to have good visibility. You want to be easy to enter, easy to exit. Ingress, egress, that’s a huge part of it. You want to have people be part of the show. If you’re at a stoplight, a hard corner is always great.

“A lot of work has to be done on the front end. It can take a year or two years, three years depending on the city and the jurisdiction you’re in. And there’s all kinds of different city codes and hoops to jump through, but we find a way to get through. And then we find the sites that are winners. That’s where we’ll put a shovel in the dirt and get rolling.”

With the potential of having 3,500 more locations, there is no doubt there will be a lot of analyzing demographic data, site traffic, and land values.

The company is privately-held, but in an interview with online industry publication QSR, it was noted that an investment of $900,000 to $1.9 million is needed to get a 7 Brew location off the ground in most instances, depending on real estate costs. Each location structure is a pre-fabricated box that’s built off-site, which features canopied double drive-thru lanes and a roughly 500-square-foot modular building that contains operations.

7 Brew shared some private data with the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal indicating that there are 20 coffee stands in Arkansas, and they pull in approximately $50 million in annual revenue.

While the challenges are great for pulling off so many new openings in such a quick turnaround time, Moore doesn’t look to be taking much time off soon. He may even need a few 7 Brew drinks to keep his energy level up.

“We just want to spread love and kindness, and come check us out when we’re open. That’s a big part of it,” Moore said.