photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Planning Commission Chairman Jeremy West, left, and fellow member Howard Monroe listen to a presentation during a site plan review Monday night for a proposed 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee location on National Road.

WHEELING — Plans are brewing to bring a new drive-through coffee chain location to Wheeling on National Road in Woodsdale — at a site directly adjacent to the new Dunkin’ Donuts store.

Members of the Wheeling Planning Commission on Monday night granted preliminary and final site plan approval for development of a new 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee at 841 National Road. The vacant property previously served as the location of the former Spic & Span Dry Cleaners and is already properly zoned as C-2 Commercial.

Bob Gage of Who Brew LLC, a franchisee of 7 Brew Coffee, appeared before the planning commission to explain the concept of the drive-through-only coffee stand. Gage indicated that he currently operates nine locations for the growing 7 Brew Coffee and is looking to expand in Wheeling and Morgantown.

However the chain that was established in 2017 in Arkansas has a total of more than 450 stands operating across the country and is quickly expanding with its signature concept of premium coffee served in “record time.”

“It’s loosely modeled after a Chick-fil-A drive-through,” Gage explained. “It’s a double drive through. The business model is once you place your order, four minutes later, you have your drink and you’re on your way.”

Wheeling Building and Planning Director Brenda J. Delbert noted that the 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee concept has drive-through customers placing their orders with a live employee instead of at a speaker like a traditional drive-through.

“You’re actually talking to a person,” Gage said. “It works really well. We’ve got nine of them in operation right now, and it’s gangbusters. It’s amazing how fast traffic runs through this place.”

There is no food served at 7 Brew, a business that started out with just seven original coffees, hence the name.

“Now that it’s expanded, they’ve got blended drinks, energy drinks, smoothies, ice coffee, hot coffee,” Gage said.

Customers can actually select from more than 20,000 drink combinations that are available at the stand, which in most locations is a prefabbed modular unit that takes only four days or so to get up and running once it is put in place.

“It’s a 510-square-foot building with a 273-square-foot accessory building, which is a cooler and storage building. There is a five-foot separation between buildings,” Gage said, adding that the site plan showed a trash enclosure area and small employee-only parking positioned along the perimeter of the property. “This is a modular building that is actually constructed in Kansas, and it will show up on the back of a truck. This is a 100% drive-through facility – there is no walk-in traffic at all. There’s no interior seating.”

Gage noted that the site is located in a floodplain near Wheeling Creek. Engineers are currently working on plans to address floodplain issues that will keep water out of the building in case of flooding.

The drive-through is being designed to accommodate 10 cars per lane for a total of up to 20 cars in line at any given time. The business will typically have five employees for shift, with more employee parking in order to handle shift change, Gage explained.

Customers who have ordered will pull around the building to get their drinks from an employee who will bring their order to them.

“It’s not actually a window – it’s a sliding door,” Gage said. “They’ll run those drinks out to the cars.”

The design of the two lanes also includes a “bail-out line” where customers with orders that can be fulfilled more quickly can get their drinks and go, even if a vehicle ahead of them is still waiting on a larger order that may take longer.

Gage said the business relies on a lot of social media promotion and a grassroots blitz that takes place one week prior to opening, when free drinks are offered within a certain radius of the business.

“This is not relevant to our site plan review, but somebody is going to ask me and ask all of us at some point, but do we need another coffee place?” asked Wheeling Planning Commission member Howard Monroe, alluding to the fact that the site is situated right next to the new Dunkin’ drive-through, three doors down from the renovated Sheetz and across the street from Tim Horton’s.

“Yes you do,” Gage said. “Absolutely.”

The 7 Brew concept is driven by premium coffee delivered quickly, especially during peak hours. Gage said chains like Starbucks are actually gravitating back to a more sit-down, in-store experience and are not seen as competition for the new, growing chain.

City staff recommended site plan approval for the new 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee location, and members of the Wheeling Planning Commission on Monday night unanimously approved the proposal.