May 16, 2024
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Joliet drive-thru coffee shop planned for Jefferson Street

City Council committee reviews drive-thru application Wednesday

By Bob Okon
The vacant Long John Silver's restaurant building at 2421 W. Jefferson St. would be torn down and replaced by a 7Brew drive-through coffee shop, according to plans presented to the city of Joliet. July 3, 2023.

The vacant Long John Silver's restaurant building at 2421 W. Jefferson St. would be torn down and replaced by a 7Brew drive-through coffee shop, according to plans presented to the city of Joliet. (Bob Okon)

The 7Brew franchise of drive-thru coffee shops plans a Jefferson Street location in Joliet.

The 7Brew plan is to demolish the closed Long John Silver’s restaurant building at 2421 W. Jefferson St. and replace it with a building of its own. Demolition and construction will begin in 2024.

“Employees serve customers in the 7Brew drive-thru directly at their vehicle windows.”

—  John Schebaum with BFA Inc.

It would be the second quick-service business planned for the Jefferson Street corner at Barney Drive. On the other side of Barney, Take 5 Oil Change, a drive-thru business that specializes in 10-minute oil changes, is under construction.

A drive-through Take 5 Oil Change is under construction at the northwest corner of Jefferson Street and Barney Drive in Joliet. July 3, 2023.

A drive-thru Take 5 Oil Change is under construction at the northwest corner of Jefferson Street and Barney Drive in Joliet. (Bob Okon)

Speedy service is among the features at 7Brew drive-thru coffee shops, according to the company website. The website lists about 100 locations, mostly in the South but as far north as Traverse City, Michigan and one Illinois operation in Jacksonville.

The Joliet City Council Public Service Committee will vote Wednesday on a permit for drive-thru service at the proposed 7Brew. Final approval would later go to the full City Council.

“Employees serve customers in the 7Brew drive-thru directly at their vehicle windows,” John Schebaum with BFA Inc., the engineering firm working on the drive-through permit for 7Brew, wrote in a letter to city staff describing the operation.

“This allows two drive-thru lanes to operate at all times, as customers are not required to pull up directly in front of a service window,” Schebaum wrote. “No ordering stations with speakers are proposed, as employees take orders directly in the queuing line with handheld devices.”

The 7Brew operation would be out of a new 510-square-foot building.

The plan is to start demolition on the Long John Silver’s building in early spring 2024, Mark Huonder, development manager with Net Lease Properties, said in an email.

Huonder said 7Brew is expanding in Illinois and plans to have eight new locations open in the state by the end of the year.