Grounds for excitement
7 Brew location planned at former Wendy’s site
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A contractor’s crew removes the former Wendy’s restaurant from its site to make way for a new 7 Brew coffee and specialty drinks drive-through location on North Charles G. Seivers Boulevard last week. - G. Chambers Williams III
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This 7 Brew coffee and drink drive-through is open on Parkside Drive in Knoxville. The chain plans a new store in Clinton in the former Wendy’s space off Exit 122. - G. Chambers Williams III
A contracting crew demolished the former Wendy’s restaurant at 2240 N. Charles G. Seivers Blvd. in just a few days last week to make way for a new 7 Brew coffee and drink shop location, according to Clinton city officials and representatives of the coffee company.
Southern Brew Corp. on Sept. 29 obtained demolition and building permits for the 7 Brew drive-up shop, which was estimated to cost $1.2 million. CN Bailey & Co. Inc. was listed as the contractor on the building permit.
“We’re excited to bring 7 Brew to the Clinton, Tennessee, community,” company spokesperson Taylor Davis told The Courier News via email. “Our Clinton location is currently slated to open in late winter 2026.”
According to its website, the Arkansas-based 7 Brew chain offers a variety of coffee drinks, along with other beverages, such as energy drinks, “fizz sodas,” teas, lemonades, smoothies, and milkshakes.
All 7 Brew locations are drive-through only, with no inside seating.
The company, founded in 2017, now has more than 700 locations in 38 states, the website notes.
“Our long-awaited brand-new location will bring 7 Brew’s [more than] 20,000 unique drink combinations, ranging from custom espresso beverages and cold brews to energy drinks, teas, and smoothies, to the city of Clinton,” a Facebook post said.
“We are excited to bring the 7 Brew experience to Anderson County, and look forward to seeing our [customers’] smiling faces on opening day.”
Just four years after undergoing a $312,000 remodeling, the Wendy’s restaurant just off Interstate 75, Exit 122 in Clinton was permanently closed last Dec. 19.
Wendy’s company officials at the site told The Courier News on Monday, Dec. 22, that the store had shut down the previous Friday, and would not be reopened.
When asked why the restaurant closed, a woman in the store Monday who identified herself only as a Wenday’s manager from another store replied: “There is another location just eight minutes down the road.”
She was referring to the second Clinton Wendy’s, at 400 S. Charles G. Seivers Blvd., which opened Dec. 1, 2021, on the former site of the Clinton Christian Church, catercorner across the intersection from the McDonald’s restaurant just south of the Lewallen Bridge.
What the Wendy’s manager did not mention is that Wendy’s corporate officials had announced in late November that the company would be closing “hundreds of underperforming” U.S. restaurant locations starting in late 2025 and extending into 2026.
The 7 Brew location will hire and train about 60 staff members, the company noted. The 7 Brew parent company, Brew Culture, LLC, is a privately held company.
The company already has several locations in East Tennessee, including Knoxville, Harriman and Johnson City.