Drive-Thru 7 Brew Coffee Selects Kat Kirkbride as Winner of April’s Hero Award

customer engagement – along with seriously good coffee and other drinks – are commandments for service

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – 7 Brew is making a splash on the Space Coast with its energetic drive-thru, delicious coffee, 7 Energy drinks, smoothies and more. If you have visited one of their stands, you know they prioritize kindness, and that belief goes beyond making sure your drink is perfect and you leave their drive-thru smiling.

7 Brew’s corporate team is selecting 7 Brew Heroes across the country that showcase 7 Brew’s belief in cultivating kindness, and April’s hero resides here on the Space Coast.

Kat Kirkbride is a dialysis clinic nurse providing life-saving care at Davita Dialysis. During hurricanes Ian and Nicole, Kirkbride continued to put her patients first.

She devised a plan to continue providing treatment to patients amidst the destruction and led a group of six nurses and technicians to ensure all the patients were cared for.

As the leader of the care plans, she arrived early and left late each night to ensure every patient’s need was taken care of. Her dedication doesn’t just show in times of crisis.

Day in and day out, she constantly checks on her patients’ well-being, even outside the dialysis center. She always waits to make sure patients have a way home and asks them if they have food and heat at home.

It is evident from her relationships with patients that Kirkbride genuinely cares for the general well-being of each patient beyond what the job requires. Kirkbride sees her patients as family.

She takes care of them like so, and that doesn’t go unnoticed. The patients look forward to seeing Kirkbride’s face when they walk in the door, and they aren’t shy about sharing that she is their favorite nurse.

As the April winner of 7 Brew’s Hero Award, Kirkbride will receive $500 cash and free 7 Brew drinks for a year! If you are a nurse on the Space Coast, 7 Brew wants to celebrate your dedication, too! Stop by any of the following 7 Brew stands April 28-30, show your nurse’s badge and receive 50% off your drink.

Do you know someone who deserves to be recognized as a 7 Brew Hero? Nominate them on 7 Brew’s website at 7brew.com/heroes/.

7 Brew is a rapidly growing coffee brand revolutionizing how customers experience drive-thru coffee service and think about their daily energy boost.

7 Brew serves espresso-based coffee, chillers, teas, 7 Energy, sodas, and more, all with an extra boost
of kindness from their team.

The dream of 7 Brew came alive with the first “stand” in Rogers, AR, and its seven original coffees. Now, 7 Brew boasts more than 70 stands across the country.

Combine the “where everybody knows your name” camaraderie immortalized in the television classic “Cheers” with a drive-thru coffee concept that boasts tasty caffeine boosts and more, and you get the idea behind 7 Brew, Brevard’s latest go-to coffee shop.

“You leave smiling,” said Landon Beeler, manager of 7 Brew’s Melbourne location, the franchise chain’s first foray into the Florida market.

Forget disinterested servers who sullenly deliver coffee orders. These don’t exist at 7 Brew, where customer engagement – along with seriously good coffee and other drinks – are commandments for service.

“Every single person who works with us is a “people” person,” said Beeler.

Beeler grew up in Arkansas, where 7 Brew originated.

“My mother said I should apply for a job with 7 Brew and I did,” said Beeler, who started as a “brewista” in 2019.

He loved people but had little experience in coffee; 7 Brew administration nevertheless spotted Beeler’s potential.

“7 Brew taught me everything,” said Beeler, who is now helping local franchisee Brew Horizons establish the brand’s presence from Titusville to Key West.

The Space Coast was selected for the first 7 Brew in Florida because of the area’s growth.

“We wanted a location that would embrace a fresh and new concept,” said Beeler.

The Melbourne coffee stand at 1809 S. Harbor City Blvd., adjacent to the Wawa near the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 1 and SR 192, opened Dec. 12 of last year, followed by sister stand at 5450 Murrell Rd. in Viera on Jan. 9th.

A third stand will soon follow at 6315 N. Wickham Rd. in Melbourne. In total, up to nine Brevard locations are on the drawing board as Brew Horizons winds its way south with their coffee concept.

“There is no stopping us,” said Beeler.

Such quick turnaround in establishing new locations is possible thanks to the brand’s formula of 500-square-foot prefabricated stores, each with double drive-thrus with canopies. A walk-up window caters to pedestrian traffic, but there is no indoor seating.

The design allows customers speedy access to their brews, but not without considerable brew crew interaction that stresses a friendly, personalized experience for each customer.

“I like to say that customers come for our people and leave with coffee,” said Beeler.

The company’s philosophy of kindness also encompasses its team members and creates one of the best employee-oriented cultures in the industry. Labor shortages may exist, but jobs at 7 Brew are so desirable that 600 individuals applied for the 40 jobs available at the first Melbourne stand.

“It’s very easy for team members to buy into the concept, so we didn’t have a problem hiring good employees,” said Beeler.

With energizing music to accompany them as they work, brew crews personally – and cheerfully – deliver drinks to customers as they make their way down the drive-thrus. The company website notes it “has started a revolution to bring the fun back” to the industry and that no “party poopers” need apply.

“It’s a blast for the customer and the team,” said Beeler.

The energy and happy vibes of the stands appeal to both young and old, even though the company expected a major portion of customers to fall within the 18-to-35 age bracket.

Extended hours cater to early birds and night owls alike. 7 Brew is open from 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and until 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

7 Brew has come a long way from the single ma-and-pa stand that opened in 2017 in Rogers, Arkansas.

In six years, the brand has mushroomed to 69 locations in Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Georgia and North and South Carolina, in addition to Florida.

More than 150 of the beverage stands are planned from the Space Coast to Miami in the next ten years.

The company is named for seven original brews, which remain its mainstay and are available hot, iced or as a chiller.

Blondie is the caramel and vanilla breve; the hazelnut and caramel mocha Brunette; Smooth 7, the white chocolate and Irish cream breve; the white chocolate and brown sugar cinnamon of Cinnamon Roll; White Chocolate Mocha with white and milk chocolate; German Chocolate, coconut and caramel mocha, and the eye-popping Triple 7 with six espresso shots.

Classic lattes, mochas, breves, macchiatos and the house blend coffee are also in the menu, as are teas, 7 Energy drinks, flavor-infused 7 Fizz sparkling water, smoothies, Italian sodas and shakes, plus kid-sized Fizz, cocoa and smoothies. Thirty distinct syrups, from Irish Cream to kiwi, plus three different sauces make for thousands of possible combinations.

“We can make anything you drink from a straw,” promised Beeler.

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