photo by: Seven Brew Drive Thru Coffee

A Seven Brew Drive Thru Coffee location is shown from the company's website.

Coffee has defeated sleep along a small portion of Lawrence’s south Iowa Street.

The Arkansas-based chain Seven Brew Coffee has filed plans to build a new drive-thru coffee location at the site of a now defunct mattress store at 3231 Iowa Street, which is next door to McDonalds and in front of Lawrence’s Target store.

The development filing warms up plans for Seven Brew to enter the Lawrence market after it appeared the company had grown cold on the city. Back in early 2023, I reported that Seven Brew had chosen a parking lot site near 25th and Iowa streets for its first Lawrence store. Later I reported that the company had filed plans for a second Lawrence location, next to the new Capitol Federal Savings branch at Sixth and Folks Road.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Seven Brew Coffee plans to tear down this building at 3231 Iowa Street to make way for a new drive-thru coffee shop.

Seven Brew, however, hasn’t built at either one of those locations. Rather, Dutch Bros Coffee ended up building on the 25th and Iowa location that 7 Brew had filed plans for. New coffee shop locations — ranging from Scooters to Starbucks — have been popping up throughout the city, so it was reasonable to think that there was not enough sugar nor cream to get Seven Brew sweet on Lawrence again. (That’s proof that both coffee and puns should be filtered.)

Instead, it looks like Seven Brew simply had new thoughts about where it wants to be located in the city. The new location south of 31st and Iowa will make it the first chain coffee shop for motorists coming into town, I believe.

As for Seven Brews’ plans for Sixth Street, that development filing is still active. I have heard from an individual with knowledge of the property that 7 Brew is still pursuing a store at the site. We will see which project gets underway first.

The Iowa Street project will involve a demolition of the existing building, according to plans filed at City Hall. A smaller building will be constructed on the site, leaving plenty of room for two drive-thru lanes to snake through the property.

Seven Brew locations are drive-thru only. The chain got its start in Rogers, Arkansas in 2017, but has been growing quickly ever since. It now has more than 350 locations, and has entered the Kansas market with shops in Topeka, Olathe, Overland Park, Wichita and Pittsburg.

The shop builds its menu around its seven original blends of coffee-based drinks, and pretty much all of them are sweet. The signature Smooth 7 features white chocolate and Irish cream, while other offerings include a cinnamon roll-themed drink and a German chocolate-themed offering complete with coconut. Then there is the option to make any of the drinks something called a Triple 7. That involves adding six shots of espresso to the drink of your choice. (The mattresses never had a chance.)

All the coffee drinks are served either hot, iced or in chiller style, which I think is kind of like a slushy.

The shop also will serve more basic coffee offerings, including a house blend, cappuccino, breve, latte, mocha and several others. Hot and iced teas also are on the menu, including everything from Earl Grey to green tea to the fruity Paris black tea brand. Seven Brew also features fizzes, which are sparkling water infused with flavored syrups and cream and whipped cream, if you so desire. The menu also said the shops offer fruit smoothies and full-on ice cream shakes.

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photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journala-World

A new Panera Bread location is shown in the Bauer Farms development near Sixth and Champion in west Lawrence on March 18, 2025.

If you are looking for a little bit of food with your coffee — maybe a loaf of bread to soak up the espresso shots — there’s a new option in west Lawrence. Panera Bread has opened its location at 4661 Bauer Farm Drive in the spot that housed the short-lived Flip’d by IHOP experiment. Before that, the site was home to a Zaxby’s chicken finger restaurant, if that sparks your memory.

I reported in November on Panera’s plans to open the west Lawrence location. At the time, Panera officials weren’t saying whether they planned to keep their original Panera location at 23rd and Louisiana streets open. They still haven’t responded to my question about plans for that location, but what I can tell you is that the 23rd Street location remains open. Whether that is the longterm plan is unknown to me, but as of now, Lawrence is a two Panera town.

The new Panera location, however, has something that is lacking at the 23rd Street site — a drive thru. Otherwise, the main changes appear to be an updated look and a greater number of self-service order kiosks at the new location.