Coffee Shops' Desire For Drive-Thrus Is Reaching A Boiling Point

A beverage battle is brewing.

Coffee chains large and small are at an inflection point, with smaller chains like Dutch Bros taking big swings and beverage behemoths Starbucks and Dunkin’ working to maintain their status. 

The growing class of coffee purveyors is largely implementing a format that calls for smaller footprints but more elements like drive-thrus that require larger outdoor space and community cooperation. 

“There's a fight out there for real estate from a couple of quickly expanding beverage users,” JLL Senior Director for Americas Retail Research James Cook said. 

Small coffee chains grew their market share by 77.6% from 2019 to the first quarter of 2026, while midsized chains expanded by 149% in that time, according to Placer.ai. Major brands are plotting growth while smaller upstarts capitalize on their momentum and growing consumer bases in suburbs.

Starbucks had its strongest quarter in two years in Q1, and Dunkin' Donuts parent company Inspire Brands is planning an initial public offering. Dutch Bros is now the third-largest coffee chain by U.S. sales and locations, and it has ambitious expansion plans. 

Dutch Bros plans to add 181 new stores in 2026, building on its momentum from the last few years toward its goal of 2,029 locations by 2029. Similarly, Arkansas-based 7 Brew is planning 340 new locations, shooting for 1,000 total within the next year. The new competitors take smaller buildings, but they are taking a greater number of locations than their larger counterparts and moving more quickly.

Starbucks’ average store is about 2,200 SF, while Dutch Bros averages just above 900 SF, and 7 Brew comes in at about 650 SF on average, according to Northmarq Senior Vice President Matt Lipson.

But the speed at which these companies expand makes the deals add up in the aggregate. 

7 Brew has grown from 22 locations in 2022 to over 700 open now, an indicator of the speed with which the smaller operators move, said CBRE Senior Vice President Lauren Dressler, who works with 7 Brew’s largest franchisee. 

Dutch Bros had 538 shops in 12 states at the end of 2021. They had more than 1,100 at the end of March 2026. 

That volume adds up. 

“Yes, they're smaller deals, but that's a lot of deals,” Dressler said.

This new wave of expansion is largely drive-thru-fueled and laser-focused on getting orders to customers in line as quickly as possible. Dutch Bros, 7 Brew and Scooter’s Coffee are all drive-thru chains. 

“There's a lot of competition in this space that's accelerating. In fact, some markets, almost all of it is drive-thru- and takeout-focused,” JPMorgan Chase analyst John William Ivankoe said on Starbucks’ Q1 earnings call in January. 

There are often challenges to the drive-thru, which can be more complicated for certain brands that have become synonymous with long lines. Cities can be warier when they know there is going to be a backup of cars, but for many of these formats, a drive-thru location isn’t optional, Lipson said. 

Drive-thru operators are looking for locations on high-traffic streets with plenty of space for lines of cars to snake compactly. Many of these companies are doing double drive-thrus to keep customers moving and lines short, industry real estate experts said. 

These drive-thru-focused operators are expanding in places where there is plentiful space — mostly the suburbs. Their locations are smaller, but they rent the pad, including space for their drive-thrus. 

In urban centers historically dominated by Starbucks, there is less activity from national coffee names and more activity among local or regionally focused operators, like Brooklyn-based Blank Street Coffee. Starbucks is planning its own expansion, with 600 to 650 new stores planned in 2026, but fewer than 200 of those will be in the U.S. 

Part of the growth in the coffee category in general can be attributed to these companies’ diversification of offerings. While coffee remains king for most, different types of beverages are gaining traction with consumers, broadening customer bases and growing sales.

Cold, colorful, sometimes candylike beverages are a key facet of the offerings at some of the quickest-expanding chains. Customizable cold energy drinks are a critical part of the Dutch Bros brand. 

Arkansas-based 7 Brew boasts a menu with more than 20,000 possible combinations of coffee, energy drinks, blended frozen drinks, smoothies and teas, including the neon-teal blue raspberry-, kiwi- and white chocolate-flavored Trickshot Lemonade. 

“The traditional kind of coffee model is being disrupted, and these high-growth companies, like 7 Brew, Dutch Bros and others, they're selling more than just coffee,” Dressler said.