AUSTINTOWN — A fresh cup of joe is coming to town.

After Monday’s regular meeting, township trustees had a special hearing to ask questions and make a final determination on a zoning change that will bring 7 Brew Coffee to the corner of Mahoning and Howard avenues.

After a series of hearings by the Austintown Zoning Commission, Mahoning County Planning Commission and previous hearings by the trustees because the resolution requires three votes by the board to pass, the board unanimously approved the resolution on Monday, paving the way for 7 Brew to secure all permits needed for work to begin at the site. Once the property is cleared, the building will go along the north side of Mahoning Avenue, next to Refresh Dental and right across from Chick-Fil-A.

“It’s a $1.7 million investment,” Trustee Bruce Shepas said. “Currently, there is a small plaza there that will be torn down. It’s currently zoned B2 (business), however there are two plots behind it that are zoned R1 (residential), so the meeting tonight will be asking the board to rezone those to B2. As soon as the weather breaks, they will break ground. They want to move fast on this.”

7 Brew will build a 510-square-foot, drive-thru-only facility, serving coffee, tea, slushies, milkshakes and other beverages. The Arkansas-based chain has 605 stores nationwide and 22 already in Ohio, including one in Warren.

Matt Weymouth, senior director of real estate for 7 Brew, previously noted on social media that the chain surpassed 300 stores nationwide in 2024, and said Austintown has been a top-10 target market for a coffee stand since he took the job two years ago. He said he expects the location to be in the top 30% of 7 Brew’s most profitable locations.

“From the time that you pull in to the time you get your order is about four to four and a half minutes, which is a much reduced time from a lot of our competitors because we do not have food,” he said.

He said the double drive-thru lane is designed to allow cars with smaller orders to get theirs and go, without being stuck behind the car in front of them.

While the building will be close to the residential neighborhood on Howard, Weymouth said the building has been designed to keep light pollution out of the neighborhood, and a 6-foot fence and trees will form a border on the north side of the property between the stand and residents.

He said noise also will be reduced because the business model places employees in the drive-thru lane to take orders personally, so there is no “squawk box” like other fast-food establishments.

Weymouth said the plans call for an entrance and exit along the Mahoning Avenue front of the building, and an entrance-only ingress along Howard to keep traffic on the street to a minimum.

Weymouth told trustees the company’s studies have shown that their locations only account for a 0.7% increase in traffic, or one car that is actually going out of its way to get there.

Hours of operation are typically 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. The store will hire about 40 to 50 employees with between five and seven employees on site at any time.

Weymouth also said the store is committed to being an active member in the community.

“The 7 Brew brand, our motto is ‘Cultivate Kindness’ and we walk that walk,” he said. “A lot of members of the community of all ages will come to work at our stand, but also when we move to a community, we pick a local charity in town to work with and donate to that charity. We’ve incorporated different things with schools into our stores. So you will see us active in the community, and not just on day one but through the entire time we are working in Austintown.”