Local business partners plan to bring multiple Scooter’s Coffee drive-thrus to the Rockford region

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A trio of local business partners are working to bring one of the nation’s fastest-growing drive-thru coffee chains to multiple locations around the region.

Jeff Becker of Baileyville and Beth and Sean Lane of Freeport are franchising Scooter’s Coffee, a Nebraska-based chain that now has roughly 900 locations across the country.

In Rockford, the first Scooter’s Coffee is being built at 3515 E. State St., the site of the former State Street Station exotic dance bar that was razed about five years ago. But the franchisees plan to open up to nine Scooter’s in the region.

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Sean Lane, who runs Loescher Heating and Air conditioning with his wife, said their goal is to open five to nine Scooter’s Coffee shops.

They’re also looking at sites on Rockford’s east end near Hard Rock Casino Rockford, as well as at locations on West Riverside Boulevard and in Rockton and Machesney Park.

“We have offers in on other properties,” he said. ” None of this is confirmed yet. We’re in the process of negotiating.”

Right now, the closest Scooter’s Coffee is at 2757 Prairie Ave. in Beloit, Wisconsin. The goal is for the Rockford drive-thru on East State Street to be open by spring. Lane said they plan to have the building constructed this winter.

“Then we’ll just have the site work to complete when the weather allows us to in the spring,” he said.

Scooter’s Coffee’s fast-growing model is based on small, kiosk-style drive-thru shops that allow customers to “scoot in” quickly on their way to other places. The first location in Rockford is designed to be an 18-foot, by 27-foot building, according to the city’s building department.

Earlier this year, Yelp ranked Scooter’s as the fastest-growing coffee chain on its Top 50 Fastest Growing Brands list. Scooter’s also was ranked second overall behind Cava, a fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant. The ranking noted that Scooter’s had a 53% increase in new locations, the largest of any company’s ranked.

Scooter’s offers a wide selection of hot and iced coffee, organic hot and ice teas, breakfast items including baked-from-scratch pastries, espresso drinks, fruit smoothies and signature drinks such as its Caramelicious, an espresso drink with caramel sauce and frothy hot milk.

“The quality of coffee is spectacular. They take it very seriously,” Sean Lane said last week in a phone interview. “The other thing I like about it that I can’t stand at the other coffee places is wait time. They pride themselves on quick service.”

Scooter’s was founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles, who opened their first drive-thru in Bellevue, Nebraska.

The local business partners are bringing the first location here after purchasing the former State Street Station site for $195,000 from Via Sofia’s last month, according to records from the Winnebago County Clerk & Recorder’s Office.

The former State Street Station, which had operated since November 1978 under various iterations including a neighborhood bar and a karaoke bar, was closed in 2016 and torn by early 2020 to make way for a Via Sofia’s restaurant. Via Sofia’s, however, instead opened at 109 N. Showplace Drive and operated for about a year before closing in April 2023.

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas