The burger chain Cook Out and the fast-growing drive-thru coffee company 7 Brew are both eyeing Henderson, with plans calling for two new buildings on the site of the former Ruby Tuesday on Dabney Drive. Henderson’s Zoning Board of Adjustment is scheduled to take up the special-use-permit applications on Nov. 3, 2026, putting the project’s next step on the calendar even as key details remain unsettled.<\/p>\n
According to the Henderson Dispatch, the development plan may include demolishing the existing Ruby Tuesday building, subdividing the lot and constructing two separate new buildings. Development Services senior planner Robert Harris described that scenario, per the Dispatch, with Cook Out and 7 Brew each occupying one of the two planned structures. The Ruby Tuesday’s current address will likely be retired, with both the Cook Out and the 7 Brew receiving new addresses once the project moves forward, the paper reports.<\/p>\n
The Cook Out building is listed at 3,119 square feet and may include a sit-down dining area, the Dispatch’s report states, with the site plan showing 31 parking spaces and a two-lane drive-thru. The much smaller 7 Brew building, at just 500 square feet, is also planned with a two-lane drive-thru, reflecting the coffee chain’s typical walk-up-and-drive style of operation rather than a traditional sit-down caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Variances and Permits Still Pending<\/p>\n
Getting there isn’t automatic. The developer needs a variance to reduce the required number of parking spaces and another to reduce the minimum lot width, according to the same report. Cook Out’s piece of the project includes applications for a special-use permit to operate a drive-thru restaurant and a separate one for additional signage, while 7 Brew needs its own variance and special-use permit to operate, per the Dispatch’s reporting.<\/p>\n
Under North Carolina law, those variance requests have limits. State statute G.S. 160D-705 specifies that no change in permitted uses may be authorized by variance, meaning the zoning board’s review of the parking and lot-width requests is a separate matter from whether a drive-thru restaurant is allowed on the site at all, which is addressed through the special-use permit applications instead. The Dispatch notes that a project schedule and employment information for the Henderson site were not yet available at the time of its report.<\/p>\n
Two Fast-Growing Chains Expanding Across North Carolina<\/p>\n
Both brands would be landing in a market already familiar with their growth. Cook Out was founded in 1989 in Greensboro, according to the Citizen Times, and expanded beyond the state in 2010 when its 74th store opened in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The chain is now planning at least 19 new restaurants across the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, with North Carolina set to receive more new stores than any other state at eight locations, the outlet reports.<\/p>\n
7 Brew’s trajectory has been even steeper. The chain opened its first location in Rogers, Arkansas, in 2017, operating through drive-thrus and walk-up windows rather than traditional indoor caf\u00e9s, as reported by CNN. It now offers more than 20,000 drink combinations and has grown to over 700 locations across 38 states, with roughly 340 additional locations planned or underway, per CNN’s report. That expansion has drawn institutional money, too: Blackstone made a growth equity investment in the company in 2024, and 7 Brew’s sales jumped from $502 million that year to nearly $1.2 billion the following year, CNN reports.<\/p>\n
Similar Projects Taking Shape Elsewhere in the Region<\/p>\n
Henderson wouldn’t be the first North Carolina community weighing a 7 Brew drive-thru. In Shallotte, the Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a special-use permit for a 7 Brew with a double drive-thru near Walmart, a project expected to generate roughly 358 total trips during daytime hours, according to the News Argus, which noted the developer there did not provide a timeline for the coffee shop’s opening either. In Charlotte, 7 Brew has proposed an 1,800-square-foot shop with two drive-thru lanes and a bypass lane in the University City neighborhood, the Charlotte Observer reports.<\/p>\n
The Observer, in its coverage of the Charlotte proposal, also notes that 7 Brew already has 47 drive-thru locations across North Carolina and added 26 coffee stands across 21 states in July alone. Prices stay relatively modest for the format: a 24-ounce iced Blondie can run as little as $5.15 and a medium iced latte as little as $4.75, according to CNN, which also found that customers spend an average of 8.7 minutes at a 7 Brew stand, compared with 10 minutes at Dutch Bros and 13.8 minutes at Starbucks.<\/p>\n
For now, Henderson’s version of the project remains in the permitting stage, with the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s Nov. 3 meeting marking the next concrete milestone. Whether the demolition, subdivision and construction described in the plan ultimately move forward will depend on how the board handles the parking, lot-width and drive-thru permit requests still before it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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