How 7 Brew’s Growth Compares Year-Over-Year (2019-2026 Chart)
This site is an independent, fan-run reference for 7 Brew Coffee and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by 7 Brew Coffee Inc.
Most “7 Brew is growing fast” claims online are vague by design – big round numbers with no source and no year-by-year breakdown. The chain’s actual Franchise Disclosure Document filings tell a more precise story, and the numbers are more dramatic than most summaries suggest. This article lays out the confirmed year-end unit counts, where each figure came from, and what the growth curve means for customers, franchise prospects, and anyone trying to understand 7 Brew as a business rather than a menu.
Unlike a lot of “fastest growing chain” claims that get repeated without a source, every figure below is tied to a specific filing, press release, or trade publication citation, with the date it was verified. Where a number is an estimate rather than a confirmed figure, this article says so directly.
The 7 Brew Year-Over-Year Location Count
7 Brew opened its first stand in Rogers, Arkansas in 2017. On January 7, 2020, an investor group led by John Davidson acquired the company through a new parent entity, Brew Culture LLC, at which point the chain had 7 stands. What followed is one of the steepest unit-growth curves in recent restaurant industry history.
| Year | Confirmed Unit Count | Net Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2020 (acquisition) | 7 | n/a | 7brew.com/about |
| Start of 2022 | 14 | – | QSR Magazine, citing FDD |
| End of 2022 | 40 | +26 | QSR Magazine, FDD-sourced |
| End of 2023 | 180 | +140 | QSR Magazine, FDD-sourced |
| End of 2024 | 321 | +141 | QSR Magazine, FDD-sourced |
| End of 2025 | 602 | +281 | QSR Magazine, FDD-sourced |
| June 15, 2026 | 777 (milestone) | +175 in ~5.5 months | 7 Brew press release (Business Wire) |
Two things stand out in that table. First, the pace has not slowed as the base got bigger – if anything it accelerated, with 2025 alone adding more net locations (281) than 2023 and 2024 combined. Second, every single year in the dataset shows net growth with no reported closures between 2020 and 2022, according to 7 Brew’s own FDD disclosures cited by QSR Magazine.
The Revenue Curve Behind the Unit Count
Unit growth is only half the story – the systemwide financial trajectory has moved even faster in percentage terms. According to 7 Brew’s FDD filings as reported by QSR Magazine, total company revenue was 4.09 million dollars in 2022, climbing to 15.4 million dollars in 2023, 43.5 million dollars in 2024, and 112.5 million dollars in 2025. Net income moved from a 2.56 million dollar loss in 2022 to 1.56 million dollars in 2023 and 18.39 million dollars in 2024 – the company’s first full year of significant profitability at the corporate level.
Average unit volumes tell a similarly strong story. Franchised 7 Brew locations averaged 2.646 million dollars in annual total sales as of the most recent FDD, with the highest-performing franchise location hitting 6.366 million dollars. For comparison, that per-unit figure is higher than the reported average for Starbucks (about 1.9 million dollars) and roughly in line with Dutch Bros (2.16 million dollars), despite 7 Brew operating out of stands averaging just 510 square feet with no indoor seating.
How the Expansion Spread Geographically
The unit-count growth in the table above did not happen in one region at once. Early growth stayed concentrated close to home – Arkansas remains the brand’s testing ground, with roughly 19 locations in the state even as the national footprint passed 700. The chain crossed the 100-unit mark in 2022 with openings that included Auburn, Alabama; San Antonio, Texas; Springdale, Arkansas; and Traverse City, Michigan, signaling an early willingness to jump across several regions simultaneously rather than expanding outward from Arkansas in concentric rings.
By late 2023, the chain had reached 24 states. It added roughly 14 more states over the following two and a half years to reach 38 states by 2026, with recent confirmed activity in markets like Titusville, Florida and continued build-out in Northeast Florida’s St. Johns County. That pace – about six new states per year on average – is a useful benchmark for anyone trying to estimate when 7 Brew might reach a specific state that has not yet been announced.
It is worth separating two things that often get conflated in local coverage: a market being announced or approved by a planning board, and a location actually opening for business. Local news stories about a 7 Brew being approved in a specific city reflect real progress, but the gap between that approval and a confirmed opening date is frequently several months to over a year, and the FDD-sourced unit counts in the table above only reflect stands that were actually open and operating, not ones in the announcement or construction pipeline.
Methodology: Where These Numbers Come From
Every figure in the table above traces back to one of two sources: 7 Brew’s own annually filed Franchise Disclosure Document, which is a public document required of any company selling franchises in the United States, or the company’s official press communications for the most recent 2026 milestone. Trade press outlets including QSR Magazine and Restaurant Business report these FDD figures directly, and this article cites their reporting rather than re-deriving numbers from raw filings.
Two limitations are worth naming directly. First, FDD filings are typically published with several months of lag – the “end of 2025” figure of 602 locations reflects the FDD released in early 2026, not a live real-time count, so the current total is almost certainly higher by the time you read this. Second, one early data point shows minor source variance: a small number of outlets cite 38 locations at the end of 2022 rather than 40, likely reflecting different snapshot dates within the same quarter. This article uses the 40-location figure because it appears across multiple independent citations of the same FDD filing.
It is also worth being clear about what the FDD does not tell you. It reports systemwide unit counts and financial performance ranges as of specific reporting dates, but it does not function as a live location tracker, and it says nothing about announced-but-not-yet-open locations working through zoning approval or construction. Anyone comparing this article’s year-end figures against a real-time locator tool should expect the locator to show a higher number, since new stands open continuously between FDD filing dates.
Why This Growth Rate Matters
A 4,200 percent increase in unit count over four years is not just a marketing talking point – it changes what kind of company 7 Brew actually is. A chain with 14 locations is a regional curiosity. A chain with 700-plus locations across 38 states, as 7 Brew reached by mid-2026, is a national competitor to Dutch Bros and Starbucks in the drive-thru beverage category, with the infrastructure, capital backing, and brand recognition that scale requires.
That scale is also what attracted institutional capital. Blackstone made a growth equity investment in 7 Brew in 2024, explicitly framed by CEO John Davidson as a way to accelerate an already-fast expansion using Blackstone’s real estate, data science, and operations expertise. The FDD disclosed roughly 2,500 additional stands under development agreements as of late December 2024 – a pipeline number that dwarfs the current footprint and signals the company’s own confidence that the growth rate documented above is not a temporary spike.
The growth rate also matters for how 7 Brew gets discussed in franchise and investment circles more broadly. Datassential’s Top 500 report found 7 Brew posted the single most robust one-year unit growth of any brand by percentage among the 500 measured chains in 2023 – not the largest raw number of new stores, but the fastest percentage expansion in the entire dataset. That kind of recognition tends to attract more franchise applicants, more real estate partners willing to prioritize the brand, and more media coverage, all of which can further accelerate growth in a self-reinforcing cycle.
Impact on Customers
Growth statistics can feel abstract until you connect them to what a customer actually experiences at the drive-thru window. Here is what the numbers above have actually meant for people ordering a drink, rather than for investors reading a filing.
- Faster growth has meant faster access to a new stand for people in previously unserved markets – the chain went from 24 states in late 2023 to 38 states by 2026.
- Rapid unit growth has not visibly diluted quality metrics: 7 Brew has been independently rated number one in overall customer rating out of 1,500 restaurants, according to the company’s own about page, alongside continued strong average unit volumes system-wide.
- A larger store base means more markets get access to national promotions like brand collaborations and monthly Jackpot Day events on the same day nationwide.
- Customers in markets where 7 Brew has only recently arrived, or is still announced but not yet open, are seeing the tail end of a growth curve that took years to build the operational capacity behind it.
Impact on 7 Brew and Franchise Prospects
For franchise prospects, the year-over-year data above is directly useful in a way that a single “how many locations” snapshot is not. The consistent net-positive growth every year since the 2020 acquisition, with zero reported closures through 2022 and accelerating rather than decelerating annual openings, is exactly the kind of track record a prospective franchisee’s own due diligence should weigh alongside the required investment range of 887,000 to 1.85 million dollars per stand.
For the company itself, the growth curve creates its own operational pressure. Opening 281 net new locations in a single year, as 7 Brew did in 2025, requires a construction and staffing pipeline that scales at the same pace – which is part of why the modular building model and dedicated construction partners have become central to how quickly the company can execute on its development pipeline.
The leadership team has grown alongside the unit count. Nicole Miller Regan joined as CFO in December 2022 after a background in consumer equity research at Piper Sandler. Drew Ritger came aboard as COO and director of franchising in mid-2021 after 22 years at Sonic. More recent additions – a chief technology officer in early 2024, a VP of new stand growth in October 2025, and a chief accounting officer in early 2026 – suggest the company has been actively building out corporate infrastructure to match a store count that has grown roughly fifteenfold since those first hires joined.
Industry Context: 7 Brew vs Dutch Bros Growth Pace
The most useful comparison for 7 Brew’s growth rate is Dutch Bros, the publicly traded drive-thru coffee chain it is most often measured against. The two chains are on very different points of the same curve, which makes a side-by-side year-count comparison more informative than either brand’s numbers in isolation.
| Metric | 7 Brew | Dutch Bros |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 (Rogers, AR) | 1992 (Grants Pass, OR) |
| End of 2022 unit count | 40 | 671 |
| Reached 1,000 units | Not yet (700+ as of mid-2026) | February 2026 (Orlando) |
| Ownership structure | Private, Blackstone minority stake | Public (NYSE: BROS) |
| Stated long-term target | 2,500+ under development agreements | 2,029 units by 2029 |
In raw percentage terms, 7 Brew’s four-year climb from 14 to 602-plus locations outpaces even Dutch Bros’ most aggressive stretch, which took the chain from 671 units at the end of 2022 to 1,000 in February 2026 – itself a rapid pace, but starting from a much larger base. 7 Brew is still, in absolute terms, a smaller chain than Dutch Bros, but it is closing the gap faster than Dutch Bros closed the gap with Starbucks.
The ownership structure difference also shapes how each company reports its numbers. Dutch Bros, as a publicly traded company on the NYSE, discloses quarterly unit counts and financial results as part of standard securities reporting, which is why more frequent and granular Dutch Bros figures are available compared to 7 Brew’s once-a-year FDD disclosure cadence. That is a structural reason 7 Brew’s growth data will always look somewhat less current than a public competitor’s, regardless of how fast the underlying business is actually moving.
Timeline of Key Growth Milestones
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2017 | First 7 Brew stand opens in Rogers, Arkansas, founded by Ron Crume |
| Jan 7, 2020 | Investor group led by John Davidson acquires 7 Brew through Brew Culture LLC; 7 stands at the time |
| 2021 | Franchise program launches; unit count reaches 14 by start of 2022 |
| 2022 | Unit count nearly triples to 40 by year end; crosses 100-unit mark mid-year |
| 2023 | Named QSR Magazine’s Breakout Brand of the Year; unit count reaches 180 |
| 2024 | Blackstone takes a minority growth equity stake; unit count reaches 321; first full year of strong corporate profitability |
| Oct 2025 | Chain crosses 500 locations |
| End of 2025 | Unit count reaches 602, the single biggest net annual gain in company history (281 new stands) |
| June 15, 2026 | 777th stand opens, marked by the “Lucky Lanes 777” celebration in San Antonio |
What Happens Next
The clearest forward-looking data point is the roughly 2,500 stands under signed development agreements as of the most recent FDD, alongside reported franchise agreements with large multi-unit operators including the Flynn Group, which is contracted to develop an additional 160 stores. If 7 Brew’s 2025 pace of 281 net new locations simply holds steady rather than accelerating further, the chain would cross 1,000 locations sometime in 2027 or 2028 – a pace that would put it on a broadly similar unit-count timeline to where Dutch Bros stood in the mid-2020s, despite starting from a much smaller 2022 base.
Whether that pace holds depends heavily on execution capacity rather than demand – the company’s own leadership has pointed to real estate, construction, and franchisee recruitment as the binding constraints on growth, not consumer interest. Watch the next FDD filing, typically released in the first several months of each year, for the actual 2026 year-end confirmed count.
There is also a ceiling question worth watching over the next several years. Dutch Bros has stated its 18 existing states alone could theoretically support around 3,500 locations, with a longer-term total addressable market north of 7,000 nationwide. 7 Brew has not published an equivalent public estimate of its own total addressable market, but the roughly 2,500-stand development pipeline already disclosed suggests the company sees considerably more room to run within its current 38-state footprint before market saturation becomes a meaningful constraint.
Sources and References
Year-over-year unit counts and financial figures are drawn from 7 Brew’s Franchise Disclosure Document as reported by QSR Magazine, including its “Breakout Brand of 2023” feature, its 2025 and 2026 growth coverage, and its reporting on the company’s FDD-disclosed revenue and average unit volume figures. Additional context on the Blackstone investment is drawn from Restaurant Business Online’s coverage of the deal. Dutch Bros comparison figures are drawn from the company’s own annual reports, QSR Magazine’s coverage of its 2029 growth target, and Motley Fool reporting on its unit count. Founding history and corporate structure details are drawn from 7 Brew’s own official About page and corroborating business press coverage. As with all 7 Brew News content on this site, figures are current as of the publish date and will shift as new FDD filings and company announcements become available.
This site has no affiliation with 7 Brew Coffee Inc., Brew Culture LLC, Blackstone, or Dutch Bros Inc. Where trade press outlets cited slightly different figures for the same reporting period, this article notes the discrepancy rather than silently picking one number, consistent with this site’s approach to FDD-sourced data throughout the 7 Brew News category.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many 7 Brew locations were there in 2022?
7 Brew had 14 locations at the start of 2022 and finished the year with 40, according to the company’s FDD filings as reported by QSR Magazine.
How fast is 7 Brew growing compared to other coffee chains?
By percentage, 7 Brew has been called the fastest-growing restaurant chain in America by research firm Datassential, based on unit growth from 2022 to 2023 alone. Its four-year climb from 14 to over 600 locations represents roughly 4,200 percent growth, outpacing the percentage growth rate of larger competitors like Dutch Bros over the same window.
Did Blackstone buy 7 Brew?
No. Blackstone made a minority growth equity investment in 7 Brew in 2024. The company’s parent, Brew Culture LLC, remains privately held and continues to operate under its existing leadership team.
How many states is 7 Brew in as of 2026?
7 Brew operates in 38 states as of mid-2026, up from 24 states in late 2023, according to the company’s own reporting.
Where do 7 Brew’s unit count numbers come from?
The most reliable confirmed figures come from 7 Brew’s annually filed Franchise Disclosure Document, a public regulatory filing required of companies that sell franchises. Trade publications like QSR Magazine report these figures directly from the FDD each year, which is the sourcing method used throughout this article.
Why did 7 Brew’s growth accelerate so much in 2025?
Public reporting has not identified a single cause, but the timing lines up with Blackstone’s 2024 investment and the roughly 2,500-stand development pipeline the company disclosed around the same period. A larger, better-capitalized real estate and construction operation, plus a growing base of experienced multi-unit franchisees, plausibly compounds into faster annual openings even without any single dramatic change in strategy.
Key Takeaways
- 7 Brew grew from 14 locations at the start of 2022 to 602 by the end of 2025, then past 700 by mid-2026, all confirmed through FDD filings and company press communications.
- 2025 was the single biggest growth year to date, adding 281 net new locations – more than 2023 and 2024 combined.
- Revenue grew from 4.09 million dollars in 2022 to 112.5 million dollars in 2025, alongside the company’s first year of strong corporate profitability in 2024.
- Blackstone’s 2024 investment was a minority growth equity stake, not an acquisition – 7 Brew remains privately held under Brew Culture LLC.
- Against Dutch Bros, 7 Brew’s percentage growth rate is faster, though Dutch Bros still leads in absolute unit count and was the first of the two to cross 1,000 locations, in February 2026.
