Double O’s Coffee is expected to open its first drive-thru, serving coffee, hot and cold specialty drinks — including “milkshake-infused expresso” and their own energy drink, “Riptides” — later this year on East Colonial Drive in Orlando.
Company owner and founder, Colby O’Brien, said they have five properties currently under development and the company’s main goal is to open franchises — quickly. “We hope to have 500 franchises in development in the next six years,” he said.
But, to sell franchises, O’Brien, a 20-year-old Rollins College student, said, you first have to show that you have a successful business model. To that end, the company has acquired five sites on which to build corporate-owned stores. After East Colonial Drive, the company hopes to open in either Apopka or Titusville, Bradenton, Las Vegas and Cocoa Beach.
This first location will have an attached boardroom in which potential franchisees can see exactly what their 640-sq. ft. location will look like and how it will work. They will all be the same, O’Brien, a business management major, said.
He also said the company — he is in business with his father, Kurt O’Brien (hence the Double O’s) — will serve as an incubator with entrepreneurial programs to help its employees get their own franchises.
Will they look like Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts?
They will be much smaller, O’Brien said, and they will be beach-branded and beach-themed. But they will use much the same brewing equipment. Company President Eduardo Heredia has a lot of coffee experience, having worked for Scooter’s Coffee and Starbucks.
They have chosen Joffrey’s Coffee in Tampa, which supplies Disney World’s coffee, to supply their beans. They will use Italian roast for their expresso, he said.
