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Scooter’s Coffee officially opened its new Chelsea location on Saturday, Dec. 16. The drive-thru coffee chain features popular coffee drinks, breakfast items and snacks. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By EMILY SPARACINO | Special to the Reporter

CHELSEA – Chelsea residents looking for somewhere to pick up a quick coffee drink now have a new place to try.

A Scooter’s Coffee location opened next to Arby’s on Atchison Parkway on Saturday, Dec. 16, bringing the company’s second location to the U.S. 280 corridor in recent months.

Franchisee Grady Ross said he was excited to open what he described as the “premier coffee drive-thru in Chelsea” just 5 miles from his other Scooter’s Coffee location on U.S. 280 in Inverness next to Longhorn and Chipotle.

“We sell high-quality, high-margin drinks through a drive-thru, amazingly fast and amazingly friendly,” Ross said. “The four core values we uphold are integrity, love, humility and courage.”

Scooter’s Coffee sells a variety of hot, iced and blended coffee and tea drinks, along with food and kid-friendly items.

“Scooter’s is a brand I can definitely stand behind,” Ross said. “We have our own farms in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Colombia. We’re able to source our beans directly from our farms. Our coffee is amazing.”

Ross said his involvement with Scooter’s Coffee started about four years ago. He noticed how much Chelsea was growing and wanted to find a way to use his prior restaurant industry experience in Chelsea.

“It’s a great community, and I really wanted something I could get involved with in Chelsea,” Ross said. “I narrowed it down to a coffee drive-thru. It is just a great opportunity and a great company to work for.”

Ross said he wants Scooter’s Coffee to be known as a source of support for the Chelsea community.

“We definitely want to be a major player, not only in the Chelsea community, but in all the other communities that Scooter’s is in,” he said, and added he plans to give back to local organizations, including the Humane Society, and raise money for worthy causes, such as pediatric brain cancer research. “We want to be a positive influence in the community.”

At Scooter’s, Ross is a part of a company that has opened 13 locations in Alabama within a three-year timeframe.

“We’re moving fast,” Ross said, and he is not finished. After allowing more time for the Chelsea and Inverness locations to operate, Ross said he will consider opening more locations in the area, possibly on U.S. 280 or somewhere else in Shelby County.

Store hours for the Chelsea location of Scooter’s Coffee are the same as the Inverness location: 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends.

“It’s a treat for people to come into Scooter’s,” Ross said. “We want them to pull away with a smile on their face.”

For more information, visit Scooterscoffee.com.

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