More than a year after initially expected, Octane Coffee plans to open its automated coffee drive-thru in Pewaukee by the end of this month.
Serving Stone Creek Coffee prepared with robotic equipment, the stand at W229 N1400 Westwood Drive won't require any regular onsite employees.
The startup faced regulatory hurdles with the city of Pewaukee and the state of Wisconsin that delayed the opening by six or eight months, Octane Coffee founder and CEO Adrian Deasy said.
Octane Coffee previously said it would open in fall 2021 and then pushed the timeline to spring 2022.
The opening was delayed again after the city determined the drive-thru would be classified as a building rather than a vending machine, as Deasy had originally pitched it. That required additional paperwork, he said.
Octane Coffee built its technology at a facility in Waukesha. See photos in the slideshow below.
See Octane Coffee's robot-powered coffee drive-thru
Octane Coffee broke ground on the Pewaukee site in October 2022, Deasy said. It poured concrete around Thanksgiving and in January placed the drive-thru structure, which is built within a shipping container.
The Pewaukee location will be Octane Coffee's first site. The company plans to pilot the concept there and intends to open additional Milwaukee-area locations. Deasy said he's considering suburban sites along the I-94 corridor.
Octane Coffee has also had out-of-state offers to buy the automated drive-thru coffee units, Deasy said. He intends to make the model "as turnkey as possible" before franchising it or partnering with large coffee corporations that want to use the technology.
Deasy has been working on Octane Coffee full time for around three years. The startup currently has a "skeleton crew" of around three people and hopes to hire a few more as the business grows, he said.
In 2021, the startup raised $400,000 primarily from Wisconsin investors. Stone Creek Coffee founder and managing director Eric Resch is an investor in Octane, Deasy previously told Wisconsin Inno.
Octane plans to raise Series A financing later this year, Deasy said.
