NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The City Commission approved the zoning change for HTeaO, a drive-thru iced tea store on 30th at their meeting on Tuesday.
"If you guys have ever been to HTeaO, it's kind of like a frozen yogurt/Starbucks, but in the form of iced tea," said franchisee Darren Thomas. "You walk in, you sample the teas. There's 25 flavors all the time and then some seasonal flavors. We'll also have some ice and water that's available. We'll also have a small retail side. We'll have some Yeti coolers and some Arctic and some things that you can come in and get your tumblers if you want to take your tea for the long time."
There is already one completed location in Wichita, with a second one to come. The new store will be near the corner of East 30th Avenue and Waldron Street, just 350 feet down the street from where there is already a Scooter's Coffee location and on the opposite side of the street from the Subway sandwich shop.
"We have redesigned it a little bit and allowed to get 20 cars in a drive-through stack," Thomas said. "With the center turn lane in that location, it allows for not much impact on the traffic flow either. We think it really is an ideal location for Hutchinson. You can get off the freeway, get back on and just kind of find a place to refresh."
As for this specific location, it will move as fast as they can, but like all construction processes these days, it will be months in the making.
"We're currently drawing plans for the location now," Thomas said. "We'll go to GC bids when the architectural plans are complete in about a month, with the hopes of being open in May."
The intent long term is to rezone more of that area of 30th for mixed usage so that individual cases like HTeaO's can be approved without having to go through the whole process, but that will likely be a part of the overall regulation rewriting that happens sometime next year.
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