Brew Thru

In post-WWII America people bought cars. It was the 1950s. Times were good. The economy was booming. Unemployment rates were at historic lows. People moved to the ‘burbs and President Eisenhower authorized 41,000 miles of Interstate Highways. The 2-car garage was born in a decade that saw Americans buy 58 million new automobiles. 

American companies adapted to the new car-centric customer. More than 4,000 drive-in theaters were built between 1951 and 1958. Drive-in restaurants came to every town. Banks installed drive-thru lanes. We started driving to the mall instead of walking down Main Street.

In 1955, some budding entrepreneurs decided to build the Copper Still in Hopkinsville, Kentucky – the first drive-in beer and liquor store in America. The trend of drive-in beverage shops was big for a while, especially in the Mid-west, but never managed to get to the Tipping Point.

In 1977, two Ohio transplants, Dana and Becky Lawrentz, had an idea. They opened a drive-thru convenience store on the Outer Banks and called it Brew Thru. Today the legacy continues with their daughter Brandy Lawrentz and husband Phillip Foreman. They’ve expanded to 5 locations from Corolla to Jockey’s Ridge. Yes, they have five locations in one 25-mile stretch of highway.

And people (I count myself among them) LOVE this brand. Not only can you get service (like a carhop) from the comfort of your car, you can see all the stuff; beer, wine, sodas and tons of other convenience store staples.

And get this…they’ve sold more than 5 million t-shirts. FIVE MILLION. 

Most of the drive-in theaters are gone. Lendy’s Big Boy and thousands of other drive-ins closed or converted to drive-thrus.

So, how did a drive-thru beer store survive and thrive on a barrier island where winters are windy and slow? They adapted. They built a brand and stayed true to it and they became marketing masters, spreading the brand message through billboards, radio, free stickers, and by following trends in merchandising. And they have 5 million walking, talking, T-shirt-wearing brand champions.

You may not have had the experience of driving (literally) into a Brew Thru, but I’ll bet more than half of the 12,193 subscribers of this email have seen a Brew Thru T-shirt. I have two.

We often talk about “Challenger Brands” at Madison+Main; those spunky, adaptable small to mid-sized businesses that have had success, but not all of the success. Do you think Brew Thru could be scaled, replicated, expanded and ultimately become a top brand in the convenience store space? Email me back…love to hear your thoughts.

#BoldBrandsWin