Scooter’s Coffee is building a $40 million cold-storage distribution center in Papillion, Nebraska, that will more than triple the footprint of the nearby distribution operation it is set to replace.
The 154,400-square-foot facility will initially support more than 330 Scooter’s locations, with capacity designed to scale beyond 700 stores. Construction comes as the Omaha-based drive-thru coffee chain approaches its 1,000th location and expands the temperature-controlled infrastructure behind its franchise network.
At the center of the project is a 43,200-square-foot freezer capable of operating at temperatures as low as -10°F. A separate 9,720-square-foot refrigerated dock will be maintained at 36°F.
The development will also include 93,520 square feet of general warehouse space, 8,000 square feet of offices, 20 loading dock positions and a drive-in ramp.
Scooter’s expects the facility to open in June 2027, with the first delivery trucks operating from the site in August 2027.
The project represents both an expansion and consolidation of the company’s Omaha-area distribution network. Operations at Scooter’s existing 46,000-square-foot facility in La Vista, Nebraska, which opened in 2022, are expected to transfer to Papillion.
Based on the disclosed building areas, the new facility will be about 3.4 times the size of the La Vista operation.
The additional space is being developed alongside continued store growth. Independent reporting by the Nebraska Examiner put the chain at 920 locations across 32 states at the time of the groundbreaking, with all but about 20 stores operated by independent franchisees.
That franchise structure makes distribution capacity an important part of the company’s expansion. The new center is designed to increase the number of stores that can be supplied from the Omaha area while adding purpose-built freezer and refrigerated handling space for temperature-sensitive products.
Nick Jarecke, Scooter’s chief supply chain officer, said the additional cold-storage and distribution capacity is intended to support franchisees while maintaining product quality and service consistency as the chain grows.
The facility, at 11656 S. 158 St. in Papillion, is expected to employ more than 70 people initially and about 100 over time, according to the Nebraska Examiner, citing Jarecke.
ARCO National Construction is working on the project with Scannell Properties. ARCO has separately disclosed that the building will include 20 battery chargers and 3,000 amps of electrical service.
Those specifications provide some indication of the infrastructure planned for warehouse operations, but neither Scooter’s nor ARCO has identified the material-handling equipment that will use the charging system. No automated storage, robotics, conveyor systems or warehouse software have been disclosed for the project.
Papillion will become Scooter’s seventh distribution center nationally, its third in the greater Omaha area and the second-largest facility in its supply-chain network, according to the company.
The development follows a major cold-storage project in Whitestown, Indiana, where ARCO previously converted an existing building into 181,033 square feet of distribution space for Scooter’s Coffee and its supply-chain affiliate Harvest Roasting.
That Indiana operation includes a 20,743-square-foot freezer maintained at -10°F and a 6,122-square-foot cold dock. It was designed to support more than 300 Scooter’s locations.
The similarities between the two projects show how Scooter’s is adding dedicated temperature-controlled infrastructure alongside the expansion of its store network. The Papillion development goes further on freezer capacity, with more than twice the freezer area disclosed for Whitestown.
Scooter’s has not identified the refrigeration equipment supplier or disclosed the refrigerant, energy-efficiency specifications, warehouse management system or any automation providers for the Nebraska facility.
Those disclosures would provide a fuller picture of how the building will operate when it enters service. What is already clear is the scale of the physical expansion: Scooter’s is replacing a 46,000-square-foot local distribution operation with a 154,400-square-foot facility designed to eventually support more than 700 stores.