The Human Bean, a nationally-recognized, Oregon-based coffee drive-thru chain, is coming to Sioux Falls in spring 2025.
Construction has already begun in southeast Sioux Falls at 2801 E. Jackson St., near 69th Street and Southeastern Avenue. Cosand Construction will be building the 600-square-foot structure at their shop and will then move it to the site. The Sioux Falls Human Bean will also include an outdoor patio and walk-up window in addition to the drive-thru, according to a May article posted on CoffeeFranchiseHub’s website.
The menu includes specialty-grade Arabica coffee, real-fruit smoothies, frozen coffees, and other specialty drinks, whole-leaf teas, various flavors of energy drinks, a kid’s menu with coffee-free items, and hot breakfast items, including sandwiches and bagels.
Franchise owner and operator Elizabeth Menke, originally from Kentucky, spent 15 years in healthcare, most recently as a speech language pathologist at the Sioux Falls VA Medical Center, before deciding she needed a change for her mental health, but she wasn’t sure what that would look like.
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What Menke did know, as stated in a Dec. 3 post on the Sioux Falls Human Bean social media pages, was she wanted to build connections and foster a sense of community in an environment where people feel “welcome, heard and cared about.” And, of course, there had to be coffee.
Menke said she has had a dream of opening a coffee shop for a while, but the thought of opening a full-service coffeehouse was overwhelming.
What she eventually found was The Human Bean, a chain that spans more than 260 drive-thru locations open or in development in 25 states and focuses on quality brews, as well as fostering a sense of connection and community.
“I realized in that moment that the sense of being part of a community outside of the confines of work was really what I had been missing and truly craving,” Menke said.
Sioux Falls will be the first Human Bean location in South Dakota, with the next closest location in St. Joseph, Miss.
About the Human Bean
Founders Dan and Rhonda Hawkins and Tom Casey opened the first Human Bean drive-thrus in 1998 in Ashland and Central Point, Oregon, with the idea that “it would be part of the community” and it would “be good and do good,” according to The Human Bean’s website.
Their signature trademark since the first cup is a chocolate-covered espresso bean on top, believing in “making even the smallest of exchanges memorable, kind and sincere.”
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But it isn’t only communities where The Human Bean strives to make a difference. The company is also known for giving back to several organizations and causes, including Trees for the Future on Earth Day, St. Jude, food banks, breast cancer treatment and care, and men’s health.
The Human Bean also participates in the Farm Friendly Direct Program, which pays coffee growers a premium, 100% of which goes to farm and community projects. The program has funded things such as a water treatment plan in Guatemala, a new schoolhouse and supported teacher salary in Papua New Guinea, deep solar water wells in Tanzania and Kenya, planting 15,000 trees in the El Salvador region and building and repairing septic and sanitary units in coffee-growing communities.
Another coffee drive-thru coming: National drive-thru coffee chain coming to Sioux Falls
“I truly hope to add to the fabric of what makes this city great and support other local businesses and nonprofits in doing the same,” Menke said in a Sioux Falls Human Bean Dec 6 social media post. “I can’t wait to show up for you, Sioux Falls!”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: The Human Bean coffee drive-thru chain is coming to Sioux Falls