Scooter’s Coffee is a Nebraska-based company that is growing rapidly throughout the country, and specializes in artisan espresso drinks, fruit smoothies, baked-from-scratch pastries, and features its signature drink, the Caramelicious. In 2024, it became the second largest specialty coffee brand in the United States.
Scooter’s Coffee focuses on the last 3-feet of the sale and places a heavy emphasis on the customer experience with the goal of putting smiles on the faces of its amazing customers every time. Their core values of Integrity, Love, Humility, and Courage are the foundation of everything they do and instilled in each and every teammate. They are bringing their brand promise of “Amazing People, Amazing Drinks… Amazingly Fast!” to a community near year and are excited to serve you.
With 868 locations nationwide, there are currently 14 located in North Carolina, with three of those locations owned by local Clayton residents, United States Air Force veterans, and East Carolina University graduates, Rob and Jocelyn Southerland. They own Scooter’s Coffee Drive Thru locations in Clayton, Smithfield, Wilson, and have a new location under construction in Rolesville.
Rob and Jocelyn love meeting, training, mentoring, and developing young people. They have 77 employees that range from 16 to 35 years old and they teach each teammate that “Coffee is our business, but people are our passion”.
Each year, Scooter’s Coffee hosts its annual GROW Conference in the corporate hometown of Omaha, Nebraska where franchisees get to bring their leadership teams to learn, connect, grow, celebrate the previous year’s successes, and plan for the coming year. The most exciting portion of each year’s conference is recognizing and celebrating the accomplishments of superior performers from the previous year.
With baristas, managers, and multi-unit leaders (often referred to as district managers) being the backbone of customer service, daily operations, and business execution, Scooter’s places a high emphasis on recognizing excellence, character, performance, leadership, and operational growth. To do this, they present a Barista of the Year Award, a Manager of the Year Award, and a Multi-Unit Leader of the Year Award. It is a tremendous honor for a franchisee’s company to win one of these prestigious awards.
With 868 locations, more than 19,000 baristas, 800 managers, and 100 multi-unit leaders, the competition is always tough. There has never been a time in the 27-year history of Scooter’s Coffee that a franchisee’s company has won more than one of these awards, much less all three. Well, this year, Rob and Jocelyn’s amazing young teammates won not one, not even two, but ALL 3 of these coveted, national awards. Additionally, of the three barista finalists, the Southerland’s had 2 of the 3 represented.
Winning the 2024 Barista of the Year was Ms. Yeimi Tovar-Hernandez, 20, from their Wilson location. Yeimi’s incredible work ethic, leadership skills, and dedication to her team and customers have always made her the benchmark for others to follow. She exudes the company’s core values in everything she does and is a tremendous role model for young people to emulate. She conducts herself with the highest sense of humility and is always thinking of others first. You can see her tremendous heart through the smile she wears continuously and the kindness that she demonstrates towards every person she comes in contact with. Her customers love her; her team loves her; and the Southerlands love her.
For the 2024 Manager of the Year, Ms. Teagan Weatherington, 21, also from their Wilson location, was recognized for her leadership, tenacity, and can-do attitude. In July of 2023, Teagan was promoted to store manager at the Wilson store at the age of just 19. She started as a barista in March of 2022, was promoted to shift lead, assistant manager, and was the top choice for manager based on her passion, excellence, love for others, and leadership. She loves animals, helping others, training her team, and encouraging her teammates to strive for excellence and to never settle. Her smile is infectious, she brings joy to her team and customers and is loved dearly by the Southerlands.
Selected as the Scooter’s Coffee 2024 Multi-Unit Leader of the Year was Ms. Bella Cermin, 27, of Clayton. To say that Bella is an astonishing person, manager, leader, mentor, and friend would be a huge understatement. She is the type of young lady that you want all young people to strive to be like. She possesses an undergraduate and master’s degree in digital marketing, a humble confidence, a selfless leadership style, and an astute ability to assess people, teams, and operations and find ways to ALWAYS make them better. She loves people and makes every effort to help each young person see their full potential and believe in themselves. There are no words to convey how proud the Southerlands are of Bella, and they love her and Elijah, her husband.
Lastly, finishing in the top three finalists for Barista of the Year was Ms. Saylor Patterson, 18, of Clayton. Saylor is an outstanding young lady that has worked with the Southerlands for a year and has proven to be an invaluable part of their Clayton team. This being her first job, Saylor has become a phenomenal barista, head barista, and shift lead. She is currently training to become the store’s next assistant manager. As a senior in high school, she stands out above her peers as a young leader that trains, mentors, and sets the example for all to follow. She has been accepted into N.C State University where she hopes to pursue Interior Design in the fall. The Southerlands love Saylor and are grateful that she is a part of their team.
All of these young people had the opportunity to travel with the Southerlands and four other teammates to Omaha for this year’s 2025 GROW Conference. Operating and growing this amazing brand is a blessing for these local franchisees, but their true joy comes from watching all of these young people grow, thrive, achieve, and lead every day, all while making the customer experience their priority. With challenges come opportunities, and all of these young ladies have demonstrated that perseverance, tenacity, and teamwork can lead to great achievements. However, true value, reward, and satisfaction are achieved when others feel valued and appreciated for their contributions and start to believe in themselves.
All of these young people understand that they are so much more than just a barista, manager, or multi-unit leader. They understand that they have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others and to influence and encourage their teammates to rise to their full potential so that they too can accomplish great things.
Congratulations Yeimi, Saylor, Teagan, and Bella; well done!
(Contributed article)
