When you think about going to a nice sit-down meal, you're probably thinking of that fancy French place, a special occasion lobster restaurant, or the ruler of all restaurants and breadsticks, Olive Garden. You probably aren't thinking of 7-Eleven, but gosh darn-it if the famous chain didn't just go and open up a 7-Eleven sit-down cafe, as reported by Food & Wine and confirmed to Bustle by a 7-Eleven rep. Yup, you can now go and hang out in 7-Eleven, buy yourself a Slurpee, and sit down on your butt, too.
So what exactly makes a sit-down 7-Eleven different from the OG, aside from the glorious fact that you can, well, sit? If you head to the new store in Dallas, TX, you'll find that it's essentially a testing laboratory for future 7-Eleven ideas, most of them more upscale than the current stores. Per Food & Wine, there are all sorts of offerings, like smoothies, juices, and agua frescas that are all made-to-order — and it also has wine, beer, kombucha, nitro cold brew, and teas that you can get on tap. There's even a branch of their Laredo Taco Co. chain and "The Cellar," which offers a selection of wines and beers.
If you're looking for other fun things to take home, you can find pastries like fresh-baked cookies and croissants, plus bulk snacks, frozen yogurt, ice cream and more. Basically, there's a lot happening. It's like 7-Eleven turned into a theme park and you can just run free through their wares. It would be an odd design for a theme park, sure — but are you really going to question the abundance of riches that surround you?
7-Eleven is no stranger to bringing people what they want and pushing their own limits. Normally, this manifests with things like canned wine, Free Slurpee Day, or Chips Ahoy!-flavored hot chocolate — all pure genius, but relatively small scale. But with this new cafe concept, the chain is clearly thinking bigger.
"Convenience retailing is lightyears away from the days of bread and milk being sold from ice docks in 1927, and the industry is changing at a faster rate than ever before," Chris Tanco, 7-Eleven's vice president and COO, said in a statement, according to Food & Wine. "7-Eleven stays at the forefront by pushing the boundaries and being unafraid to try new things. This new lab store will serve as a place to test, learn and iterate on new platforms and products simultaneously to see what really resonates with customers and how we can take those learnings systemwide."
Although the first outpost of the fancy-schmancy 7-Eleven is in Dallas, Food & Wine reports plans for six more locations in the future, including San Diego, CA and Washington, D.C. Obviously, that's a far cry from being available nationwide, but as these are a sort of testing ground for 7-Eleven ideas, it is possible that you'll be seeing aspects of the cafe being rolled out somewhere closer to you. Until then, the idea of tea on tap, fresh tacos, and 7-Eleven Slurpees all in one place may just have to be a pipe dream — unless you live in Dallas, of course.
