Ryan Scoggin is from the Pacific Northwest, so he knows a thing or two about coffee.

Scoggin came to the area, after a stint in the Air Force, to fly for FedEx. He also invested in real estate.

"I've got my ear to the ground on something new and different to do," he said. "It was in a franchise newsletter that I found out about Scooter's Coffee. I started poking around, and that piqued my interest."

Scoggin is working to open several Scooter's locations in the area. His first is set to be in Millington, opening in early September.

He is working with Barry Maynard and Frank Dyer III of Gill Properties to find sites.

Around the time Scoggin was looking into the Scooter's brand, he discovered that his brother-in-law in Milwaukee was also specifically interested in Scooter's. The two are partnering in opening Scooter's and not just in the Memphis area.

Scooter's was founded in 1998 by Don and Linda Eckles in Bellevue, Nebraska. There are roughly 600 locations, mainly in the Midwest.

Scoggin is not involved in the potential Scooter's location at 1968 Poplar Ave. at the former CK's Coffee Shop site. He said that Scooter's does not provide exclusive rights to the area. The idea is spread the Scooter's brand as far as possible.

The Millington location is the first of three "seed and sell" sites. This means that Scooter's will build the site, with the franchisee taking over. Scoggin is currently ironing out the details for the next two seed and sell locations.

Scoggin said that Scooter's deemed Memphis and the tri-state area as a "coffee desert."

"From a business standpoint, we were looking for something that there was a need for," he said. "Something that we can scale quickly."

Scoggin is particularly interested in the periphery of Memphis. He'd like to tap into the potential market in the orbit of the BlueOval City site — including Arlington, Covington, and Lakeland. He also named Hernando, Southaven, and Senatobia, Mississippi, as markets to consider.

"The Scooter's model does really well in small markets. That's why Millington was attractive to us. If you go farther north, there are a few towns that I think would be would be fantastic," he said.

Next month, Scoggin will head to Nebraska for "Scooterversity." In includes a drive-thru kiosk inside a warehouse, and he'll be learning everything from management to making drinks.

A typical location of Scooter's employs up to 30 people and is around 700 square feet.

Scoggin said that Scooter's is very good at giving the big picture, providing important data points such as traffic volumes and population centers.

"They build their business around amazing people serving amazing drinks amazingly fast," Scoggin said.