Featured image: A representative Candy Cloud specialty drink cafe, not the planned New Braunfels storefront. The young beverage franchise is planning a location at Town Center at Creekside.
Candy Cloud is planning to turn a former Which Wich space at Town Center at Creekside into a New Braunfels destination for coffee, boba, energy drinks and dessert-style sips. The young franchise already operates in San Antonio, and the Creekside project appears poised to bring it into a second Texas market.
The address is 2830 Town Center Drive, Suite 110. The concept, however, is harder to fit into a single familiar category. A customer might arrive wanting coffee while someone else in the same group chooses a smoothie, lemonade or dirty soda.
That range is central to the story. Candy Cloud is expanding its early Texas footprint with a menu that treats the beverage itself as the reason to visit, reflecting a wider push by specialty-drink businesses to attract customers well beyond the morning coffee run.
Candy Cloud takes shape at Creekside
The state construction registration identifies the 1,667-square-foot suite as a former Which Wich restaurant and describes its conversion into a specialty-drink quick-service shop. The uploaded shopping-center plan also labels Candy Cloud, placing the concept within the established Creekside retail district.
The filing, TABS2027001700, lists $117,000 in renovation work and Square One Franchise Architecture as the design firm. Its projected construction window runs from Oct. 1, 2026, through Feb. 1, 2027. Those are estimated construction dates, not an announced opening date.
At 1,667 square feet, the suite falls within the roughly 1,400–2,000-square-foot range identified in current franchise and real-estate information. For additional context, Weitzman’s tenant-representation listing describes an approximately 1,500-square-foot inline format. The New Braunfels project fits that general small-shop approach.
The setting gives the concept a substantial commercial neighborhood. Town Center at Creekside includes national retailers and restaurants such as Belk, Dick’s Sporting Goods, TJ Maxx, Ross, Best Buy, Ulta and Sprouts, along with CAVA, Chipotle, Five Guys and Panera.
Located along the I-35 corridor, the district serves shopping, dining and other everyday trips. For a drink-focused tenant, that creates opportunities to become an added stop during a visit to the center. Whether Candy Cloud captures those visits will depend on its execution and local demand.
From cotton candy to Candy Cloud’s Texas expansion
The company’s path to New Braunfels began with something much lighter than a storefront: cotton candy.
According to Candy Cloud’s account of its beginnings, Alex and Paityn Edwards started the operation in 2019. Drinks later became an increasingly important part of the business. In late 2021, they found an empty boba shop, renovated it and opened their first permanent beverage storefront in March 2022.
By that summer, the founders were developing a franchise system. Candy Cloud formally launched franchising in November 2022, setting up the move from one beverage shop to a business that could expand across state lines.
The company now lists a San Antonio shop at 11619 Bandera Road. Commercial-location service CREHQ tracks approximately 13 operating locations across six states, while recent franchise-industry summaries describe 12 franchised shops and one company-owned location. Those counts are snapshots of a young, expanding system and can change.
Against that backdrop, New Braunfels appears positioned to become Candy Cloud’s second Texas market if the project proceeds. It remains a planned location.
The new filing identifies CC San Antonio Holdings Inc. as owner and Ché Zimmerman as contact. Public franchise records also associate Zimmerman with Candy Cloud’s existing San Antonio operation. Those records establish a connection between the projects without fully describing the ownership structure.
When the drink becomes the destination at Candy Cloud
Candy Cloud’s current menu crosses boundaries that once helped define separate kinds of shops. Coffee and tea share space with frappes, boba, lemonades, Revibe Energy drinks, smoothies and dirty sodas. The lineup also includes drinks marketed as skinny options, soft serve, food and snacks.
The appeal is choice within one stop. A coffee drinker, a fruit-drink fan and someone looking for a sweet treat can find different reasons to visit the same business.
That changes the role of the beverage in a quick-service trip. Instead of selecting a drink after deciding where to eat, customers can choose the destination around the drink they want. The menu has to offer enough variety to serve several cravings while keeping ordering and preparation manageable.
Candy Cloud’s development follows that logic. Its identity rests on a broad specialty-drink menu rather than a single product category. Coffee can bring in one customer, while boba, energy drinks or soft serve give others a reason to try the same counter.
For operators, the opportunity is to reach more occasions during the day. The challenge is to turn that variety into repeat business without allowing a large menu to slow service or complicate operations.
Energy drinks reach beyond the morning rush
Industry data show why beverage operators are paying attention to alternatives to coffee. Technomic data reported by Nation’s Restaurant News found that restaurant-menu mentions of energy drinks increased approximately 45.8% between the third quarters of 2020 and 2025.
That measures menu presence, rather than a 45.8% increase in sales. The same reporting connects customizable energy drinks with younger consumers and the afternoon period between lunch and dinner.
The business logic is straightforward. Coffee has a strong morning association, but a shop pays for its space throughout the day. Energy drinks, lemonade, smoothies and boba create additional reasons to stop in later. Soft serve and dessert-style drinks can reach customers seeking a treat.
Candy Cloud makes that ambition explicit in its franchise materials, describing a rotating lineup intended to attract visits “morning, noon and night.” That is the company’s operating pitch, not a guarantee that every location will generate steady traffic across those hours.
Food adds another option. Candy Cloud’s broader menu includes melts and bites, including a bacon, egg and cheese melt. A sandwich can complement a drink purchase without changing the beverage-led nature of the concept.
Candy Cloud puts its packaging to work
The clear cans are part of the business model, too. They display the colors and layers of the drinks while giving customers a recognizable package to carry out of the store.
Candy Cloud’s franchise website promotes the cans as an invitation to create a “picture perfect post.” It also says the menu maintains more than 20 core beverages alongside monthly and seasonal collections.
Together, those choices serve different purposes. A familiar favorite can encourage a routine visit. A new seasonal drink offers a reason to return sooner. Distinctive packaging can help someone recognize the business when a drink appears in a friend’s photo.
That is more than decoration. It connects product development, presentation and customer sharing to the effort to attract and retain customers. The can makes the drink identifiable; the changing menu gives customers something new to notice.
Still, a photogenic drink has to earn the next purchase. Taste, service, price and convenience remain part of the decision after the first picture.
An early franchise chapter returns to New Braunfels
Candy Cloud is still testing its ability to grow as a relatively young franchise. Its published franchise information estimates an initial investment of roughly $389,100–$644,350, including a $40,000 franchise fee. That systemwide range covers more than the construction value in an individual state filing.
The distinction matters at Creekside. The $117,000 registration describes planned renovation work, while the larger business undertaking involves opening and operating a shop within an emerging franchise system.
For New Braunfels, the immediate change is concrete: an existing sandwich-shop suite is being adapted for a specialty-beverage concept. It is one tenant transition, and it does not establish a national shift away from sandwich restaurants.
What it does offer is a local example of how quick-service menus are evolving. At Creekside, Candy Cloud plans to bring coffee, boba, energy, fruit and dessert-style drinks together under one roof, giving customers several reasons to make the drink their destination.