Alan R. Butts, Owner of Coffee Crossing
By Liz Rozengard
Alan R. Butts, the owner of Coffee Crossing in Southern Indiana, is a native to the area. On top of being a local, he supports local establishments as much as possible. He is also an IU Southeast alumna, he graduated with two undergrads, and a masters.
After graduating college he started his journey teaching for three years at Scribner. After a short stint at Scribner he accepted a position at Ft. Knox as a teacher and head coach of the football program. In his thirteen years there he made daily trips to Ft. Knox, and remained a resident of Southern Indiana.
‘’Every place in the country kind of thinks they’ve got a market on the friendliest people,” Butts said. “We just have really good, down to earth people that live in this area...seems like people here are pretty grounded.”
The people here are one of the reasons he can’t leave, and was a main factor when he decided to open his local coffee shop. When he started Coffee Crossing in 2003 there was only one other coffee shop in all of New Albany.
The thought for establishing Coffee Crossing was already there, but he needed something to help turn his thought into action. This happened when he least expected it during a small prayer group he was leading at Northside Christian Church. He noticed the outlets opening on Charlestown Road, and prayed a lot about how he could better serve the residents here. After many prayers and contemplation, he and his wife Mary Butts decided to take the leap of faith and open “Coffee Crossing.”
Having never been a business owner, he said that he “jumped in, and started learning everything I could about it.”
He went in with one mindset when opening his first establishment. Butts said that it needed to be a fusion of what he had seen at other coffee shops, along with what he viewed as important.
His coffee shop was based off “The Blue Pepper Mill Café,” a local café in Southern Indiana he and his wife Mary went to a lot with their two daughters when they were growing up. He originally wanted for his coffee shop to resemble this cafe, and also include really great coffee.
When he started to turn his dream into a reality, he discovered that it is hard to make a café profitable because of the overhead, but he held onto the other part of his dream, and that is to serve great coffee. He discovered that coffee shops have great profit margins and is something that would greatly benefit the people of Southern Indiana. This coffee shop was no longer a want, it was a need.
Not letting go of his café dreams he included a small pastry selection in his shop. He achieved his dreams and helped other local places to achieve theirs by importing pastries from the years 2003-2015. This helped promote their business, along with his own. The baked goods came from Sweet Stuff in New Albany and Adrienne’s’ in Jeffersonville, two local pastry shops that provided Coffee Crossing with scones, muffins, and more.
Coffee Crossing opened on June 9, 2003 at 4212 Charlestown Rd, New Albany, IN, and has been extremely successful. Butts recently opened a second location in August of 2015 in Jeffersonville.
“The new location is off to a really good start, and we feel really good about it,” said Butts.
When opening his new location at 410 Patrol Rd, Jeffersonville, IN he was given the opportunity and space to create his baked goods on site. As luck would have it, his daughter a recent graduate from The Culinary Institute in New York decided to move back home.
Relocating here gave her the opportunity to become Coffee Crossing’s full time pastry chef, and now you know there is an accredited chef from the Culinary Institute of America baking everything at Coffee Crossing.
“Louisville metro area, as far as chef’s go, I think there are only three chef’s, she’s actually one of them.” Butts said. “A lot of people don’t know that our baked goods are being baked by a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) chef.”
What sets his coffee shop apart is their mission to get better, and according to Butts in order to get better you have to adapt to change. Butts finds this very important, because he wants everyone to feel comfortable here.
Along with their adaptive environment they also focus strongly on their mission statement. Which is serving the finest drinks, in the warmest atmosphere, by the friendliest staff imaginable. All three parts are of equal importance to him, and vital in making his establishment successful. Having background knowledge in coffee shops before opening his own, he believes most coffee shops are either very coffee centric, or very costumer based, and typically emphasize one quality over another.
However, at Coffee Crossing, they know both are a necessity.
To him location is everything, he said that they have tried to open second locations multiple times before, but the area was never the best fit for them. However, this second location is. Most of the people in Jeffersonville are familiar with the delicious coffee and pastries served, or at least the brand itself. Because of this, it has been easy to build a business there, and has started up much faster than some of the other attempts. The people of Southern Indiana, are what help to make his coffee shops a success.
Butts is a Southern Indiana native and an entrepreneur. His roots are embedded deep to this area, and he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
Alan R. Butts, the owner of Coffee Crossing in Southern Indiana, is a native to the area. On top of being a local, he supports local establishments as much as possible. He is also an IU Southeast alumna, he graduated with two undergrads, and a masters.
After graduating college he started his journey teaching for three years at Scribner. After a short stint at Scribner he accepted a position at Ft. Knox as a teacher and head coach of the football program. In his thirteen years there he made daily trips to Ft. Knox, and remained a resident of Southern Indiana.
‘’Every place in the country kind of thinks they’ve got a market on the friendliest people,” Butts said. “We just have really good, down to earth people that live in this area...seems like people here are pretty grounded.”
The people here are one of the reasons he can’t leave, and was a main factor when he decided to open his local coffee shop. When he started Coffee Crossing in 2003 there was only one other coffee shop in all of New Albany.
The thought for establishing Coffee Crossing was already there, but he needed something to help turn his thought into action. This happened when he least expected it during a small prayer group he was leading at Northside Christian Church. He noticed the outlets opening on Charlestown Road, and prayed a lot about how he could better serve the residents here. After many prayers and contemplation, he and his wife Mary Butts decided to take the leap of faith and open “Coffee Crossing.”
Having never been a business owner, he said that he “jumped in, and started learning everything I could about it.”
He went in with one mindset when opening his first establishment. Butts said that it needed to be a fusion of what he had seen at other coffee shops, along with what he viewed as important.
His coffee shop was based off “The Blue Pepper Mill Café,” a local café in Southern Indiana he and his wife Mary went to a lot with their two daughters when they were growing up. He originally wanted for his coffee shop to resemble this cafe, and also include really great coffee.
When he started to turn his dream into a reality, he discovered that it is hard to make a café profitable because of the overhead, but he held onto the other part of his dream, and that is to serve great coffee. He discovered that coffee shops have great profit margins and is something that would greatly benefit the people of Southern Indiana. This coffee shop was no longer a want, it was a need.
Not letting go of his café dreams he included a small pastry selection in his shop. He achieved his dreams and helped other local places to achieve theirs by importing pastries from the years 2003-2015. This helped promote their business, along with his own. The baked goods came from Sweet Stuff in New Albany and Adrienne’s’ in Jeffersonville, two local pastry shops that provided Coffee Crossing with scones, muffins, and more.
Coffee Crossing opened on June 9, 2003 at 4212 Charlestown Rd, New Albany, IN, and has been extremely successful. Butts recently opened a second location in August of 2015 in Jeffersonville.
“The new location is off to a really good start, and we feel really good about it,” said Butts.
When opening his new location at 410 Patrol Rd, Jeffersonville, IN he was given the opportunity and space to create his baked goods on site. As luck would have it, his daughter a recent graduate from The Culinary Institute in New York decided to move back home.
Relocating here gave her the opportunity to become Coffee Crossing’s full time pastry chef, and now you know there is an accredited chef from the Culinary Institute of America baking everything at Coffee Crossing.
“Louisville metro area, as far as chef’s go, I think there are only three chef’s, she’s actually one of them.” Butts said. “A lot of people don’t know that our baked goods are being baked by a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) chef.”
What sets his coffee shop apart is their mission to get better, and according to Butts in order to get better you have to adapt to change. Butts finds this very important, because he wants everyone to feel comfortable here.
Along with their adaptive environment they also focus strongly on their mission statement. Which is serving the finest drinks, in the warmest atmosphere, by the friendliest staff imaginable. All three parts are of equal importance to him, and vital in making his establishment successful. Having background knowledge in coffee shops before opening his own, he believes most coffee shops are either very coffee centric, or very costumer based, and typically emphasize one quality over another.
However, at Coffee Crossing, they know both are a necessity.
To him location is everything, he said that they have tried to open second locations multiple times before, but the area was never the best fit for them. However, this second location is. Most of the people in Jeffersonville are familiar with the delicious coffee and pastries served, or at least the brand itself. Because of this, it has been easy to build a business there, and has started up much faster than some of the other attempts. The people of Southern Indiana, are what help to make his coffee shops a success.
Butts is a Southern Indiana native and an entrepreneur. His roots are embedded deep to this area, and he doesn’t plan on going anywhere.
