Sellersburg joins the expanding Coffee Crossing community

Local coffee chain plans to branch out with a new location

Alexis Mattingly, Coffee Crossing employee, laughs while steaming milk for a customer. Photo by Josie Garwood

Josie Garwood, Staff Reporter

The high-pitched squeals of milk steaming muffled by the chatter of students, coworkers, and friends fill the Grant Line location of Coffee Crossing. The baristas bustle behind the bar, practicing their craft of specialty coffee. They work from dawn until dusk, striving to provide the warmest atmosphere and the friendliest service they are capable of.

The Sellersburg location of Coffee Crossing is expected to open at the end of November.

The baristas on staff at Coffee Crossing are taught from the day they start training to strive for excellence through crafting the finest drinks imaginable, providing the friendliest service and creating an atmosphere so warm, it feels like home.

This is what Alan Butts, the owner of Coffee Crossing, always envisioned for his company, motivating him to have three successful locations and a fourth on the way.

“My goal is to have a place where people could come together and to offer people the finest drinks imaginable,even to people who don’t like coffee,” Butts said.

With the ideals of his dream business in mind, Butts opened the Charlestown Road location of Coffee Crossing in 2003. Driven by his love of community and his passion of coffee, Butts worked everyday as a barista with his family to create and practice providing southern Indiana with a local caffeine hub and a safe meeting space.

“Our business was steady for the longest time, but when we opened our drive-thru, we instantly saw a dramatic increase in our sales,” Butts said “And now we do most of our sales with our drive-thru.”

With this in mind, Butts opened two locations within two years.

In August of 2015, Butts decided Highway 62 would be the next home for Coffee Crossing, due to traffic from Amazon and other factories near River Ridge. In October the following year, it was clear to him that his company was ready for a standalone shop.

“We wanted to build the store off of Grant Line because we knew that students at IUS could use a study place close by,” Butts said.

Earlier this year, Katie Cunningham, the corporate accountant of Coffee Crossing and Butts’ daughter, suggested to her father that they open another standalone location close to Ivy Tech Community College. This location would have new features that would be appealing to students.

“I had so many ideas for the Grant Line store that just never happened, so this was the perfect chance to bring those ideas to life,” Cunningham said.

She said they will be incorporating an indoor/outdoor community counter that will turn into a table via a “half garage door”. There will also be an outdoor fire pit for cozy gatherings.

Ashlee Greene, the prospective manager of the Sellersburg location, is looking forward to watching the growth of the new location.

“I’m so excited to watch this company grow and have the opportunity to oversee the new location,especially since it’s close to Ivy Tech, the State Police Station and Highway 65,” Greene said.