Espresso Stand Goes Country: Hillbilly Beans Keeps Drivers in Littlerock Caffeinated With a Theme
By Jim Szymanski, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
Jan. 24–LITTLEROCK — Lynn Westby says it wasn’t so much to attract attention that she named her new business Hillbilly Beans Espresso.
The name just matched the feel of her small hometown west of Maytown, she thought.
“We’re in Littlerock; you want to think of it as country,” Westby said.
She spent nine years working part time as a service representative for the Tenino telephone company when a different yearning began welling up inside.
“I just wanted to do something on my own,” Westby said. “I really wanted to have a coffee stand.”
The name Hillbilly Beans was spawned from a vacation Westby took with her husband to Kauai, Hawaii. They came upon a restaurant called Big Bubba. It sold burgers, but also sold T-shirts, mugs and hats with the company logo.
“It made it fun for the customer to order,” said Westby’s husband, Clay, a Thurston County sheriff’s deputy. “The whole dining experience was a positive one.”
The Westbys considered calling their coffee island Mocha Bliss, but then, they say, the name Big Bubba came bouncing back into their heads.
“Lynn told me we could do something like this by calling our coffee stand Hillbilly Beans,” Clay Westby said.
The Westbys play the theme to the hilt. The coffee island is designed like a backwoods shack, and the drinks don’t have standard names. A latte is a Hillbilly Delight and a mocha is called Moonshine. A chai tea is Ellymay’s Hankerin, and an Italian soda is a Bayou Whistle Wetter.
The Westbys use beans from Lacey’s Olympic Crest Coffee Roasters. They carry water in containers across the road from a tavern because the coffee stand has no plumbing.
They post a joke of the day next to the order window. They hand out lollipops to kids and biscuits to dog owners they know.
Lynn Westby, who opened the stand two weeks ago, also plans to collect her customers’ discount punch cards, hold periodic raffles and give away coffee mugs to the winners.
Customers are warming up to Hillbilly Beans, the only espresso stand in sight of the center of Littlerock.
“I’m so glad I no longer have to drive to Tumwater to go to a Starbucks,” said caramel mocha fan Heidi Smith, who lives in Littlerock. “I’m saving gas money.”
Dave Herbert, who commutes to a Tacoma job from Littlerock, used to wait until he arrived at work before ordering his morning smoothie. Now he buys one for the drive at Hillbilly Beans.
“I call Lynn before I leave the house, and she’s already got it made when I drive up,” Herbert said. “I think the name of the place is great, and all of us who live here love it, too.”
Lynn Westby is living her dream to run her own business. The hours, though, are quite a change from a part-time job. Her alarm goes off at 4 a.m. so she can catch commuters by the time the business opens at 5:30 weekdays. She works seven 12-hour days.
Despite the long hours, Lynn said she’s enjoying the business.
“We already have customers coming here two or three times a day,” she said. “I just think this is going to be fun.”
Hillbilly Beans Espresso
Where: 6533 128th Ave. S.W.
What: Espresso stand
Menu: includes hot or iced coffee drinks, smoothies, tea, bagels, muffins, cookies, bottled water
Owner: Lynn Westby
Employees: Three
Hours: 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekends.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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