Alley Cat co-owners stay busy

By Scott Bellile

Since opening Alley Cat Coffeehouse on April 8 in downtown Hortonville, co-owners Grace Abitz and Jane Jarvis are so busy seven days a week that they took off their first day on July 4.

“We have a growing customer base every week,” Abitz said. “We keep seeing new faces come in the shop. We have quite a few guests that come in from New London and Greenville and even farther away, so that’s been exciting to see.

“We can tell the buzz is still out there,” she said.

Alley Cat Coffeehouse, 213 W. Main St., offers a manual brew bar, baked treats and pressed sandwiches. Jarvis makes the baked goods from scratch and bakes fresh bread every day for the sandwiches.

The women run the establishment with the environment in mind.

“Jane and I want it to be a very sustainable business,” Abitz said. “We produce very, very little garbage. We reuse coffee grounds that we have – we bag those up and those are available to customers for their gardens and composting.”

The indoor area utilizes a lot of natural lighting, Abitz said. There is outdoor seating as well.

In April 2016, the women bought the building for $58,000, according to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

Over the next year they remodeled the interior. They exposed the brick walls, refurbished the tin ceiling and restored the hardwood floor that for years was carpeted.

“It was intensive. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Abitz said.

Abitz offered numerous words to describe the atmosphere: “cozy,” “old-timey,” “industrial-like” and “a masculine but feminine balance.”

The business is open seven days a week: Monday-Tuesday 6 a.m.-2 p.m., Wednesday-Friday 6 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m.-2 p.m. The menu is online at www.alleycathortonville.com.