Butter & Kei’s Sonshine Café opens Monday

Keilan Roberts, Toni Carie, Astacia Hubbard and Lexi “Birdie” Roberts, age 5, are putting the finishing touches on preparations for the Monday morning soft opening of Butter & Kei’s Sonshine Café at 255 Court Square in Hawesville.

A family-owned coffee shop and breakfast stop will hold its soft opening Monday morning on Court Square in Hawesville.

Butter & Kei’s Sonshine Café is the project of Toni Carie, daughters Keilan “Kei” Roberts and Astacia “Butter” Hubbard, and son Dylan “Sonshine” Hubbard.

“I’m real big on nicknames, so naming the shop after the kids seemed just right,” Toni said. “It’s very much a family project. We’ve worked on the building together, we created the menu together, and we will be working together.”

Keilan said coffee and breakfast are expected to be very popular menu items, though the menu will also feature lunch sandwiches such as hamburgers, BLTs and Reubens, along with sweet treats and cakes.

“We developed the menu from things we like to eat when we go out,” Toni said. “The goal is to create a welcoming place where people can come in, sit down and enjoy themselves.”

The soft opening will begin at 5:30 a.m., serving coffee and breakfast items at the drive-through only. The business is situated in the former location of US Bank at 255 Court Square in Hawesville, which has been renovated through the work of family members and local contractors.

“We’re excited because we have the only drive-through window in Hawesville,” Toni said. “My husband told me we were crazy, but we believed Hawesville needed this downtown.”

Keilan is the only one with prior experience in the food service industry, having worked as general manager of a Dairy Queen in Owensboro for the past three years, a location she started with at 16 years old.

“We’re going to start very simply with our menu and make changes as we go along,” Keilan said. There are plans to add ice cream in the summer months, though Toni said the approach is to take “baby steps.”

Coffee served at the café will be sourced through Frothy Monkey of Nashville, while loaf bread, cinnamon rolls and bagels will be baked by local Callie Begly, who is well known as a Farmer’s Market vendor.

The café will also feature locally-produced arts and crafts which will be for sale. Toni said there are future plans to provide delivery of orders to local industries and businesses, as well.

“We are very much open to whatever the community tells us they want,” Toni said.

Hours at the café will tentatively be from 5:30 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The café has a Facebook page featuring opening information and a full menu.

By C. Josh Givens