Avery Amstutz hit the byways for years before starting Byway Coffee Company.
Born in Memphis, she also lived in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. She studied abroad in Lithuania. As a wedding photographer, she’s shot in Germany, Alaska, Mexico, and the Bahamas.
She says she loves to “take the road less traveled,” instead of “jumping on the highway.”
And that was the inspiration for Byway Coffee. It’s “a lot about community and just loving local and hitting the byways for [the] weekend, visiting different parts of town.”
Then there are the people. “That’s a big part of what drives me.” She loves to “connect with other people.”
In addition to her wedding photography business, Amstutz owns Slate Studio, a photography studio at 60 West Virginia Avenue. And she’s the owner of Highball 901, a mobile cocktail trailer. They serve “unique cocktails,” as well as beer and wine.
Amstutz got into coffee in 2022, the year after she bought her cocktail trailer. She bought an Airstream trailer, which she found on Facebook Marketplace, and she instantly knew it wasn’t going to be another cocktail trailer. “I had a feeling it needed to be coffee. I knew that Memphis loved coffee, and a mobile coffee trailer worked well in the city.”
With help from “close friends in the coffee industry,” including Comeback Coffee and JoJo’s Espresso, Amstutz began Byway Coffee Company. She held the grand opening in July 2024. Her uncle, West Huddleston, who first put a Nikon camera in her hand, is her silent partner.
Ironically, Amstutz doesn’t drink a lot of coffee. “Now that I have so much access to it, I drink it way less than I used to. I could have it every day if I want to.”
But she did drink a lot of it when she was in college. “I would do Starbucks. I do love coffee, but I really love meeting somebody over coffee. I often don’t finish my cup. … I like the feeling of a cup of coffee, but I really love the people that sit around a cup of coffee.”
They don’t roast their own beans at Byway Coffee, but they have their own blend, which is roasted every week at Comeback Coffee. “I wanted to have our own blend, Byway Blend. It sounded cool.” The coffee is packaged in their brand colors: purple and orange.
Amstutz features a “monthly signature menu” of new beverages, which include matchas and chais. The current menu, which will “go away” May 31st, includes six or seven coffee drinks. The new menu will begin June 1st.
So customers can still get the two most popular May coffees: Banana Bread Latte and Blueberry Cobbler Latte.
“On the June menu we will have a White Peach Latte. And we will have, for the first time, a dairy-free coconut cold foam. Cold foams are our biggest sellers. It’s like a flavored whipped cream. We’re going to have a Coconut Cream Cold Brew, and then the other foam we’re going to have is a Hershey’s Chocolate Cold Foam for summer.”
The cold foams are “just really creamy, and we make them very flavorful, and they’re very colorful.”
Their Ube Cold Foam Latte, which is offered all the time, is their most popular coffee drink, Amstutz says. Ubes are purple yams from the Philippines. She got the idea for the coffee drink while living in Hawaii, where ubes are popular. “I wanted to bring that here. It’s not very popular or well-known here or in the States.”
She mixes the ubes, which are very sweet and taste similar to vanilla and marshmallow; her Byway Blend espresso; and whatever milk option the customer chooses. “We use whole milk, oat milk, and almond milk.”
The trailer also includes their two-pound bag of freshly roasted beans as well as other local products, including Comeback Coffee coffee sodas. They also sell pastries, which are locally baked at Lucy J’s Bakery in Crosstown Concourse.
Selecting flavors is a group effort among the Byway team, which is a big part of her business. “My team is my favorite part about what I do. I wanted to create an environment for other people to come to the trailer, but I didn’t expect the kind of fulfillment and happiness I found in actually managing a team.”
Also, she says, “We’re all great friends and everybody hangs out after work.”
Amstutz knew who she wanted inside the Byway trailer. “I picked staff who I knew would cultivate a relationship with our customers. I was very specific about the type of person I want working for Byway. Are they friendly? Are they warm? And, also, are they very fast?”
Her team is “very approachable to the average person.”
And her business keeps growing. “We just launched our shipping program, where you can order a two-pound bag of freshly roasted Byway coffee blend and get it shipped to your house.”
Byway Coffee’s weekly schedule is posted every Sunday on Instagram and Facebook (@bywaycoffee.co). And at 5 p.m. each day, they post where they’re going to be the next day. “We partner mainly with locations like High Point Grocery and Novel book store.”
The trailer is usually at Sea Isle Park once or twice a week and at Overton Park on Sundays.
Amstutz says her second Byway Coffee trailer is slated to open in November. She then plans to open more locations. “I’m doubling down on this one. It’s been so fulfilling and rewarding and fun. And always interesting. I’m really loving it.”