We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Buttars a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, appreciate you joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

Opening this coffee shop was a huge risk. After attempting to start and then failing at operating three prior businesses, of course I was apprehensive to try again. However, I knew if I wasn’t willing to try at least one more time, the chances of me failing at it would be 100% Very early on Mindie and I decided we wanted to do everything we could to give back to our community, the first big one being my idea to host a free Thanksgiving dinner for people in our community that could not afford to have one, or for people who didn’t want to spend the holiday alone. Every single person told me it was a bad idea. They told me we did not have the funds to make it happen but once again, I took a risk. We made it happen and that was truly the beginning of Cache Coffee being born. Now, almost four years later, Cache Coffee has taken on a life of its own, it has become its own term of kindness, compassion, and good-hearted people.

Jamie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

To tell you the simplest explanation, Cache Coffee is just that, a coffee shop. But nothing in life is simple and we are not the exception. We originally started as Cache CBD. However, we soon learned that trying to get a business license or a bank account selling CBD is next to impossible. We always liked Black Rifle Coffee and there wasn’t anything like that here in Logan, so we became BRCC distributors. Because of that, Veterans, law enforcement, and first responders were automatically drawn to us. For that, we will always be grateful to BRCC; because of what they once stood for, we figured out who we were, and we found our courage to stand up for everything we believe in. Fast forward five years, our community of Veterans, family members of Veterans, law enforcement officers, and first responders have turned Cache Coffee into what it is today. What started with one Veteran bringing in something he collected while he was overseas in Iraq, turned into eventually being seen as a small, military museum. A sneak peek at some of the items we have, pictures depicting a paratrooper as he is jumping out of a helicopter, a North Vietnamese flag captured by a POW who went on to work for the Secret Service, protecting Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, as well as the CIA securing embassy’s all over the world. You can find a Christmas tree ornament that hung in the White House. We have a chemical detection kit from 1954, still fully stocked, we have volcanic ash from Iwo Jima, cases of challenge coins and medals, and we have a patch wall displaying some very rare patches, as well as patches from police departments from all over the country.
Standing tall in the corner you will find a gun safe. Almost immediately after seeing it you will glance up and to the left and you will see a sign that reads, “If you are looking for a reason NOT to kill yourself today, this is it!” For some people, seeing a gun safe inside of a coffee shop might be a little unsettling, but we are ok with that because it will start a conversation. A conversation that needs to be started, and one that every single person in this country should be having. The gun safe is not for us, it’s for the community. June 5th, 2021, we lost a very good friend when he took his own life. In the 18 months that followed, we lost 11 more. We knew we needed to do something to try to help erase the stigma that comes along with suicide. After the third local Veteran came to us asking us to hold their firearms for them while they sought the help they needed, we got the idea for a gun safe. A safe available to everyone in the community who needed a place to store their firearms temporarily. People aren’t willing to take them to the police for fear they will be arrested or red flagged for the rest of their lives, especially for what is almost always a very fixable and short-term issue. When the Marine Corps League Auxiliary heard what we were wanting to do, they purchased a safe and brought it down to the coffee shop. Cache Coffee Safe Storage Program was born. Fast forward one year later and we have already had to upgrade to a larger safe (huge thank you to Liberty Safes). So far, we have at one time, or another held at least 50 guns inside them. The program is growing; we have teamed up with Liberty Safes to help spread the program nation-wide. Stay tuned for that!
Last fall we were informed that Black Rifle was seeking a location here in Logan to open another location. At that point we knew that trying to stay in business as a distributor when they had an actual Black Rifle store they could go to, probably wasn’t going to work out in our favor. So, Jamie started making plans to purchase our first roaster. In November of 2022, Cache Coffee Roasting Co. was born. Today we have 12 roasts of our very own as well as an entire line of our own apparel and gear.
We have several upcoming plans and goals, hopefully coming to fruition very soon. Including another location, some amazing partnerships, and some things we aren’t ready to share yet. The sky is the limit, and we don’t have plans to slow down anytime soon.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

My business partner is my ex-wife. We got married in 1999, had two kids, and divorced in 2002. We married at a very young age, when we thought we knew everything, and nobody could tell us different. Both of us were too caught up in the party lifestyle. I loved my alcohol and my wife ended up with an addiction to opiates and meth. We remained friends through it all, even though more often than not we hated each other. Eventually, years later, Mindie got clean, and we both grew up. For the last 10 years we have been back together, and we have developed an amazing relationship. We have plans to marry next year. Together, we have built this business from the ground up and we have turned our relationship into one that others find inspiring.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We built our audience by not being afraid to stand up for what we believe in, even if nobody else has the courage to stand. We are not afraid to say what’s on our minds, and we make zero apologies for who we are. We’ve also had a little help from Fenrir. Fenrir, affectionately known as Fenners, is our three-year-old Belgian Malinois. He is the Cache Coffee K9, and he has developed his very own fan club.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cachecoffeeandmore.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cachecoffeeandmore/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cachecoffee
• Other: tiktok.com/@cachecoffee