It’s beginning to feel a lot like tee (and tea) time, and while some might write off one local entrepreneur’s dreams as a fluff piece, Alley Cat Tea continues to stir things up with its original recipe.
With a glass half full (of love) the company shows no signs of slowing down.
“You have to be crazy to enter the retail beverage market,” says founder Stephen Ashburn.
Crazy like a cat, apparently.
Some may say you can’t bottle happiness, but the self-appointed “Cat-illac of Lemonades,” Murfreesboro’s own Alley Cat, happily runs a business out of trying to prove that adage wrong. With an original family recipe—which is 48% fruit juice, by the way—and a devoted following, the locally bottled beverage enters local retail spaces littered with less exciting drink options.
The tasty concoction that Alley Cat brews, a non-tea-drinker’s tea, if you will, is well on its way toward having other markets under its paws as well, with distribution in Chattanooga and outlets throughout Tennessee and Alabama carrying the product. And there’s a real story behind the bottle.
Company founder Stephen Ashburn was born and raised in Murfreesboro and is an alumnus of Riverdale High School and MTSU. In 2002 his love of food led him to open Ashburn’s Alley Cafe in Smithville, where the popular Alley Cat Tea became the signature sip. The demand for the fruit tea was always high.
In 2009 the cafe caught fire. It was considered a total loss. Prior to the fire Ashburn had been researching bottling of the beverage. After discovering no one else was bottling fruit tea, he decided to focus on packaging the product and bringing it to the retail scene. The recipe has been in his family as long as he can remember, passed along to him from his mother, Lynn Rooker.
“Mrs. Lynn is his biggest supporter, and CFO of the company,” says Kimmberly Griffin, operations manager for Alley Cat Tea. “We are a Christian-based company and give thanks daily for the opportunity to witness to people with every bottle sold,” Griffin gratefully asserts.
Their printed package labels proclaim the Bible verse of Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Griffin says sales have grown from eight to ten gallons a week at the cafe to now producing thousands of gallons a month.
Initial testing for the tea started in the dairy lab at MTSU with further testing conducted at UT Knoxville. Ashburn still does some testing in the kitchen at his mother’s home with an ultimate goal of seeing distribution throughout the Southeast.
Recent billboard sightings include along Highway 231 near Shelbyville. Occasionally, Alley Cat even features social media contests with activities such as who can spot the signage.
So, who is the cat wearing nothing but a smirk and a hat in the Alley Cat logo?
“That’s our cat, Scratch,” Griffin clarifies. “Alley Cat Tea’s mascot originated at the Alley Cafe where the entrance was in an actual alley and often had cats meander through.”
A radio ad for Alley Cat Tea features Shelby Lee Lowe, a Nashville country music artist who says the twist on a Southern classic hits a high note for him. Not only does he talk up the tea in the ad but his voice also croons the jingle (which he wrote). “It’s a Southern-sweet, Tennessee treat, tastes so good to me, it’s Alley Cat Tea . . . the original fruit tea,” quite a departure from Lowe’s recently released, twanging country cover of No Doubt’s 1996 hit “Don’t Speak.”
“Packed with Vitamin C, it’s a healthy treat for kids and a refreshing alternative for adults,” states the voiceover in an animated TV commercial prominently featuring Scratch. “A recipe steeped in family tradition.”
The feline family tradition-al tea consists of orange, pineapple and lemon juices blended with black tea and cane sugar—nothing artificial. Find Alley Cat Tea at Foodland, Publix, Kroger, Sprouts, the Mewsic Kitty Cafe, Gaylord Opryland, Ryman Auditorium and Mojo Burrito in the Chattanooga area. Griffin says they prefer consumers purr-chase the product at their local grocers, but it is also available online. Visit alleycattea.com to have it delivered nationwide.
