Southern Indiana Living Magazine - May/June 2024

Cover Story
Coffee & Community
Starlight Coffee Co. shines at five locations
Story by Darian Decker
Photos by Michelle Hockman
12 • May/June 2024 • Southern Indiana Living
Jim Book jokingly said he was
“young, dumb, and broke”
when he started Starlight Coffee
Company under the name
Bean Street back in 2002. He said
there were no other coffee shops in
Southern Indiana at the time and
that Starlight remains the longestrunning
coffee shop in the area.
“Me personally, I was determined
to do something and met a
couple that ran a shop over in Louisville
that also did their own roasting,”
he said.
The couple walked him
through the process and helped
educate him on the coffee business.
“It’s kind of like bartending
without alcohol, and it fits my personality.
I grew up on a farm; I’m
a morning person, and I like to engage
with people,” Book said.
The couple who helped him
were very informative for him; after
that, he said it took a lot of his
own manual labor to get the space
ready.
“I went into running a business
blindly and just had to learn
how to manage, how to maintain,
how to pay bills as I went,” he said.
“It was definitely a hands-on learning
experience.”
After four or five years, Book
changed the name of the shop to
the same name as his roasting company,
“Starlight,” after learning of
another business using Bean Street.
Since then, the business has grown
from one to five different locations
across Southern Indiana.
Most recently, Starlight opened
its doors at a new location in
Georgetown in October. Book said
he’s always had his eye on Georgetown
since a lot of their Floyds
Knobs business traffic comes from
Georgetown.
Once his friend Seth Ernstberger
opened his orthodontic
practice, he reached out to Book
with the idea of using part of the
space as a coffee shop.
“For him, it was space that
wasn’t being utilized; for me, it was
a good opportunity,” Book said.
Though Starlight now has
multiple locations and nearly 60
staff members, Book said something
he felt challenged by early on
was recognizing there were waves
of good and bad days.
“They level out, but you have
moments where it’s good or bad,”
he said. “From that point on, it’s
just (learning) organization and
managing a lot of people.”
Going forward, he said one
of his goals is increasing efficiency
now that they have so many locations.
“Putting the fifth store on was