Foley couple fills cravings void with downtown Southern Shores Coffee and Scallywag's Pizza

BY COLIN JAMES
Reporter
colin@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 1/15/25

Southern Shores Coffee and Scallywag's Pizza now sits at the heart of downtown Foley, a joint venture by Heather and Mark Lindsey that serves enticing flavors in both the form of carefully roasted …

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Foley couple fills cravings void with downtown Southern Shores Coffee and Scallywag's Pizza

Posted

Southern Shores Coffee and Scallywag's Pizza now sits at the heart of downtown Foley, a joint venture by Heather and Mark Lindsey that serves enticing flavors in both the form of carefully roasted coffee and delectable pizza.

The Lindseys started Southern Shores in Gulf Shores around eight years ago. While traveling for their daughter's soccer team, they would stop by every coffee shop they could find because of their her thirst for coffee. Eventually, they decided that they could roast their own at home, so they bought a coffee roaster and beans online.

Heather sent their coffee to her father, who gave his approval after a lot of trial and error. They ended up upgrading to a commercial coffee roaster, showing it in trade shows before opening up shop in Gulf Shores. As the business grew, they realized they needed to expand. They eventually acquired a building in downtown Foley that used to be the site of The Onlooker, and after a long and extensive renovation process, they opened up shop in 2020.

"It went from being just a coffee shop, and it just kind of grew into a breakfast place and a lunch place, and now we do pizza for Scallywag's in the evening," Heather said about the establishment's evolution.

The idea for pizza came from Mark, who is from Ohio and said he was surrounded by some of the best pizza America has to offer. When he moved down South, he found there wasn't anything like what he has had up North, so, again, the Lindseys took matters into their own hands.

They offer their signature Chicago stuffed pizza, which is 12 inches around and two inches deep, filled with two pounds of cheese, two layers of crust and topped with sauce and your choice of toppings.

Back on the coffee side, they buy beans from 14 countries. They are best known for their Bushwhacker coffee, but the couple is always experimenting with different beans and flavors.

"A lot of customers will suggest a different type of coffee flavor, and we'll sit down and just figure it out because it's fun," Heather said. "The customers are like, 'I used to have this when I lived in Santa Monica,' or, 'I used to have this when I lived in Texas.' 'Can you try to replicate something?' We're working three or four months trying to come up with it and roast it into the coffee."

"My daughter had one of those chocalate orange balls one day, and we said, 'What if we do that in coffee?' It turned out great," Mark said. "We got some horrible ones that turned out bad when we tried to do some of those, but that's just fun."

In addition to pizza and coffee, they also have an extensive breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner menu.

As the place grew, so did their sense of community in Foley. The Lindseys have given back by having holding fundraising drives and giving free food and pizza to those who can't afford groceries or a meal for the day.

Though the eatery's central location downtown attracts many visitors, it is more than just a tourist stop.

"We love Foley. It's home," Heather said. "My kids come in here and grab breakfast every morning, and they've all gotten to know [the staff] like a team, so they're more family than they are strangers."

Visit at 217 N. McKenzie St. The coffee shop is open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on Sunday. Meanwhile, Scallywag's serves pizza from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 4-8:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Gulf Shores shop is located at 229 E. 20th Ave.