Affogato West
Founded on July 4, 2017....as a coffee truck which successfully ran for 11 months. Renovations began Sept. 2019 and we're constantly growing and evolving.
We then moved into an awesome warehouse space from August 4, 2018 to Sept. 1, 2019 and then had the opportunity to lease the entire 14,000 warehouse space.
Our Story
Southern Utah’s Premiere not-your-average Gourmet Coffee House serving coffee beverages, locally made pastries, healthy smoothies, and our signature dish, the Affogato...vanilla bean ice cream topped with espresso. For a real treat garnish with caramel, peanuts or almonds and sea salt. Oh, and an incredibly friendly staff that infuse each order with love and a little chaos!
Elise Mortensen West has been an entrepreneur since age 4 when she opened her first Lemonade Stand (like most kids). She then graduated from selling lemonade to teaching ballet lessons as a teen in her garage, cutting the neighbors hair (that didn’t go well) and running her parents garage sale (selling things she wasn’t supposed to sell). Her blazing spirit and zest for life has taken her on the road less traveled and she loves a good adventure. One experience led to another and after a lifetime of dreaming and a solid year of planning, she found a really cool Gourmet Beverage Truck in Phoenix and brought to southern Utah. Eleven months later she moved Affogato into a corner of a funky, unique warehouse that served as the St. George Movie Theaters for 30 years. Serving traditional coffee drinks, gourmet specialty drinks, delicious smoothies, local pastries, ice cream, GF, Vegan and Dairy Free options too.
Her hard work, 60 years of dreaming and a whole lotta community support then led her to acquire the entire warehouse space and open up West Village which includes the Affogato West Coffeehouse, Crazy Eddie’s Music & Comedy Club, Tiny Mary’s Restaurant and Bar, Merchant Shops, Bakery, weekly Farmers Market and 10 Private Offices. In other words, southern Utah has never looked so good. A place for locals, families and tourists alike to come and enjoy a variety of activity morning, noon and night. A place where you feel like it’s your home away from home. Where businesses can plan and implement new ideas, friends meeting friends, moms and dad with kids, perfect gift giving shops, where a good laugh signals great passion and a hug welcomes you to a safe place where you can always be “just you”.
She is full of Grit, Perseverance, Hard Work and so many other descriptive words that could fill this page. Not afraid to chase after every dream she’s every wanted, Elise thrives on community & collaboration. She believes that giving back to her community and beyond is her true joy. She recognizes and applauds her stellar employees/friends daily, who perform a great job in keeping her brain less foggy, more organized and on task as her never-ending to do list finds her ordering running shoes every few months. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. She fantabulously enjoys her employees in every way and she finds value in their incredible-ness, dedication, loyalty and no doubt, daily gut laughter…an essential ingredient in her Coffeehouse! Serving stellar coffee and such is her passion and being a mom to two extraordinary kids and a gramma to five is her heartbeat. She has found her permanent home at Affogato West and West Village. And she invites to you enjoy the journey with her.