The Tipsy Butler owners Annie Fagan (left) and Alicia Witham stand in front of Newcastle bed-and-breakfast with their dog Hobie. The couple purchased the business from Jesse and Stephanie Cheney on March 20. (Maia Zewert photo)
A little over a month into her tenure as the new co-owner of The Tipsy Butler, Alicia Witham has set one of her long-term goals for the Newcastle business.
“I have this beautiful vision of hosting happy guests on the porch, everyone with a glass of bubbly and a freshly shucked oyster and enjoying the property,” Witham said.
Witham and her wife Annie Fagan purchased the bed-and-breakfast, at 11 High St., from Stephanie and Jesse Cheney in late March as a result of an exploratory conversation about hospitality.
“We’ve been talking a long time about running a business together,” Fagan said. “We met as coworkers and love working together, love being a team. A little over a year ago we started moving beyond the what-if phase and into thinking about it seriously.”
Fagan and Witham share a love of hospitality, the latter said.
“We love hosting people and we love taking care of people,” Witham said. “We love interior design and spaces … and we have spent a lot of time taking care of spaces for other people. We loved the idea of doing that for ourselves.”
As they began exploring properties for a joint venture, they also reached out to people they knew in the hospitality industry, including the Cheneys. Fagan and Witham had visited The Tipsy Butler a couple years before for a sauna session for Fagan’s birthday.
“Doing something like this, it is a lifestyle, so we were trying to do our research to make sure this would be a good fit,” Fagan said. “We started reaching out to innkeepers to ask if we can chat about their experiences and thought about Stephanie and Jesse, who were immediately like ‘Yeah, come over!’”
Two weeks after the conversation in which Fagan and Witham described their vision of the business they hoped to one day start, they ended up reaching back out to the Cheneys.
“We were like ‘We haven’t stopped talking about you and what you said,’ and they said ‘We haven’t stopped talking about you!’ And things just naturally continued from there,” Fagan said. “It was kind of a six-month leap of faith for the four of us … and it felt very much like we were working on it together.”
Fagan and Witham worked with Sarah Guerette, of CEI; Jessica Scammon, of Norway Savings Bank; and Sunny Side Accounting, of Newcastle; to finalize their business plan and loan for the purchase. The couple then sold their home and moved into an apartment in the inn with their 12-year-old dog Hobie.
“It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but it’s going well,” Witham said.
There have been a couple updates at The Tipsy Butler in their brief tenure of ownership. A two-bedroom home on the property the Cheneys built last year is available for guests who are looking for a more private stay. A refresh to the business’s website and redesigned branding courtesy of Allie Norman, of Portland, is currently underway.
Someday, the couple hopes to add a commercial kitchen, host celebrations, and building out the sauna onsite, they said. In the meantime, they’re looking forward to connecting with guests and welcoming locals to the property.
“In my mind, it would be the ultimate compliment if we could be the place where people send their family and friends,” Fagan said.
“Because when people who are special to you visit, you want to know they’re going to have a good experience and be taken care of,” Witham finished. “That’s what we want to be.”
The Tipsy Butler will host an open house from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20. All are welcome.
For more information, go to tipsybutler.com, email thetipsybutler@gmail.com, call 653-4103, or find the bed-and-breakfast on Facebook and Instagram.
