After seven years in Cloverdale, Plank Coffee owners open a location in Healdsburg

In Cloverdale, Plank Coffee and Roastery owners Marne Dupere and Mike Morisette can be found roasting specialty green coffee beans they purchase from a local coffee importer. The organic vegetables, eggs and fruits they serve in the coffee shop come from local farmers.

It doesn’t take much to find the eco ethos behind their business.

“We create spaces for people to meet and to eat good organic food,” said Dupere, who along with Morisette seven years ago opened the coffee shop that quickly became a community hub.

They now have expanded their business into neighboring Healdsburg.

This January, the couple opened their second location on the corner of Grove Street and Dry Creek Road, about a mile north from where they previously ran their home decor shop, 14feet.

Dupere and Morisette first landed in Healdsburg after escaping the busy, five-lane Los Angeles freeways in 2007. An interior designer raised on a dairy farm, Dupere grew tired after 15 years of living in Southern California. Morisette was ready to leave his advertising business after 18 years.

“We wanted a different kind of life,” said Dupere. “We were tired of traffic and too much lawn and we were becoming more thoughtful.”

The couple searched for a residence where they could walk to work, have a garden and keep family close, but Healdsburg proved to be too pricey. In 2009, they found a 40-acre property outside Cloverdale. They later found a site in town on North Cloverdale Boulevard for their decor shop.

Although the south end of town had a Starbucks, these foodies felt the north side needed a good coffee shop. They knew people in the coffee industry, so they opened Plank near 14feet.

They started off using Flying Goat Coffee, and then developed their own roastery, along with a commercial kitchen. They built out the roasting facility in 2016 and found they were only using it one day a week, so the idea of another coffee shop started to perk.

Now, they roast coffee three days a week and have one wholesale coffee account.

While looking for a location for their Healdsburg coffee shop, they came across the former Wild Sage Deli. However, the property owners, Kim and John Lloyd, who also own nearby Big John’s Market, planned to raze the building and create parking for their employees since they were losing spaces to a nearby construction project. Luckily for Morisette and Dupere, Healdsburg city officials didn’t approve the plan.

They approached the Lloyds, who entertained the idea of a coffee shop there. After negotiations, they created an agreement. The 1970 building needed extensive renovations, though.

“Plank is an excellent tenant and we’re happy to have them,” John Lloyd said.

“We spent more money than we had,” he said tongue in cheek, referring to the renovations.

“We’re blessed to have the Lloyds as our landlord,” Dupere said.

Dupere, who surprises people when she says she’s 90 percent vegan - she can’t give up cream cheese on her bagels - said they have introduced vegan choices to their menus. They serve vegetarian and vegan soups, smoothies and frittatas, as well as hand pies, burritos and French toast.

Her mother, Marcia, makes all the granola and creates the smoothies, while her father, Edward, makes the soups. Her brother, Ira, who lives in an upstairs apartment over the coffee shop, also works there and soon will be in charge of the specialty pizza production.

The name Plank comes from Morisette’s penchant as a woodworker. They were looking for a homey and woodsy name and brainstormed until they came up with Plank.

Vintage decor has been carefully curated for both venues. Dupere’s choices for Healdsburg include string arts, birds and butterflies. The painstakingly cut wood rounds decorating two of the walls come from fallen logs on a friend’s property.

Plank Coffee is located at 177 Dry Creek Road.