Come Together Over Coffee {Cherrywood Coffeehouse}
Community Coffee
Words by Jessi Devenyns Photos by Shelby Bella & Ashley Haguewood
Cherrywood Coffeehouse is more than a coffee shop. It is a community that thrives seven days a week from 7 am. to midnight. Ryan Marks describes the one-room shop as a headquarters for real food and real company. “Our whole focus is to have a great place. If people want to come through every day, they can do their work, they can have their breakfast, they can have their lunch, they can bring their family. Just a comfortable place where you want to come,” he emphasizes. The atmosphere at Cherrywood is a little bit 20th century Austin, a little bit family-friendly, and a little bit neighborhood watering hole.
In 2009, Jen Marks and Ryan Marks started the business in hopes of bringing the duo’s popular sandwiches and smoothies from their other café, Garden District, to the neighborhood in which they lived. Though the formula of being a one-size-fits-all neighborhood hub works today, the beginning was not as smooth as Jen and Ryan anticipated. “We got this place in the middle of the very beginning of the Great Recession, and really, that first year was rough,” says Jen, as she recalls running between the newly-opened coffeehouse to grab supplies to transfer to Garden District before starting her day down south.
Things have become more manageable in the subsequent years, and now Cherrywood Coffeehouse is an established fixture in the neighborhood that hosts weekly trivia nights, Sunday morning shows for kids, and weekday morning yoga sessions for patrons. “Nobody’s becoming a millionaire out of this, but I’m really proud of the place,” smiles Ryan. “I feel blessed to have the opportunity to do it and to make a living doing it… I don’t know what the hell I’d be doing otherwise.”
Even with its wide variety of offerings, this spot on 38 ½ Street remains a no-frills establishment. The coffee is particularly indicative of this approach. “It’s going to be a good quality cup of coffee, but it’s going to be straight forward where anybody could come in the door and not be intimidated,” explains Jen.
With an easy-going atmosphere readily apparent to anyone who enters, the clientele that regularly frequents this establishment is as varied as the activities and menu items it offers. Regulars like John Aielli intermingle with visits from the likes of Beto O’Rourke. The only difference is that the regulars know to order the tacos. Beto, according to Jen, came by and ordered pastries to go. Ryan laughs as he exclaims that Jen missed a valuable teaching lesson. In hindsight he would have told him, “If you want these people to remember you or remember what you brought, bring them some of these breakfast tacos. This is Austin.”
Contact:
1400 E 38th-1/2 St.
cherrywoodcoffeehouse.com
@cherrywood_coffeehouse
