Sometimes it just feels right—like in 1997, when Pony Espresso owners Chris and Kadie Boivin first visited Jacksonville for a weekend getaway.
Like so many of the town’s transplants who have shared this experience, they fell in love with the area. “It was quiet here,” Chris Boivin says. “Coming from Napa, one of the prime wine areas in the world, I could see that Jacksonville had similar potential. We knew the town was not going to stay undiscovered for long.”
The couple asked a local realtor to keep an eye out for possible business opportunities, then returned home. “Nothing stood out—until the agent sent us information on Pony Espresso,” he continues. The opportunity made something click for the couple. “We were both in the restaurant business in Napa,” Chris explains, “and I had experience roasting coffee and managing for a Napa Valley company.”
“I loved that it had a deck, a lot of parking, and a drive-up window,” he says. (In fact, Pony Espresso was the first drive-through coffeehouse in the Rogue Valley, predating the numerous coffee kiosks now sprinkled across the area.) “Within two months, Kadie and I had acquired the business and opened the doors. A few years later we purchased the property.” He was 25, and she was 23, at the time.
They liked the name Pony Espresso, and kept it, but soon made their own mark on the coffeehouse. “We thought about roasting our own beans,” Chris says, “but we decided to focus on the concept of a café instead—merging really good coffee with a tasty and affordable breakfast and lunch menu. We gradually expanded the menu over the years to include full breakfast and lunch served all day, house-baked goods, as well as beer, wine and cider. We proudly serve Longbottom Coffee from Hillsborough, OR, one of Oregon’s first craft roasters.”
The couple opened another location in Ashland three years ago. “Kadie oversees our Ashland location, and has done a tremendous job making it a success. She is also responsible for many of our popular menu options, especially our famous Tomato Bisque soup.”
Being a short distance from Jacksonville’s main shopping district isn’t a drawback, Chris notes. “We have a lot of parking, plus everything is in walking distance in Jacksonville. Our slogan is ‘Your Neighborhood Coffeehouse.’ We’ve always focused on gaining the loyalty of the locals since they are our bread and butter and have given us so much success. Plus, visitors always want to go to the places locals love, just like we did on our visit 20 years ago.”
PONY ESPRESSO
545 North 5th Street • 541-899-3757
Monday-Saturday 6:30am-5:00pm
Sunday 7:00am-5:00pm
Paula and Terry identify as writers, with an ever-increasing number of published works to support the supposition. They live a primarily pastoral life in the enchanted town of Jacksonville.