Rise and shine with new South Whidbey coffee shop

A “coffee-preneur” who has launched scores of stores for big-name companies has brewed up her very own cafe on Whidbey Island.

Just last month, Dawn Pinaud opened the doors of Coffee at Dawn, the newest business to accompany Mukilteo Coffee Roasters at 5331 Crawford Road near Langley.

With her extensive background in starting coffee shops around the globe, Pinaud possesses an impressive resume as the first employee under Howard Schultz, the former CEO of Starbucks.

In the early days of Starbucks, coffee beans were sold wholesale, and you couldn’t get a cup of joe if you tried until the 1980s. Pinaud was tasked with opening beverage stores for the coffee giant in new regions, including Vancouver, B.C., Chicago and L.A.

“Then when it got too corporate, I said bye-bye,” she said.

So in 1992 she started her own business, Caffè at Dawn, in Malibu, California, where celebrities became her clientele.

“Demi Moore was a regular customer. You name it, they were in there,” Pinaud said. “We had their credit cards on file and they would call and send the housekeeper to get smoothies.”

However, her days of opening coffee shops for other companies were not behind her. She helped the London-based Seattle Coffee Co. expand further into Europe, which was an untapped market because Starbucks did not yet have stores there. Within two years, Seattle Coffee Co. brought the brand to 89 stores throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East under Pinaud’s guidance.

Opportunities in Paris, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Moscow led to more and more coffee shops for various other companies.

Last year, Beth Smith of Mukilteo Coffee Roasters approached Pinaud about taking over the vacant cafe space that had previously been occupied by Seabiscuit Bakery. Pinaud had worked with Smith and her late husband, Gary, in the past to develop her own blend of coffee. Pinaud remembered the island fondly from the time Whidbey Telecom hired her to open the WiFire Cafe in Freeland, so she made the decision to return and live here full-time.

Though she still provides consulting services for people looking to start their own coffee concept, Coffee at Dawn is her new and main focus.

Besides beverages, the cafe in the woods offers all-day breakfast and a rotating array of pastries dreamt up by Julie Parrick, who has a passion for baking and catering. Parrick was part of the original Mukilteo Coffee Roasters Cafe in the Woods. Now, she’s back in the building with a brand-new kitchen, a feeling that she said is better than Christmas.

“Her pancakes are killer good,” Pinaud said of Parrick. “Fluffy, like my mother used to make.”

Pastries are cultivated with the adult palate in mind, meaning not overly sugary. The coffee is bold in flavor, and the quality of the ingredients are top-notch, such as the Madagascar and Tahitian vanilla used in the Belgian waffles.

“The syrups we use for coffee, nobody else uses,” Pinaud said. “Bartenders use it, but you don’t see it in coffee bars.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pinaud became interested in creating her own spices to go with coffee; that brand is known as Spyc and can be found all around Coffee at Dawn.

Some might be surprised to find cheesy waffles on the menu.

“It’s like mac and cheese in a waffle iron but it’s gluten-free,” Pinaud said.

Coffee at Dawn is open Friday through Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visit the website dawnpinaud.coffee.