Nestled in Ellenville at the foot of the Shawangunk Mountains, Morning Sunshine's journey is as distinctive as its brews. The cafe originally started as a pop-up in the fall of 2021, serving coffee and pastries on the weekends out of Reservoir Studio, cofounders Victoria Messner and Natalia Moena's full-service photography, branding, and marketing firm. Now, two years later, Morning Sunshine has blossomed into a brick-and-mortar destination for more than just coffee enthusiasts. The standalone shop, which opened its doors in late May, has expanded to full-service market, cafe, and specialty grocer all rolled into one.
Moena is a photographer and Messner specializes as a creative director and graphic designer. Together, they combined their respective backgrounds to venture into the world of food and drink. Moena’s experience as a food photographer in New York City’s restaurant industry was especially helpful. Her food industry experience—combined with a natural love for cooking—complimented Messner’s branding and visual identity skills. When the time came to launch Morning Sunshine, their collaborative skills played a vital role. Now, Messner is in charge of the front-of-house, including all of the design and marketing, and Moena is heading up the kitchen.
Messner and Moena's original pop-up was hard to find. This was especially true when compared to their other food venture, an outdoor farmer and artisan market called Market on Market. This venture—founded by the duo along with Kerhonkson resident Ryan Byrd and Michele Weisman of MOMEMADE Dog Treats—made a notable debut at the corner of the village’s Market and Center streets. However, Morning Sunshine's pop-up at Reservoir Studio found itself on a quiet dead-end street, nestled behind other buildings, which limited its visibility.
Despite the obscurity, a lot of people showed up to support Morning Sunshine, and the success of the pop-up sparked the cofounders's desire to open a full time location. Once they realized they wanted to open a standalone shop, it took Messner and Moena a year and a half to find a suitable space and renovate it. Priced out of downtown Ellenville, the duo eventually located an old storage building that hadn't been used for roughly a decade. “It was just broken windows, car parts—all that sort of stuff,” says Messner.
Then followed a year of going through site plan approvals, negotiations with the Village of Ellenville's Planning Board, and then the actual renovations. Luckily, friends and locals came together to aid the time-consuming process. Matthew Bremer’s firm, Architecture in Formation, helped them go through the site plan approval. Chloe Rein, a friend with an interior architecture background, aided with the design of the space. And all of the carpentry, including custom cabinetry, was done by John Glagola of Ellenville’s Studio Glagola.
The result is an interior that mimics the feel of the original pop-up. High ceilings and open space serve as a reminder of Morning Sunshine’s humble origins inside a warehouse studio, which resembled an open garage. “It's very spacious and very calming. Nothing feels cramped, even though there's a lot of stuff in here,” says Moena. Messner adds on: “It's a combination of airy but playful. Like a lot of our products that we carry, it's about discovery and exploration.”
The experience running the pop-up shop informed more than just the visual design of the brick-and-mortar. Having mastered coffee and pastries at the pop-up, the new shop was able to expand to a full kitchen with breakfast and lunch items. They also offer provisions like meat, cheese, and dry goods.
On top of the requisite egg sandwiches, the breakfast menu features multiple types of cornbread, including classic, autumn spice, señorita, and mountain mama. For lunch, customers can get one of many sandwiches alongside creamy lentils, protein salad, or a vegan farro grain bowl. There’s even the option to build a charcuterie board. There are also market items to fill the pantry and grab-and-go products for hikes.
Much of the kitchen’s stock comes from local sources. This includes charcuterie from Hurleyville’s La Salumina and eggs from Ellenville’s Ruddy Rock Farms. “A lot of the more perishable goods—like syrup or honey—we get locally, but we're also very much trying to bring people things that they can't get locally,” says Messner. “It’s a combination of international items mixed with local items.”
Broadly, Messner and Moena hope that Morning Sunshine can fulfill needs within the local community. The shop’s four employees are girls and women who grew up in Ellenville, and Morning Sunshine has already connected with locals as its customer base. “We do have weekenders and hikers coming from Minnewaska Park, but our regulars are people who were born and grew up here,” says Messner.
Morning Sunshine also shows local support through various collaborations and events. This past Friday, Morning Sunshine partnered with Movies In The Mountains, which presents free outdoor film screenings, to show the 1990 film Mermaids. Besides providing their own poke bowls that night, Morning Sunshine also partnered with Accord-based BjornQorn, who provided free popcorn. They’ve also worked with Sideways—a wine, cider, and beer garden on Ellenville’s Liberty Street—to offer sandwiches for sale there. And in its collab with Kerhonkson’s Borscht Belt-era Starlite Motel, Morning Sunshine offered snackle boxes—tackle boxes filled with snacks.
“We’ve really been on a mission to try to get people excited about where they live,” says Messner.
Morning Sunshine is open from 8am-4pm on Thursday & Friday and 9am-4pm on Saturday & Sunday. The shop is located at 3-5 Clinton Ave, the Corner of Center St. & Clinton Ave.
