Roasting and Running: Moody Coffee Roasters’ Ian Dove

_{Top photo: Doug Mayer}

If you’ve been to Chamonix, France and you like to drink coffee, chances are good that you’ve crossed paths with Ian Dove. He and his wife Georgina are responsible for the best coffee in town. Their shop, Moody Coffee Roasters, can be found in a tiny, tucked-away corner along Avenue Aiguille du Midi. You’ll recognize it by the line out the door and the patio filled with coffee lovers – often including plenty of trail runners – lazing in the morning sun. 

Run the Alps’ Emily Schmitz sat down with Ian to talk about life in Chamonix, trail running, and his new endeavor, Couloir — a restaurant that serves savory snacks and meals along with Moody’s famous coffee. But here’s something that’s a little less-known about Ian: When he’s not serving up a fresh brew, you can find him on the trails around the valley. 

And now, Ian’s training for his first marathon: the Mont-Blanc Marathon.

Here’s their chat:

Emily: Coming from Canada and then the UK, how did you end up living here in Chamonix?

Ian: My wife and I had been spending a season here and there in Chamonix for many years; we first arrived in 2006. We were saissonaires–people who come for one season and then move on–something that doesn’t seem to happen as much anymore. We had done a couple of seasons near here and we had been travelling around the world quite a bit as well. We had been working in fine dining in restaurants in New Zealand – I was a chef. Our first season working in a private catered chalet gained us the contacts for work on yachts in Antibes and super-snaz villas and chalets across Europe for the next few years. 

When we arrived in Chamonix we felt like we had found our place. We met more people on our first night in Chamonix than in the previous five years of traveling. By the end of our first season, we decided to stay for another season. As people often do, we came to Chamonix for the winter months, but decided to stay because of the amazing summers.

We felt like we had met our people and opportunities came our way. We had a great base in Chamonix and our work eventually paid for the setup of our first cafe – Papillon.

Emily: You’ve been in Chamonix for nearly 20 years. How have you seen the town change?

Ian: I think the crowd has changed drastically in Chamonix. It’s been a total flip. The people who came here fifteen or twenty years ago wouldn’t recognize it now. When we first got here, it was just ski bums living out of vans and showering once a week. So many people were here just for the mountains. 

Now, it’s become bougie, very chic, and more expensive. We’re partly to blame for that of course! Part of what I do at Moody and Couloir is glamming up a little mountain village. Moody and Couloir have brought a bit of a big-city feel to Chamonix. So, it’s changed a lot over the years–in good ways and bad ways. Not so many years ago, takeaway food offerings were really limited – pizza, burgers, and a couple of Asian restaurants. Nowadays some real gems have opened, increasing choice and bringing much more diversity to the food scene here.

I like Chamonix now and I liked it back then, too.

Emily: Have you seen trail running change as well over the years?

Ian: Yes. The running scene here has definitely evolved over the years but people have been running here for as long as I’ve seen. When we had our first cafe in Chamonix, Papillon, between 2008 and 2015, UTMB® was a more low-key event. Everyone who was here for the race was excited to be part of this new thing – it didn’t have anything near the recognition that it has these days. It felt like an exclusive club. Now, it’s a huge beast that takes over Chamonix, I would have said once a year, but that energy has become ongoing. It’s been good for businesses.

Emily: You’ve been in the food business since arriving in Chamonix. Everyone knows about Moody, and you have a new endeavor as well.

Ian: My wife and I started a cafe/deli called Papillon shortly after arriving in 2006. We bought the cheapest place we could find–an old hairdresser’s salon. It was tiny. We didn’t even have room for chairs. 

Despite the small size, it went pretty well. We made lots of Asian and World food with loads of fresh veggies and salads. Heavily influenced by our time in New Zealand and the exploding coffee scene over there, Papillon was the first of its kind in Chamonix. We brought healthy homemade food for a reasonable price to the local community along with takeaway flat whites, long blacks, and lattes – unlike the traditional French cafes here. One of our first customers told us we’d be better off selling tartiflette as that’s what the locals want. Turns out, the locals like other stuff too and we were absolutely slammed!

At Papillon we made everything from scratch. We wanted to roast the coffee too, but had no experience roasting. So I went to the London School of Coffee, took a coffee roasting course, and bought our first roaster – a 1kg Probatino that we used to roast coffee from our apartment for the next couple of years, selling and using the beans in our shop. We’d recently seen that Belleville Brulerie (one of the first specialty roasters in France) had opened in Paris so we knew that specialty coffee had finally broken into France. Papillon was booming but took up all our time – so we decided to sell it in 2015 and concentrate on the roasting – a new path to follow!

Still roasting beans out of the spare bedroom in our apartment, we started selling our coffee at Chamonix’s Saturday farmer’s market. Our daughter was born and we spent a chill year getting to know her and selling our coffees and beans each week. After one Saturday market in deepest, darkest, winter when it was -15°C we decided we needed walls again. We eventually found the little corner on Av. Aiguille du Midi that is now Moody.

When we sold Papillon there were eight of us working. In 2017 when Moody opened, it was back to two, Georgina and myself. Over the next few years Moody had steady growth until Covid. We survived that, and then exploded. Moody took off and with it, so did the size of the team. We launched our European website and started selling our beans to other coffee shops and businesses all over the Alps. Delicious cakes and fantastic house-roasted specialty coffee were all we could offer from our tiny cafe in Chamonix, but there was always an itch at the back of my mind that kept drawing me back to savory foods and how we could make that work alongside our coffee concept. 

I particularly like this part of entrepreneurship – the ideas, setup, design, menus, and marketing.

When we met Nick, now the head chef and co-owner at Couloir, partnering with him was a no-brainer. He had been coming to Chamonix for years and dreamed of moving here to start his own cafe. Nick’s previous work as head chef at The Dusty Knuckle in London was just the right pairing for our locally roasted specialty coffee – so we decided to join forces. With our well-established reputation in Chamonix and Nick’s fantastic culinary creations and leadership style we were confident we could come up with a new cafe concept in Chamonix that could raise the bar once again.

Couloir opened in January 2025, in central Chamonix near the iconic railway station. Serving Nick’s amazing sandwich creations – it’s not your typical jambon beurre kind of place. We’re open for breakfast and lunch with a strong focus on veggie and vegan dishes, as well as Moody style cakes, and of course our freshly-roasted coffee. I think of Moody as a coffee place with food, and Couloir as a food place with coffee. 

Emily: Aside from running your restaurants, you’ve also become a trail runner. How did that come about?

Ian: Two years ago I had an operation on my gut, and when I came out of that I decided to change some things. There’s no denying that I took up running in large part due to a midlife crisis. When you’re creeping towards 50, you begin to rethink some things. 

For at least 25 years, I did almost no exercise beyond standing in the kitchen of restaurants or behind a coffee roasting machine and being stressed. I also used to party pretty hard… 

And there’s also no denying that I’ve been inspired by the people who come to Moody over the years. We started to get more and more pro trail runners coming for coffee, and got to know Dan Whitehead (a trail running YouTuber who made some great videos featuring our shop and beans). Soon after him Scotty Hawker, David Laney, Tim Tollefson, among loads of others, became regulars. On the streets of Chamonix, they could be stopped and asked for a picture, while at Moody they could enjoy a quiet moment – that’s a bit different now, as there are a lot of trail runners here all the time. 

Watching these amazing athletes, alongside creeping age – these factors came together and I decided I needed to make some sort of a life change. I stopped drinking alcohol, and I started walking home from work every day, about 7.5 kilometers. Little by little, I started to jog a bit. I was not fit, and I don’t think I ever really appreciated how unfit I was. At that time I was running in jeans. People kept telling me I could make this easier on myself if I bought a pair of shorts. And eventually I did!

One day I could do the entire journey running without stopping. And I’ve continued this commute. I do it regularly now. From the roastery to my front door is 10km. And I do it multiple times a week. That alone is a huge change in my life. And now I’m on Strava too!

Emily: What are some other changes you’ve made?

Ian: The exercise is great, and there’s so much more. 

Quitting alcohol is a good thing for anyone. It has certainly been good for me. Drinking alcohol was often how I would end a stressful day. I thought it helped me wind down. Now, after a stressful day, I can go for a run and this gives me energy while I’m doing it. Trail running has positively impacted my brain. Afterward, I feel tired enough to relax.

Secondly, it’s given me time on my own. I don’t do a lot of group runs. I do a lot of running by myself. I would almost use the word meditation. I hadn’t ever done anything that gave me space like that before. And now, I’m training for my first ultra! 

Emily: Have you done any trail races?

Ian: Yes! Last year I signed up for the Mont Blanc Marathon 10km trail race. Before the race, I told a friend that I had signed up, and he asked me, “Why the 10km?” My response was that I thought I could run that distance. And he said, “But you’re already running 10km multiple times per week – maybe you need to do something more than that?” 

So, I signed up and ran the Mont Blanc half marathon, instead. 

I never thought I could do something like that. If anything, I was a bit frustrated that I didn’t run it a bit faster. I felt like I had more to give. 

After that I did the shorter Argentrail race, Trail des Grands Montets, and it went really well, so this summer I’ll run the longer Argentrail race. 

And I’ve signed up to do the Mont Blanc Marathon!

My next goal is to do an ultra before I turn 50. I’ve just turned 48, so I think it’s possible. 

Emily: Do you have any advice for someone who wants to trail run in the Alps?

Ian: Probably the same advice that I was given by multiple people–don’t worry about what anyone else is doing. Someone may run past you looking as strong as an ox because they started their run 500 meters before you met them, someone else might look like they’re on death’s door, but they might have already run 75 kilometers. You have no way of knowing. That person could be 70 years old or they could be 20 years old – it doesn’t matter. Everyone is running their own race, if you will. 

On top of that, don’t worry about walking. Don’t worry about stopping and having a breather or walking up a hill. I am now able to run up hills, but, when I started I would walk whenever I saw the slightest incline. There seems to be some debate if running up a hill is beneficial or not. You may get to the top slightly faster, but if you get there really tired and then have to walk immediately, you won’t gain any time. 

Emily: Do you have a favorite run?

Ian: Probably one of my favorites is from La Joux in Argentière. From there, I go up to le Petit Balcon Sud, down to the golf course in Les Praz, around the Désert Blanc and the helicopter pad, and then back towards Argentière. It’s about 10km with a good mix of everything, and for the most part, it avoids roads. I enjoy doing loops. I don’t like to double back. 

I also really like the trails around Tré-le-Champ, between Chamonix and the border with Switzerland. They are pretty technical, but I have run there quite a few times and it’s a place that helped me get better at going uphill.