You Say Goodbye, and I Say Hello

WAITSBURG - Well-wishers bid a fond farewell to Coppei Café owner Allison Bond, while serving up a warm welcome to new operators Emry and Sandy Kleck, at Sunday night's welcome/ farewell party. The café was filled with patrons who mingled, visited and laughed as they enjoyed good drinks and tasty tri-tip.

"It was a great party! We even had people stop in who had never been down before," said Bond.

Emry Kleck prepared specially seasoned tritip steak on his custom grill before a rotating audience outside the café's back door, while Bond manned the bar inside. Sandy Kleck wound her way through the festive crowd, offering delectable tri-tip samples as a varied lineup of musicians took their turns on the stage.

The Klecks, who currently operate a successful catering company, called "The Q," from their home in Dayton, will take over the café lease on July 1. Sandy Kleck said they will likely close for a short time - a week or so - to get organized and fine-tune the menu.

"It will take us a bit to figure out exactly what we want to do and what will work best," said Sandy Kleck. She anticipates the menu will revolve around grilled meats, sandwiches, soups and salads. "We would love to be able to offer take-out tri-tip if we can make that work," she said.

Bond, who has operated the café since November 2012, has no plans to leave the community. Instead, she will take a totally new direction and focus on marketing the InSeine Truck Net, a product she invented that has been ten years in the making. She is currently working to secure a patent on the ultra-sturdy cargo net manufactured by Seattle Marine.

"They're super durable," she said. "We've had lots of people test them and have not received one piece of negative feedback."

Bond is enthusiastic about both her product and the future.