diff --git a/mopidy/frontends/cherrypyhttp.py b/mopidy/frontends/cherrypyhttp.py
index 453731fd..1eaf4b90 100644
--- a/mopidy/frontends/cherrypyhttp.py
+++ b/mopidy/frontends/cherrypyhttp.py
@@ -2,9 +2,15 @@ from __future__ import absolute_import
 
 import logging
 
-import cherrypy
 import pykka
 
+from mopidy import exceptions
+
+try:
+    import cherrypy
+except ImportError as import_error:
+    raise exceptions.OptionalDependencyError(import_error)
+
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('mopidy.frontends.cherrypyhttp')