diff --git a/app/conf.py b/app/conf.py
index db8644ffa93fdef1ce3f93a61dbfd68a9eb8e7b9..b7d3b73f5a58cca6f51ab62b5510a20dd2a9eb8d 100644
--- a/app/conf.py
+++ b/app/conf.py
@@ -11,7 +11,10 @@ class SanicConf(object):
 
     def init_app(self, app, env=None, group=None):
         self.config = None
-        data = self.get_conf('app.properties')
+        conf_filename = 'app.properties'
+        data = dict()
+        if os.path.exists(conf_filename):
+            data = self.get_conf(conf_filename)
         self.update_environ(data, os.environ)
         app.config.update(data)
         self.config = app.config