LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Lexington small business owner is continuing to chase his dream after operating a vendor booth in Julietta Market for nearly a year.
Lorenzo Busalacchi, the owner of Tratti di Busalacchi, expands his business as Cafe Emporio by Busalacchi opens this April.
For nearly 100 years, Greyline Station in Lexington was the home of transit buses and historic sit-ins during the fight for racial equality. Now you’ll find dozens of small businesses looking to make a name for themselves.
It’s where Lorenzo Busalacchi got his start almost a year ago in June 2021, running his business Tratti di Busalacchi and selling Italian cookies. Busalacchi didn’t let the pandemic intimidate him and expanded his business across the street.
Cafe Emporio by Busalacchi, located at 808 N Limestone St., will open later this month. It will serve as a general store and eatery just across the street from where Busalacchi began.
“You can’t really describe it besides your dreams coming true,” Busalacchi said.
It’s a dream that all started from making cookies with his Italian grandmother during his childhood. Busalacchi worked as a union electrician in San Diego for nine years before being transferred with his family to Lexington for the same work.
The COVID-19 pandemic made Busalacchi rethink his goals and follow passions he’s always dreamed of.
“So I decided to break out the old recipe book and take a crack at it and they turned out to be good, so I just ran with it and here I am now,” Busalacchi said.
The expansion includes grocery items imported right from Italy. It’s something Busalacchi is proud to boast.
The expansion required more hands on deck, so Busalacchi looked no further than his sister-in-law Cara Sederbaum. The two will co-own the new expansion together.
“It’s kinda just like I’d rather reach out to family first and they were close and see what they felt like and she was on board right away and it was kinda easy,” Busalacchi said.
Sederbaum moved from Richmond, Va. with her wife to co-own Cafe Emporio by Busalacchi. The former teacher of ten years listened to a calling and a dream she’d always wanted to participate in.
She said Lexington is inviting and definitely a place that feels like home.
“It was—you think it would be one of those phone calls you have to gear for, but it was a phone call we were already having,” Sederbaum said.
Busalacchi is a husband and a father of two wonderful children, and said this expansion is the result of a lot of hard work. He’s looking forward to one day passing what he’s worked so hard for to the future generation of his family.
“You work hard, you have to put in the work for it to show and it just feels wonderful,” Busalacchi said.
Cafe Emporio by Busalacchi will have their grand opening on April 15. Then they will be open for business Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.