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Lenox Eats in the News
Lenox Farmers Market reopens this week at the former Café Lucia, courtesy of cryptocurrency exec Ryan Salame
May 24, 2022 – When cryptocurrency entrepreneur and Sandisfield native Ryan Salame learned that the seasonal Lenox Farmers Market appeared to be homeless for this summer, he quickly came to the rescue. Expanded and transformed into an off-street festival including live music, the annual farm-to-table event will be up and running from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Friday, beginning this week, through Sept. 30 at 80 Church St. outside the former Café Lucia. Salame purchased the restaurant last year and plans to reopen it as Campfire.
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Bitcoin tycoon Ryan Salame grew up working in Berkshire restaurants. Now he owns four of them.
March 23, 2022 – In just seven years, Ryan Salame has gone from working in restaurants to owning them. The 28-year-old Berkshire County native, who is also the CEO of a bitcoin company based in the Bahamas, where he lives, began purchasing eateries in Lenox starting with Firefly Gastropub in July 2020, as his career in cryptocurrency took off. Salame (pronounced Salem), who has also lived in Hong Kong, owns four current or former Lenox restaurants, and two other downtown commercial properties.
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A self-taught baker dreamed of owning her own business. Now, she's running Sweet Dreams in Lenox
February 4, 2022 – For Cheryl Murray, the chance to run her own bakery is a longtime dream turned into reality. On Thursday, the doors opened to Sweet Dreams, a shop offering a rotating menu of seasonal baked goods, candy, and, in the warm weather months, small-batch ice cream made on the site. The shop, in the former home of The Scoop, is cryptocurrency entrepreneur Ryan Salame’s newest downtown venture.
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At 28, Bitcoin tycoon Ryan Salame owns nearly half the full-service restaurants in Lenox
November 30, 2021 – The Bahamas resident started out as a dishwasher in Great Barrington. Today, the Sandisfield native has built a Lenox restaurant empire.
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Former Café Lucia is being reinvented as Cookout, a cantina-style restaurant with plans for plenty of outdoor seating
January 4, 2022 – Now under new ownership, the former Cafe Lucia is being rebranded as Cookout, a cantina-style tapas eatery with expanded seasonal outdoor dining, although it will be open year-round. The Church Street establishment, formerly home to a landmark downtown restaurant offering gourmet Italian cuisine, was purchased last month by Ryan Salame, 28, the Sandisfield native who now owns six downtown commercial sites for his dining ventures.
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The Scoop, an ice cream and candy shop in Lenox, will expand under new ownership
November 19, 2021 – Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Ryan Salame has scooped up another commercial venture in the downtown business district — his fifth in the past 15 months. After 13 years owning and running The Scoop, a locally popular ice cream emporium and sweets shop on Church Street, Jennifer Nacht said, “It’s time to pass the baton.”
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Olde Heritage Tavern in Lenox to be sold to owner of nearby Firefly
March 11, 2021 – The gathering spot “where everyone knows your name” — is changing hands in about a month. After 21 years running the Olde Heritage Tavern, proprietor John McNinch is selling the Housatonic Street building and the business. The new owner is Ryan Salame, 27, a Sandisfield native who bought the long-term lease for Firefly Gastropub and Catering Co. from Laura Shack last fall.
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Business Monday: Firefly Gastropub acquires a new owner in the depths of a pandemic
January 4, 2021 – Selling a restaurant, even in the best of times, is a challenge. But during a pandemic? Yet, even in this downturn, local restaurateur Laura Shack was able to sell Lenox-favorite Firefly Gastropub. And buying a restaurant during a pandemic? Well, that’s what Ryan Salame, a Sandisfield native, did.
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