Melba’s Culinary Canvas fighting to survive in downtown Louisville: ‘We’re struggling again’
By Alex Durham
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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — Melba’s Culinary Canvas opened with a goal of offering a full culinary experience to customers in downtown Louisville.
The restaurant houses a pastry shop, European coffee bar and offers express breakfast and lunch items. Since opening in November of 2020, owner Charles Reed said it’s been a “disaster.”
“The amount of protests, roadblocks that were unnerving, and the amount of shutdowns just to build this property out,” said Reed. “Since we’ve been open, we were doing really well, we were starting to get there, we were starting to cash flow then all the sudden omicron hit and all the office buildings emptied out so we’re struggling again.”
Most of his customers are people who work in the downtown area, which is why he’s added delivery service, but business is still slow.
Reed said sales from his pastry case have helped keep the business open. He makes fresh and from-scratch pastries, desserts and macaroons every day.
The restaurant space has a dining room and bar that can seat more than 130 people.
Reed has a dream of bringing foot traffic, ambiance and happiness back to downtown Louisville.
“Everything we do here is about being happy,” said Reed. “All of our cakes and pastries are about being happy, all of our menu is about being happy.”
Melba’s will soon house a gelato bar, too. Reed has hopes to extend hours and one day serve dinner.
“I want people from the convention center and the courthouse to come down and have ice cream,” said Reed. “Families at night coming down to have dinner and ice cream, pick up a dozen macarons. That’s a nice entity.”
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