Vitaliy Vinnichuk is the new owner of Tupelo Coffee, taking over both the 5700 Elvas Ave. location in East Sacramento and the former Naked Coffee shop at 1500 Q St. in Midtown about two months ago. The Q Street shop is being rebranded as Tupelo, officially closing the book on the last remaining Naked Coffee location in Sacramento.
For years, Vinnichuk was just a really passionate coffee guy, the kind of person who makes it a personal mission to try every new café that opens in Sacramento, who sits at the counter and thinks about what he’d do differently, who files the dream of owning a coffee shop somewhere in the back of his mind and keeps it there. Then the right opportunity knocked.
Originally from Ukraine and a Sacramento resident since 2002, Vinnichuk built his career running VTS Transportation Inc., a logistics company he owns and manages. Coffee and trucks don’t have a lot in common on the surface, but running a business is running a business, and Vinnichuk knew that starting a café from scratch would be a whole different animal than buying one that already had regulars walking through the door.
He’s not keeping things exactly as they were, though. New housemade syrups are already in the works, along with a handful of specialty drinks being added to the menu, including a strawberry matcha and a grapefruit tonic that feel right at home on an East Sacramento café menu.
