GRAMERCY — Oleg Volkov, 37, runs a little rust-colored café on the corner of East 18th Street and Third Avenue called Sunburst Espresso Bar. He comes from a family of business owners — his older brother operates a similar restaurant called Prince Street Café in NoLIta.
But the seeds of the business were sown more than 30 years ago when Volkov’s parents were forced to flee their home in Russia.
Volkov has very few memories of Moscow. His parents brought him and his brother to New York in 1979, when Volkov was just a boy. But he knows his parents had a business there repairing umbrellas and shoes, among other things. And he knows his family left Moscow because his father was facing possible jail time.
At the time, Communism reigned, and when Volkov’s parents started doing a little extra business—and neglected to report it to the government—someone found out. Volkov said he isn’t sure about the specifics since he was so young at the time. But if the family had stayed in Russia, Volkov said, his father might have been locked up.
So they moved to New York.
“They basically came here with nothing,” said Volkov, who lives in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn with his wife and 5-year-old daughter.
Because Volkov’s mother is Jewish, some local Jewish organizations helped place them in an apartment—a horrible apartment, Volkov said. So his father started working multiple jobs and saved enough money to move the family to Queens.
Volkov’s father started a push-cart business downtown. That business grew into a candy store near Canal Street. The family eventually moved to Rockland County and opened another store selling dried fruits, sweets and nuts.
Then, in the early 1990s, Volkov’s parents opened a little café and named it Sunburst Espresso Bar.
“None of this was here when we opened,” Volkov said, gesturing to a front counter full of food. “It was just coffee.”
His parents ran the business while Volkov finished high school and moved to San Antonio, Texas. He returned in 1998 and tried to open an online food basket business. But that failed, he said.
“I thought it would be a great business to bring online, and my parents didn’t really understand the Internet at that time,” Volkov recalled.
Volkov worked mainly out of Sunburst, and by the time his Internet venture tanked, he had learned the cafe business and took over for his parents.
Volkov added wireless internet access about a decade ago, and that’s drawn students from several New York University dorms nearby. Online, reviewers rave about the free wifi and cheap coffee. A tall house blend is $1.15.
Even though he runs the place, Volkov spends most of his days in the kitchen preparing food.
“I always loved cooking. I never thought of myself as being a cook,” said Volkov, who met his wife when she got a job behind the counter at Sunburst in 2002. “I guess it’s in the genes or something.”
His parents are now in their 60s, Volkov said. While work once dominated their lives, they've spent much of the past decade traveling.
“They’ve had a difficult life,” Volkov said. “Now they’re taking it easy.”
