MA-France Owners Make a Play to Stay in Lexington, US

Facing an expiring visa and hoping to keep their small business afloat, the owners of a French market in Lexington are looking for a little help from their friends – their Facebook friends, that is.

On the MA France Facebook page, business owners Francois and Cecile Attard have put the call out for recommendation letters to support their application to remain in the United States past this fall, when their work visa will expire.

“Facebook is a great way to reach out and see how many supporters we can get,” said Francois Attard, “People who can say that they like the business.”

Reads their Facebook post:

In September, we will be returning to France to file the paperwork to get our new work Visa. We would need your help with a recommendation letter that will be support our application to remain in the US. The application will be given to the US Embassy in Paris. Thanks for you help, recommendations and support. – Cecile and Francois.

The situation certainly puts a new spin on acting local and thinking global. 

Francois says he and wife Cecile got one-year visas last November, and would have to leave the country later this year without securing new ones. Letters of support from folks who patronize their business would go a long way to helping their case for an extended stay in the United States, the Attards said.  

If they’re approved for the new visas, Francois says Ma-France will continue to expand its offerings and hopefully grow into an even more popular local business. Serving French coffee, making French sandwiches and delving deeper into French chocolates would be among the new possibilities for MA-France if the Attards can stay here beyond the fall, Francois said.

However, if they’re unable to secure new visas then the pendulum will swing the other way, and the Attards will have to figure out something else to do with the French market on Mass Ave in East Lexington. 

For more information about Ma-France and the Attards, visit the MA-France business website or check them out on Facebook.