The invention discloses lactobacillus buchneri 8-2N and application thereof in preparation of phenyllactic acid. A strain provided by the invention is used as an original strain for synthesizing phenyllactic acid through metabolism by virtue of a microbial fermentation method; and a bacterial cell of the fermented strain is taken as a whole-cell catalyst, phenylpyruvic acid is taken as a key substrate, and synthesized phenyllactic acid can be converted by virtue of a microbial conversion method. The strain is separated from traditional pickles, has good biosecurity and very good capacity of producing phenyllactic acid through synthesis conversion, can grow relatively rapidly in a conventional MRS fermentation culture solution and has a moderate fermentation cycle; when the bacterial cell is used for converting synthesized phenyllactic acid, the conversion reaction time is short, the conversion rate is high, the concentration of phenyllactic acid in a conversion solution can reach above 9g/L, and the conversion rate can reach 80%-90%; and lactobacillus buchneri 8-2N has a relatively good application prospect.