Dear PhinneyWood readers, as 2019 winds down and turns to 2020, we are taking the time to highlight some of our incredible neighborhood businesses that make PhinneyWood what it is. We will return to regular news and events Monday, January 6.
With the supply of qualified employees strained by the current economic atmosphere of Seattle, what can a small business do to ensure they have enough labor? The Teachers Lounge, which opened its doors in 2013, was founded with that question already answered: they have no employees.
Husband and wife team Perryn and Desiree Wright started out and still are the only employees of their comfortable and welcoming bar on 85th and Greenwood. To retrofit the old skin division of the Greenwood Hair Academy, they did most of the work themselves – along with friends and family – on a “shoestring budget.”
This ethos is still present at the Teachers Lounge: Desiree and Perryn make nearly all the food from scratch in their tiny kitchen, prep and serve it, bartend, bus tables, sweep floors, clean the bathroom, create proprietary Amaro cocktails – every last thing it takes to run a small business.
Most importantly, they are the faces and personalities that make the business special and are always there. Though, Perryn admits, “Desiree is the lynchpin of our community.” Over the next couple months, you may see some unfamiliar faces behind the bar. Desiree is engaged in her second battle with colon cancer and Perryn will be soldering on with friends and former coworkers helping out.
That community – with the diehard regulars earning the moniker of “Homeroom Homies” – are treated to an intentionally distraction-free environment: no trivia nights, no live music, and quiet background soundtrack. “We want people to connect with each other – both the people they came with and the people around them.”
Teachers Lounge
8505 Greenwood Ave N
(206) 706-2880
teachersloungeseattle.com
