Seattle coffee shop employee kept business open during COVID pandemic peak
In the past few years, there have been numerous reports of businesses closing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is not the case everywhere, however, as one Seattle shop employee helps keep the doors open.
Doug Lyon, owner of Two Kick Coffee, stated, “If you rewound the tape, I don’t believe it would necessarily play out the same way.”
In 2020, Lyon acquired this north Queen Anne café off of Nickerson Street.
“I invested the money I had saved, purchased all the equipment, and am attempting to reopen this café and give this neighborhood a second chance,” said Lyon.
The city of Lyon considers this café to be a community staple. Before the café’s owners sold it to him in March 2020, he worked there for a couple of years.
“Honestly, I had no idea what was coming down the pike, and when I first purchased the property, no business was permitted to operate,” said Lyon.
Due to its open-air capabilities, the café was able to continue brewing coffee throughout the majority of the pandemic.
“People who were smarter and more prepared than me still lost their businesses as a result of this situation, and I was only able to pull this off by sheer luck,” said Lyon.
