Juice Club's instagram bio says not to tell anyone about them. Well... Sorry friends. Secret's out. In pre-COVID days Juice Club was throwing parties big and small, with an emphasis on highlighting natural wines from around the world. Juice Club is a team of friends from across industries and interests, and we caught up with one of their founders, Ben Chaykin.
"People in France and Spain have been nonchalantly knocking back bottles of wine for centuries. It's just a part of their drinking culture. In Seattle, and America in general, wine is often put up on a pedestal, and there can be a level of pretense between you and what’s in your glass. With the natural wine wave that’s happening now, it seems like more and more people here are being exposed to a different, more honest type of wine. We want to deliver this “a ha” moment and let people appreciate this stuff for what it is."
"Juice Club's core drive is to put people onto new wines and ways of enjoying them. We get so excited when amazing wines arrive in town and we get to put them on our shelves. We also love presenting these wines in less conventional contexts, like the nomadic pop-ins and large format dance parties we were throwing in the pre-COVID world."
Geetanjali Vailoor took ownership of Union Coffee in March 2020, and just launched her partnership with Juice Club last month.
"From a business perspective, I had to keep the faith and trust that the community would show up and they definitely have in so many ways. I took over in March the same week cafes were closed to seating and I started anyways and kept to go service open. We’ve seen some really slow days but things are always getting better overall and I’m so grateful for that."