Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary J Spelce.
Hi Mary J, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Greyhound Tavern was created from my love for flavor. From a young age I was always experimenting in the kitchen. I found myself having a natural ability for flavor pairings in my early teens. In 2007 I moved to New York to attend The Institute of Culinary Education, in which my focuses were Culinary Management and Baking and Pastry Arts. After graduating, I worked as many different hospitality industry jobs as I could to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible. In 2015 I met my now husband, David. David is an artist and a long-time bartender that had a loyal following of regulars. With his over 15 years experience, and my years of varied experience, we decided to venture out on our own.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Those who know anything about the backstory of Greyhound Tavern know it was born from obstacles. We opened our doors on January 3rd, 2020. We were open for about 2 and a half months before COVID shut everything down. We had just poured all our savings into the business and very shortly after had to shut the doors for almost a year. Since we were a new business and did not have any employees besides us-the owners, we did not qualify for most of the grants given at the time. We were able to barely survive by using funds we had set aside to build a kitchen. Over time we have been able to slowly build ourselves up and are back on track. We are nowhere near where we need to be, but I still have hopes to build my kitchen one day.
Another one of my personal career struggles has been safety in the workplace. Bosses, coworkers, even customers feel entitled to treat you in a way that can feel incredibly demeaning. The hospitality industry culture can be toxic at times, especially when alcohol is involved. That was one of my main reasons for wanting to have my own establishment-to create a safer environment for employees and guests.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Greyhound Tavern?
Greyhound Tavern is a woman owned cocktail bar and safe space in the bones of an old dive bar. We offer high-quality specialty cocktails with fresh ingredients and an array of interesting flavor profiles, classic cocktails, wine, beers and the basics as reasonably priced as possible. Happy Hour is also available every day for additional discounts. We are no frills by nature but are also not huge fans of unnecessary garnish for the internet and for the upcharge.
Our specialty cocktail menu changes seasonally and our sangria and other individual cocktail specials change weekly. Between the specialty cocktails and sangrias, I have created over 300 flavor combinations with the number constantly growing. The flavor combinations have come from dishes I have made since I was a teenager and my time working around the hospitality industry. I love finding new flavor combinations and never seem to run out of ideas.
Greyhound Tavern is made of pieces of who we are. Our love for flavor, music and art is in everything we do. Greyhound Tavern was named for our late rescued racing greyhound Mister Macaroni. His face is our logo and all over the bar. The décor consists of knick knacks we collected over the years from thrift stores, antique shops and flea markets. There is original art, framed prints and receipt doodles on the walls. The bathroom stall is covered in various stickers that were slapped up. The TVs will play movies and sitcoms- never sports. You will probably hear some music you have never heard of. You might also notice the music references in some of our cocktail names. Our two most popular cocktails that have been mainstays on our menu since opening are homages to two of my favorite musicians. Our Hellbent for Lavender is a reference to Judas Priest’s Hellbent for Leather. As well as our Hot Rats cocktail is an album/song by the iconic Baltimore born Frank Zappa.
I often get asked “What was the inspiration for this place?”
The answer is us. We wanted to make a bar we would want to hang out in.
Turns out other people want to hang out in that kind of bar too.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
We actually got married at our bar!
We had a surprise elopement after a Friday night service on our 8th anniversary of being together. We had a few friends in the loop who helped us pull it off, everyone else there were regulars who had no clue. We called last call, then invited everyone to stay and join us in the alley to see us get married. Most people thought it was a joke until I came out of the back room in a dress. After a 2 minute ceremony we had a mini reception pouring our own drinks. Very low key. Very perfect.
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