A well-known Portland maker of light fixtures and home furnishings laid off most of its staff last month, including about 20 production workers represented by IBEW Local 48.
Schoolhouse Electric assembles and ships high-end lighting fixtures and home furnishings from a four-story brick building at 2181 NW Nicolai St. in an industrial area of Northwest Portland. Founded in 2003, the company was sold for $48 million in 2021 to online home goods marketplace Food52 — with funding from its new private equity owner The Chernin Group. That sale and safety concerns from a speedup in production were factors in workers’ decision to unionize in October 2022. They ratified a first union contract in December 2023.
At the time of the union vote there were about 70 production workers, but staff cuts since then, including a round of layoffs in March 2025, brought the number down to about 20. In May Food52 put its Northwest Portland factory building up for sale.
The layoffs were announced to employees Dec. 17, and parent company Food52 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 29.
Tariffs were listed as one factor among many in the bankruptcy filing. But the real trigger to the company’s closure, CEO Erika Badan detailed, was a surprise decision by its lender Avidbank to seize nearly $6 million in cash the company held in its accounts, including money intended for employee payroll and federal taxes.
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy means the company intends to continue and is trying to reorganize in order to pay its creditors. As part of the bankruptcy, Food52 is asking the court to approve its sale to America’s Test Kitchen by Feb. 6.
Local 48 representative Joe Bond has been meeting with the company since to negotiate terms of severance, but at press time no agreement had been reached.
