Oregon-based diner chain was down to 17 restaurants after starting the year with 42.
Shari’s Cafe & Pies — at one time the largest family dining chain in the Pacific Northwest — has closed its remaining locations after years of financial instability.
The brand, founded in Hermiston in 1978 by Ron and Sharon “Shari” Bergquist, made several questionable business decisions prior to the pandemic then struggled to rebound. The casual dining institution became the subject of tax liens, lawsuits and eviction notices, according to reporting by KGW’s Kyle Iboshi, who interviewed independent contractors owed tens of thousands by Shari’s.
Throughout 2024, various Shari’s locations closed with little to no warning — in Yakima, Keizer, Tacoma, Boise, Lewiston — fueling rumors of the impending end of an Oregon institution. Last month, a company-wide “pie-shortage” was reported in the press. When news broke Oct. 21, Shari’s was down to 17 Oregon locations after starting the year with 42.
“I can confirm at this time that all Oregon Shari’s are closed,” Samuel Borgese, founder of Shari’s parent company, Gather Holdings, is quoted by Willamette Week. But it was the Oregon Lottery that first confirmed Oregon’s 17 remaining Shari’s had closed. The agency’s director, Mike Wells, sent an all-staff email confirming the closure after seeing rumors on social media. The Oregonian reached staff members in California, Idaho and Washington who said locations in those states were still open on the evening of Oct. 21.
Wells was in a position to know because the agency drew a large chunk of revenue from the restaurant’s video poker terminals — $7.45 million in 2023. Earlier this year, Shari’s bank account with the state lottery went dry and the state shut down its access to gambling until a bond was paid. OPB reported that as of this week, Shari’s owed the Oregon Lottery $900,000.
Shari’s served what it called “fresh Northwest comfort food,” notably, specialty pies like chocolate cream Supreme and marionberry cheese. Most locations featured a six-sided building design and were open 24 hours. At the time it was sold to Fairmount Capital near the turn of the millennium, Shari’s operated 97 locations in seven Western states with around 4,000 employees.
The casual dining institution had a loyal following that included many current and former Oregon high schoolers who had few reliable hang-out options. The Oregonian’s Lizzy Acker wrote a paean to the chain she frequented in her hometown of Corvallis.
“There, kids were rarely asked to leave,” she writes. “So we went. Kids from every group. The farm kids, sports kids, church kids, theater kids and the nothing-much-going-on kids.”
In 2018, Oregon Business featured Shari’s in “The Non-Foodie Restaurant Survival Guide,” a feature about unpretentious casual restaurants working to stay afloat amid a “restaurant apocalypse” that shuttered locations of fast food and fast-casual restaurants that were once household names, like Applebee’s and Subway. Borgese, identified in that story as the new CEO of Shari’s, which at that time had 90 locations in six states, said he had recently overseen a menu refresh and rebrand, both focused on the chain’s Northwest roots.
“I think the company strayed away from it for a number of years and, therefore, may have lost some of its loyal customer base that liked the fact that it was a Northwest brand,” Borgese told OB in 2018. “I’ve embraced that, and we’re seeing a good response.” He also stressed that while the restaurant was seeking to bring in younger customers, he would not chase millennial customers with “gimmicky” tactics.
Ron Bergquist was a Hermiston architect with a vision for a 24-hour diner with a hexagonal layout (the design was intended to maximize window space while minimizing the distance between diners and the kitchen, according to the Oregon Historical Society). Shari herself developed a menu rich with traditional comfort food like country-fried steak and pie. The chain spread first to Sherwood and Newberg. When the Bergquists sold to corporate owners in 1985, the chain stood at 33 locations and annual sales of $30 million.
Larry Curtis is credited with providing stable leadership as president from 1984 to 2008, when he was succeeded by former Black Angus CEO Bruce MacDiarmid. The company was sold several times to restaurant consortiums over the next decade. In 2018, the brand acquired struggling California sister chains Coco’s and Carrows, with a combined 60 locations, in a deal that was never announced to the public.
“Shari’s was an Oregon institution, and a longtime Lottery retailer,” Wells wrote in his email to Oregon Lottery staff. “With the closure of all restaurants, the financial risks in continuing to partner are simply too great.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated from an earlier version, which stated that all Shari’s locations closed Oct. 21.
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