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Shari’s Closes All Oregon Locations
Oregon-based chain was down to 17 restaurants after starting this year with 42.
Shari’s Cafe & Pies, once the largest family dining
chain in the Pacific Northwest, has closed all of its
remaining locations.
Founded in Hermiston in 1978 by Ron and Sharon
“Shari” Bergquist. The Company made several poor
business decisions prior to the pandemic and never
fully recovered. The casual dining establishment
became the subject of tax liens, lawsuits and eviction
notices, according to independent contractors owed
tens of thousands by Shari’s.
Throughout 2024, many Shari’s locations closed
with little or no warning. Yakima, Keizer, Tacoma,
Boise, Lewiston all closed, 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.
North Douglas Herald
November 2024
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.”
25 Million in Federal Funding
for Port of Coos Bay Intermodal Project
WASHINGTON, DC – On October 16,
2024, U.S. Representative Val Hoyle and U.S.
Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Senator Jeff
Merkley, announced $25,018,750 in federal
funding for the Pacific Coast Intermodal
Port (PCIP) Terminal Planning Project. The
investment comes from the U.S. Department
of Transportation’s Nationally Significant
Multimodal Freight and Highways Projects
(INFRA) grant program.
“I am thrilled today that the U.S. Department
of Transportation has awarded over $25
million for the Port of Coos Bay Intermodal
Project,” said U.S. Representative Val Hoyle.
“This project has the potential to bring over
8000 jobs to Southwest Oregon’s coastal
communities and to strengthen our nation’s
supply chain. Today’s announcement brings
us one step closer to rebuilding the South
Coast as an economic engine for the state
and introduces more pathways to the middle
class.” She added, “I would like to thank
Secretary Buttigieg, the U.S. Department of
Transportation, the White House, and my
partners in Congress for their support and
persistence to help bring this project closer
to fruition.”
“Today’s $25 million announcement takes
a significant step forward to landing this
Port of Coos Bay project that will ultimately
generate thousands of good-paying jobs on
the South Coast and extend huge economic
and environmental benefits throughout
Oregon,” said U.S. Senator Ron Wyden.
“There’s still more work to be done, and I am
committed to keep pressing the case along
with Congresswoman Hoyle and Senator
Merkley to provide all the federal investment
this project has earned and fully deserves.”
“This $25 million federal investment from
the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is a historic
win for Oregon’s rural South Coast and our
entire state and is the kickstart that Coos Bay’s
transformative container port project needs.
This project will create thousands of good-
paying union and permanent local jobs, boost
the economy, and help address bottlenecks
in the national supply chain, while cutting
greenhouse gas emissions,” said U.S. Senator
Jeff Merkley. “I have long championed this
critical project alongside Representative
Hoyle, Senator Wyden, Port leadership, and
a diverse community of stakeholders, and
together we advocated to the highest levels
of the Biden administration to ensure this
federal commitment. Today’s win moves the
Port of Coos Bay forward toward the vision
of becoming the first fully ship-to-rail port
facility on the West Coast and is a testament
to the power of collaboration and never giving
up—the Oregon Way.
In addition to creating thousands of jobs in
a rural area that has been too often overlooked,
the PCIP project will benefit the nation’s
supply chain by easing congestion at West
Coast Ports. It will also be the nation’s first
ship-to-rail port on the West Coast, meaning
the facility will not need to rely on trucks to
move cargo. The project is also anticipated to
use renewable energy sources to provide green
electricity, which will allow for the use of
electric-powered cargo handling equipment,
vehicle charging, and onshore power. The
Port will be fitted with electric power plug-
ins to power ships at berth (known as “cold
ironing”) during the process of unloading.”