Shari’s Cafe & Pies, a family-owned restaurant chain founded in Hermiston and long known for its pies, hexagonal buildings and 24-hour service, has closed its Portland-area restaurants and appears to have disappeared in Oregon for good .
Sunday’s closures affected restaurants in Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, Oregon City, Portland and more. Locations elsewhere in the state have been slowly closing for weeks.
Shari’s once claimed to be the largest table service restaurant chain based in the Pacific Northwest. As recently as 2017, it had 95 locations in six states.
In an email sent to employees Sunday and later reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Sam Borgese, a managing member of the restaurant chain’s parent company, said all Shari’s locations in the state would close starting at 5 p.m. hours that day. Borgese, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote that all employees would be paid for their work until closing time.
“I personally thank Shari’s employees, especially those who, over the past 14 months, have worked tirelessly to overcome the constant challenges of an uncertain and ever-changing business environment, in the hope that their efforts would result in a different outcome than we face today,” Borgese said. wrote in the letter.
Shari’s restaurants in California, Washington and Idaho remained open Monday evening, according to employees.
Shari’s opened in Hermiston in 1978. In its heyday, Shari’s was known for its huge selection of pies, bottomless cups of coffee, and being open 24 hours a day. In smaller towns, the restaurants became a focal point of the community.
In 2023, the company announced that MGG Investment Group had invested in the chain’s restaurants in Oregon. At the time, there were 42 in the state, and Gather Holdings founder Borgese touted MGG’s “deep knowledge of video lottery gaming operations.”
The Oregon Lottery reported Monday that it had heard that Shari’s was permanently closed. According to a letter to staff from Lottery Director Mike Wells, officials were already working to salvage terminals and other equipment from closed restaurants.
“Shari’s was an Oregon institution and longtime lottery retailer,” Wells wrote in the letter. “I’m sure many of you have memories of late night comfort food, Sunday breakfast or savory pies.”
Willamette Week was first to report on the lottery letter Monday afternoon.
According to Wells’ letter, when Shari’s stores closed over the weekend, the game largely shifted to neighboring retailers, indicating that revenues are unlikely to drop dramatically in reason for the closure of Shari. Still, Melanie Mesaros, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Lottery, acknowledged that an impact on Oregon Lottery revenue is “possible.”
Shari’s generated just over $34 million in video lottery sales in fiscal 2024, according to figures provided by Mesaros.
Mesaros said Shari’s has been closing restaurants in recent weeks. As soon as lottery officials learned of the closure, they went in and collected their equipment, Mesaros said.
The Oregon Lottery learned Monday morning that Shari’s was permanently closing its doors in Oregon, she said, after officials heard of other potential closures and the Oregon Lottery contacted a representative of the Oregon Lottery. ‘business. According to the lottery count, the chain started the year with 42 locations and was down to 17 as of this weekend.
Borgese told the Oregon Lottery via email Monday, “I can confirm that at this time all Oregon Shari’s restaurants are closed.”
In his memo to Lottery staff, Wells wrote: “A closure of this magnitude is uncharted territory for all of us. » Mesaros said the manager was referring to the fact that Lottery had never seen a major retailer offering lottery games close in this way before.
In August, KGW News reported that the Beaverton-based chain was facing a litany of unpaid bills, back taxes and eviction notices, with at least seven Shari’s restaurants in Washington and Idaho having closed unexpectedly within the previous five months.
Shari owes the Oregon Lottery more than $900,000, according to Mesaros.
“Each week our retailers deposit money into an account for what is called our ‘draw’ or the revenue owed to us for playing the video lottery,” she explained. “When a retailer fails to pay their weekly direct debit by electronic funds transfer and the bank fails to pay due to ‘insufficient funds’ or NSF, they are required to pay us immediately or our equipment will be disabled. »
The Oregon Lottery learned this month that the chain had an NSF “and was unable to reimburse us or post a bond required by the administrative rule.” They will also owe us for the remainder of the time the terminals are open this weekend,” Mesaros said.
This brings the total outstanding to $902,341.98, according to Mesaros.
On its website, Shari’s still boasts that it is “the Pacific Northwest’s largest full-service restaurant chain,” with locations in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Nebraska and Wyoming. At its peak, the company had about 4,000 employees, including 1,600 in Oregon, according to the website. These days are numbered.
An outdated Shari map shows 16 restaurants remaining in Oregon. The map includes eight in the Portland area, plus a single location in Vancouver, at 11717 NE 76th St. The Oregonian/OregonLive was first to confirm that several of those locations had closed Sunday.
Over the past month, Shari locations in Keizer, Redmond, Bend, Medford and Pendleton have closed, according to local media reports.
Last Friday, The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with employees at six Shari locations across the metro area. All said they had been informed by management that their premises were “safe” from the closure.
A longtime employee of Shari’s at 11335 NE Airport Way estimated that about 50 restaurants have already closed companywide. But their location — with its popular video lottery machines and proximity to the airport — would be the last to close in Oregon, they were told. On Friday, this establishment was also the last in the chain to remain open 24 hours a day.
Monday morning, calls to the Airport Way site went unanswered.
A decade ago, Shari’s at Airport Way ranked fourth among Oregon Lottery retailers in terms of sales, recording nearly $1.5 million in sales in 2014, according to the company’s comprehensive annual financial report. Oregon Lottery. No Shari stores appear in the most recent ranking.
—Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com
—Jonathan Bach; jbach@oregonian.com