The Birth of Shari’s Restaurant
In the beginning, there was one Shari’s restaurant in Hermiston, Oregon. Word spread fast about its 24-hour dining, extensive pie offerings and bottomless cups of coffee.
Soon, there were lines out the door. As a result, Shari’s Cafes appeared in Sherwood and Newberg, Ore., and then throughout the Northwest.
Ron and Sharon Bergquist opened the first Shari’s restaurant, named after Sharon, on South Highway 395 in 1978. The couple had been living in Hermiston since 1974 and for a time operated the Blue Bucket Restaurant. An architect, Ron had a vision for a new restaurant design with a signature hexagonal shape, and “Shari” helped develop a menu of traditional comfort foods like pie and country fried steak, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia.
The two ran the company for seven years.
In 1985, Ron Bergquist sold the chain, which had 33 restaurants and annual sales of about $30 million, to StratAmerica. It was sold again in 1992 to the Battistone Financial Group and in 1999 to the Fairmont Capital Inc. for $60 million. In 2006, a consortium of restaurant investors, led by Circle Peak Capital LLC, purchased the chain for a reported $80 million, the Oregon Encyclopedia said.
By 1999, Shari’s was the ninth-largest family restaurant chain in the United States based on total sales, and sixth in growth. By 2017, with 95 locations in six states, Shari’s Cafes had become the largest family-style chain in the region, with more than 4,000 employees.
Eventually, financial hardship hit the company hard. The restaurants faced a multitude of lawsuits, back taxes and eviction notices.
In 2023, the company announced that MGG Investment Group had invested in the chain‘s Oregon restaurants.
Shari’s started 2024 with 42 Oregon locations but had dwindled to 17 by the time the final closure came. Most stores closed quietly and with little notice. The Pendleton Shari’s at 319 SE Nye Ave. permanently closed on October 17, 2024, with 20 employees losing their jobs. The Hermiston location closed shortly after as part of the statewide shutdown.
All remaining Oregon Shari’s locations closed over the weekend of October 20–21, 2024, leaving dozens of vacant storefronts in need of new tenants.
A handful of former Shari’s locations were replaced by Elmer’s, another longtime Oregon diner chain. Others became burger joints, seafood restaurants and dumpling houses. In Gresham, cult-classic California chain In-N-Out scouted a defunct Shari’s for a potential Portland-area location, The Oregonian reported.
One customer comment on the internet summed it up:
“I love Shari’s pies, and I am going to miss them. We dined at the Shari’s in Kent, Wash., and found out that they were officially closing the very next day. The employees and floor manager were very depressed (as you would imagine) and frustrated.”
As of February 2026, Shari’s has 10 locations: three in California, two in Idaho, and five in Washington, with corporate headquarters in Oregon.
