Shari’s Cafe & Pie Restaurants Suddenly Closes All of Its Oregon Locations | Eater Portland

"An iconic 24-hour family restaurant chain and home to numerous lottery machines, it abruptly closed all of its Oregon locations on October 20, according to multiple sources and an email CEO Sam Borgese sent to the Oregon Lottery — Shari’s had been a major revenue source for the lottery. First opened in Hermiston in 1978 and eventually growing to 42 locations across the state, the Beaverton-based diner empire still has locations in California, Washington, and Idaho but showed signs of decline throughout 2024 as it quietly closed almost a dozen locations across multiple states. Financial troubles have been chronic: reports cite $100,000 in unpaid fees to a marketing agency, at least two eviction notices, six tax liens from the Idaho State Tax Commission totaling about $220,000, and a 7.5% drop in sales in 2023. Managers described dire conditions — a Portland manager said her location had been in “hospice” and at one point restocked from a grocery store when ingredients stopped being delivered, a Farmington general manager said staff were notified of the closure via text with no warning, and a final Yelp review from September 20 of a Eugene-area location noted the restaurant was completely out of pie, its signature item. The closure is a huge loss for Oregon’s late-night dining options, filling a hole in smaller communities where few round-the-clock restaurants exist and leaving nowhere for teens to pontificate about high school football, heartbreak, and chemistry homework over a hulking slice of apple pie and a stack of pancakes at midnight." - Rebecca Roland