On November 10, 2018, Shari’s re-opened its doors at its Halsey Crossing location with a complete brand refresh. This is the first in a series of restaurant renovations that will become the next generation of Shari’s in 2019. Led by CEO Sam Borgese, it is part of the Beaverton, Oregon based chain’s revitalization plan.
Sam Borgese, Sharis CEO
In an effort to take the 40-year-old family-dining chain to be more relevant to today’s consumers, Borgese and his team developed Shari’s 2.0, a reimagined restaurant design and enhanced menu item.
Now guests will experience a new open interior design that complements the upgraded heritage architecture and new Shari’s signage. In addition, the kitchen redesign created higher efficiency in food preparation and improved speed of service by 40%. The team also designed a separate area exclusively dedicated to delivery orders to reduce guest confusion while improving guest service.
The biggest unveiling was the menu redesign. Older slow-selling menu items were replaced with exciting new Northwest Fresh entrees, including a new line of savory pies, melts, and open-faced sandwiches. Shari’s is known for its “comfort food” and as Borgese put it “Going into savory pies was natural” for them.
In addition, Borgese stated, “We faced extreme deadlines to meet our opening schedule, and the success of Shari’s first renovation could not have happened without the highly collaborative effort orchestrated by teams of experts in architecture and interior design, menu strategy, operations, engineering, and marketing in collaboration with our internal management team.
Every contributor played a vital role in ensuring that Shari’s future expansions and renovations will proceed smoothly and with great success.”