Puyallup diner closes after 48 years, the latest 24-hour restaurant lost in Pierce County
Cattin’s Family Restaurant, one of a dwindling number of 24-hour diners in the region, closed July 30 after 48 years in Puyallup, Washington. The future of the property, which is owned by a company associated with the Washington State Fair, is yet to be determined.
Owner Hermann Harris broke the news on an 8.5 by 11-inch piece of white paper posted to the entrance door in early August.
“I am sorry to inform everyone: After 48 years of serving you, we are closing the restaurant,” it said. “From the bottom of my heart, it has been a pleasure to get to know everyone, not only as our guest but also as my friends. Thank you for everything.”
He signed it, simply, “Hermann.”
Many customers referred to the restaurant at 105 9th Avenue SW, steps from The Fairgrounds, simply as Hermann’s Diner.
Harris informed his staff and regular customers of the impending closure earlier this summer. Each of his seven employees, down from more than 30 pre-pandemic, have found new jobs, he said.
“It’s been a good long haul. I have no regrets being there, being in the coffee shop industry,” he told The News Tribune and The Puyallup Herald in a phone call Monday. “Towards the end, I was not just the owner of a restaurant; I was a hands-on employee. In a small restaurant like mine, the owner is hands-on — washing dishes, cooks, whatever it takes.”
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Adding that he would soon turn 69 years old, he said, “It’s just time to retire.”
A HALF-CENTURY OF PUYALLUP DINING
Fellow Puyallup old-timer Charlie’s Restaurant & Lounge described the restaurant on Facebook last week as “one of downtown Puyallup’s biggest landmarks.” The post was shared more than 180 times, with dozens chiming in to share memories of first dates, visits with grandparents and middle-of-the-night meals after perhaps one drink too many.
“When we think Puyallup Fair, we think of Cattin’s — they just go hand in hand,” the post read.
Holly Alkire, who has lived in Puyallup for 34 years, pointed out that Cattin’s was the third casual-dining restaurant to have closed in recent years.
Jason’s Restaurant opted not to renew its expiring lease in September 2020 after 22 years at 1402 South Meridian. The Hangar Inn, perched near the runway of the Thun Field Pierce County Airport, closed in April 2019; it’s now Top Gun Bar & Grill.
The Hangar Inn provided Alkire and her brother their first jobs, and their mother worked there for 31 years, moving to Cattin’s a couple of years ago.
“Cattin’s was a nice place to just stop in and have good diner food,” Alkire told The News Tribune in a message. “I hope maybe in the future some more restaurateurs will open up diner-type restaurants like the ones we have lost. I really miss my ham and American cheese omelets!”
CATTIN’S ANOTHER PANDEMIC-RELATED CLOSURE
Harris said business was down about 60 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels, especially at dinner. Higher prices also played into it: A $40 case of bacon two years ago now costs $70, he said.
“The ma-and-pa-type restaurant, we’re kind of a dying industry. I hate to say that,” he said. “Especially in the Puyallup area, it’s all about burger and brew.”
More than 90,000 U.S. restaurants closed between the start of the pandemic and June 2021, according to Dataessential’s Firefly system, which tracks the food-service sector. Casual, sit-down dining, under which a restaurant like Cattin’s would fall, accounted for about 9 percent, surpassed only by fine dining at 11 percent. On the other hand, fast-casual and quick-service comprised about 7 percent each but bounced back faster than any other restaurant sub-sector — reaching pre-pandemic levels by the summer of 2020.
Cattin’s closed during the initial outbreak and didn’t attempt takeout until May 8, according to a Facebook post. Later that month, Harris lamented pandemic restrictions’ effect on small businesses. In June, when dining rooms reopened at limited capacities, he asked customers for patience.
“We have no idea how this will go. We have about 45 new things to remember and it will be a challenge and a huge learning curve,” he wrote.
The restaurant never returned to all-day service, opening around 8 a.m. and serving only until 2 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and 7 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
“It’s been a tough year for many of us restaurants,” he said in a March 2021 Facebook post. “I wish to thank our guests [for] all of the support you have given me over these years, especially during these past few months.”
A Thanksgiving post last year appears to be the last.
FAIR WILL DETERMINE CATTIN’S FUTURE
Fair spokesperson Stacy Van Horne told The Puyallup Herald and The News Tribune that Harris “retired from many decades in the business.”
Asked what will come of the property, she said, “We are still determining a plan. So currently unknown.”
The location first opened in the 1970s as part of the national Sambo’s chain, whose derogatory name, derived from a 19th-century children’s book, eventually bankrupted the company. A Lakewood outpost became an IHOP and the Puyallup restaurant, built in 1973 according to county property records, became Cattin’s in the early 1980s. According to Harris, a Sambo’s franchise owner renamed all eight of his restaurants in Washington and Montana.
Harris, who was born in Germany, has a long history with the Puyallup restaurant. He worked there when it was Sambo’s from 1974-1981 before moving to California, where he managed other family-dining restaurants including Woody’s Grill and Eppie’s Restaurants, both of which have since closed. Back in Puyallup, he returned to now-Cattin’s in 1995 and purchased the business in 2011.
The 3,800-square-foot Cattin’s was updated in 1990. Puyallup Restaurant Investors LLP bought the property in 2005 for $1.2 million, selling it to 9th & Meridian LLC in 2014 for $1.5 million. The company is listed under the Western Washington Fair Association and Renee McClain, who joined The Fair in 1996 and will become CEO in October.
Will a new restaurant open in its stead?
Probably not, said Harris. The building is old and would require “a good face-lift.”
“It’s kind of heartbreaking,” he said.
As for 24-hour dining: “It’s never gonna be the same.”
Editor’s Note, 08/08/2022, 2 p.m.: This story has been updated with comment from Cattin’s Restaurant owner Hermann Harris.
