Popular Tri-Cities riverfront restaurant sold. New owners take over this week
It’s official. One of Tri-Cities longtime favorite riverfront restaurants has sold.
The changing of the guard at Cedars Restaurant on Kennewick’s Clover Island was announced over the weekend.
Owners David and Darci Mitcham posted on Facebook that they have retired and the new owners take over this week.
Cedars closed starting Sunday and will reopen under new ownership Wednesday at 4 p.m. for the lounge and 5 p.m. for the restaurant.
“To say this is a bittersweet feeling would be an understatement,” said the post. “Most of you know our story. We both started working at ‘Cedars Pier One’ as teenagers in the 70’s. We did life here. We married, raised our family, worked with the best people and most of the friends we have now started as customers. (The stories we could tell!)“
The couple put Cedars up for sale in 2017 saying they wanted to retire after decades in the dining business. But no deal came together before now.
Tri-City entrepreneurs Carrie and Doug Lundgren are the new owners, previously telling the Herald it was an excellent opportunity and a sentimental one as well.
It was the Lundgren family’s go-to spot to celebrate special occasions. The couple’s now-grown children routinely demanded to be taken to Cedars to mark milestones when they were young, Doug Lundgren told the Herald.
He is an entrepreneur who has owned restaurants, truck stops, orchards, farms and more. Carrie Lundgren is a local real estate agent and is handling the transaction on her husband’s behalf.
The couple opened Holy Mac & Deli in Kennewick in 2015 and even expanded it to serve as an evening steakhouse. The restaurant closed two years later.
“We don’t want to change anything. It’s not broke. There’s nothing to fix,” Doug Lundgren told the Herald in August. “Hopefully, no one will even notice the change in ownership.”
He couldn’t be reached on Monday.
The Mitchams have said their current employees will stay on with the Lundgrens.
“Our staff will still be here, the new owners are local and the tradition of Cedars will continue,” said their weekend post, that also thanked the community for its support through the years.
Cedars is at 355 N. Clover Island Drive.
This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 12:11 PM.