Meet the new owners of the iconic Spudnut Shop

By Sara Schilling sara@tcjournal.biz

Mike Bishop and Ryan Pierson know the Spudnut Shop is something special. They’ve known it for years.

Both men – who have long histories and deep ties in the community – spent time there growing up.

Pierson is the son of teachers, and when his family ate out, they ate at local spots like the Spudnut Shop, which serves as an anchor of the Uptown Shopping Center in Richland.

And Bishop has sweet memories of grabbing a spudnut or two on the way to school or on a Saturday morning as a kid – a tradition he’s continued with his own children.

So now that the longtime friends are buying the business from the family that started it all, they aren’t planning to make big changes. Instead, they’re aiming to preserve the charm and the feeling of community that’s made the shop a local icon and an unqualified success for the last 75 years.

And, of course, they’re learning the ins and outs of creating the famed spudnuts, which are pastries made from potato flour.

“We’re observing the baking process. We’re frosting,” Bishop told the Journal. “We’re getting pretty darn good!”

Selling the shop

The deal with Spudnut Shop owners Val and Douglas Driver is expected to close soon. It includes the Spudnut Shop, plus neighboring space holding a barber shop and a beauty salon.

The exact terms aren’t being disclosed, but Bishop and Pierson are using Small Business Administration financing.

The spudnut pastries that can draw long lines at the Richland shop were developed in 1940 by two brothers in Utah. The brothers franchised spudnuts after perfecting a dry mix.

Val Driver’s father, Barlow Ghirardo, and her uncle, Jerry Bell, opened the local Spudnut Shop in 1948. It started out in the Richland Wye, then moved to the Uptown one-and-a-half years later, where it’s been ever since – and where it’s grown a loyal following.

Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, former secretary of defense and a Richland native, is among its avowed fans.

Val Driver started at the shop when she was 15, eventually taking over the business. It’s the only place she’s ever worked.

And, boy, does she work.

She logs long days at the shop, doing everything from baking to stocking to greeting customers. At age 69, she’s looking forward to retiring, traveling and leaving her shop in the hands of locals who care about its legacy.

“It took me a couple of years to find good people, who want to work it, who don’t want to make a lot of changes. I think they’re both good guys and both being from Richland –born and raised here, like me – that’s pretty exciting,” she said.

As she talked, she didn’t take a break from working. She prepped hamburger patties for the next day. The new owners

Bishop and Pierson have that same kind of work ethic. They’re spending this time as the deal closes working long hours at the shop themselves, learning every aspect of its operations.

They’re soaking up all the knowledge they can from Driver and they’re introducing themselves to customers.

Of course, some customers are already familiar faces – Bishop and Pierson are local guys, after all. They’re Tri-City natives who graduated from Richland High a year apart, in the late 1990s.

They chuckled as they told how an old P.E. teacher of theirs came into the shop the other day.

“I said, ‘You were one of my teachers!’” Pierson recalled. “Then one of the other staff members goes, ‘You were my teacher, too!’ And then Val goes, ‘You were my teacher, too!” uSPUDNUTS, Page 12

For all its growth, “when you’re talking to each other, having those conversations, you realize that the Tri-Cities isn’t all that big” and connections run deep, Bishop said.

After Bishop graduated from Richland High, he attended Northwest University in Kirkland and earned a business degree. He went onto work in management at Safeway and Target stores. He and his wife, Ronica, have nine children.

Pierson attended Columbia Basin College and also has extensive business experience, ranging from Costco to the auto industry to a previous stint in the restaurant world.

He and his wife, Bethany, have three kids.

The men are looking forward to continuing the shop’s family business tradition by having their own children frequent the place.

“My (youngest) are official taste testers. They are disappointed if dad doesn’t come home with spudnuts,” Bishop said.

“Basically, we’re captains of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory,” Pierson added with a laugh.

They envision sponsoring sports teams and finding other ways to support and involve the shop in the community.

Pasco First Avenue Center

505 N. First Ave., Pasco 509-545-3459 pascoparksandrec.com

• Billiards: 9 a.m.-noon. Mondays; 1:30-4 p.m. Wednesdays; 9 a.m.-noon, 1:30-4 p.m. Fridays.

• Mexican train dominoes: 1:30-3:30 p.m. Mondays.

• Pinochle: 1:30-4 p.m. Tuesdays.

• China painting: 9 a.m.-noon. Wednesdays.

Keewaydin Community Center

500 S. Auburn St., Kennewick 509-585-4303 go2kennewick.com

• Bunco: 1-3 p.m. Fridays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Bridge: 12:30-4 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Mahjong: 12:30-4 p.m. Wednesdays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Dominoes: 12:30-2 p.m. Tuesdays and Fridays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Pinochle: 1-4:30 p.m. Wednesdays. Cost: $1 per day.

• Creative palette art: 9 a.m.-noon