Longstanding Ellensburg restaurant, Perkins Restaurant and Bakery, closed and reopened as The GrassRoots Grill on Jan. 7. The environment inside became a rural-themed diner, with wooden log seats and leather menus. They’ve produced a new southern menu with a few changes and a few bakery items being taken away. 

Supervisor at The GrassRoots Grill, Devyn Peckham, shared her experience with the change. Peckham has worked at GrassRoots for three and a half years, explaining that she was there for the full transition. “It has been a lot smoother than we all thought … the hardest part was figuring out the new systems but it didn’t take long,” Peckham said. She shared that the staff has adjusted well to the menu changes.

Peckham also spoke about the bakery change. “Some customers have mentioned being disappointed that some bakery items were no longer offered … the owners have been in the process of figuring out what desserts will be carried on or newly introduced with GrassRoots.” She said that the owners are excited with the change, gaining support through regulars as well as employees sticking with the restaurant through the change. 

Current employee Nicole Morelli has been working at GrassRoots since 2023. She faced the Perkins-GrassRoots transition. “Personally, the transition was not hard … I was able to help with remodeling, and it was amazing getting to see all the changes.” Morelli has similar insights on customers only being upset about the bakery going away. “Perkins was well known for their pie … we had upset reactions when we decided to discontinue them.” The menu has a few of the same items from when it was Perkins, with the intent of keeping the regulars. Morelli said “I 100% think the switch will help the business and environment.”

Previous Perkins waitress Belen Guzman commented on her experience with Perkins before it became Grassroots. She started in Jan. 2023 and finished her time there at the end of March 2024. “Because it was a corporate franchise, it was about consistency … they had a way they wanted things to be run, so the owners had to follow it,” Guzman said. 

Guzman said that the majority of the staff was younger, so it promoted cliques. However, they said this didn’t affect the way the business was run. “At the end of the day everyone was professional,” Guzman said. She thinks that with the business change, there will be an added level of care for the employees. “I just hope that they branch away from Perkins and re-involve themselves with Ellensburg as a community,” Guzman said.