Papa Murphy’s Tops List for ‘Most Significant’ Chain Restaurant in Oregon

Tuesday, September 02, 2014

Byron Beck, GoLocalPDX Features Editor

Thrillist map

Thrillist Map of Chain Restaurants by state.

On Labor Day Thrillist named Papa Murphy's as the "most significant restaurant chain" in Oregon.

Thrillist loves its lists, especially the nationwide kind that rope in all 50 states. Perhaps that's why they came up with a list of the "most significant restaurant chains" in each state in the Union.

It's not much of a surprise that nearby Washington State is pegged with Starbucks and California is represented by In-N-Out Burger, but it had a few heads scratching around the GoLocalPDX office as to why Thrillist would ever pick Papa Murphy's to represent Oregon.

First off, Papa Murphy's is currently based across the river in Vancouver, Washington. And when it humbly began in Hillsboro, Oregon in 1981 it was called Papa Aldo's not Papa Murphy's.

Considering the significance of other restaurant chains based in Oregon, both large and small, the take-and-bake pizza joint is an odd pick over such locally-based chain stalwarts as McMenamins, Shari's, or even more recently Stumptown Coffee and Voodoo Doughnuts.