Randy and Jolene Bibe have been eating at the Spaghetti Establishment for about 15 years, but as of this week they’re getting a different look at the longtime Kennewick eatery. The Bibes bought the restaurant from Dick and Karlene Nordness, who were ready to move on.
“It was a good 16-plus years for us,” Dick Nordness said. “We hope that Randy is going to enjoy it as much as we did.” Customers of the restaurant shouldn’t notice many changes.
Staff are staying on board, including the head cook of more than 25 years, and the menu will mostly look the same. “You don’t take something that’s not broken and try to fix is,” Randy Bibe said.
He started thinking about buying the restaurant in January. “It’s time to do something I’ve wanted to do my whole life,” he said. “I love to cook. I enjoy being around people,” and he likes the autonomy of being a small-business owner. “There are just way too many pluses,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nordnesses enjoyed a dinner at home together on a Wednesday night for the first time in a long while, Dick Nordness said. The couple will be free to go visit their two adult children, who live outside the country, without being tied to the restaurant. And they’re thrilled that the Spaghetti Establishment won’t change much.
“We wanted to make sure that our employees still had jobs,” Dick Nordness said. “We were please to find an owner that wanted to keep the traditions.”