Popular quick-service Asian restaurant chain coming to Duluth

• Possible location

The former Conoco gas station building at the corner of Woodland Avenue and St. Marie Street is being remodeled. (Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com)

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Leeann Chin, a popular Twin Cities-based quick-service Asian food chain, is coming to Duluth, Chief Operating Officer Mike Loney said Thursday.

The restaurant has been advertising jobs for cooks, servers and a restaurant manager in Duluth for two weeks.

At the same time, the former University Conoco on Woodland Avenue is being prepped for two new — unnamed —tenants, one of them involving food service.

But Ryan Boman, property manager for the Mount Royal Shopping Center and the adjacent former station, said no lease has been signed.

“We’d love to have them but do not have a deal with them,” he said of Leeann Chin.

Loney, likewise, declined to be specific.

“We are coming down the homestretch of signing an agreement,” he said. “I can’t say anything about the location.”

Only exterior permits have been filed with the city’s Building Safety Department, and no business name is included on the paperwork. Building safety office staff said they couldn’t think of any other in-

development site in Duluth that might also be considered for a food-service operation.

A conversation about the restaurant’s probable location near the University of Minnesota Duluth was started on the Duluth blog Perfect Duluth Day the day after the jobs were posted on Craigslist. Former UMD student Ryan Nelson posted that it was good to see a new restaurant planned for the campus area.

“Even though we all love our local spots, students want affordable and fast and close by,” he said. “Perhaps this could kick-start turning the Kenwood/Lower Woodland into a more college-focused area.”

The company touts its use of fresh, high-quality ingredients in its offerings, and puts an emphasis on Asian chicken dishes. It also serves a standard array of Chinese-style appetizers and is well-known for its cream cheese wontons, or puffs, as they are called on the menu.

Leeann Chin has more than 40 locations in Minnesota and one in North Dakota. Most are found in the metro area.

Tags: news, food, business, duluth