New restaurant hopes to uplift north Minneapolis community
MINNEAPOLIS — A new restaurant in north Minneapolis is hoping to serve more than just sliders.
Minne's — located on Glenwood Avenue — wants to be a staple of the community for years to come.
"Our mission at Minne's is to uplift the community," said owner Cordell Richardson. "Like we're here to serve, you know, that's what God put purpose on me to do is to serve so we're here to serve."
The idea behind Minne's isn't as new as the building they call home now. In the beginning, it was Richardson who had to go to his customers.
"So we had a food truck and I was going to my son's soccer games and just trying to think of something, you know, for the kids," Richardson said. "We did a slider and boy did it take off. You know not only did the kids enjoy it, but the parents enjoyed it as well."
As the community wanted more of his food, Richardson wanted to keep doing more for the community. That led to him purchasing the space on Glenwood in October to turn the truck into a restaurant.
"When I was coming up, we had the community centers. We had the safe spaces where we can go. Minne's is one of those safe spaces. When you walk in here, as soon as you walk in that door, you know it's family," he said.
His desire to do more led him to start a pay-it-forward for his customers — something he hopes will eventually be able to feed thousands.
"You pay for a meal ahead of time and then someone who's maybe less fortunate can come in, pull that ticket, we send it to our kitchen, and then they can eat," he said. "We want everyone to eat and as we talk about the goodness, we show the goodness of God through the food."
It's a mission that's personal for Richardson and shows in every inch of the restaurant, even the food.
Each burger leaves with a tomato and pickle top hat...a tribute to a friend lost to gun violence 25 years ago.
"We called him high top. So in honor of him, every food, everything that come about here has the top hats on it," he said. "When they come in, they see that top hat too....just a reminder to say like, No, put the guns down, relax, let's eat, let's love one another."
Minne's had a soft opening in January but is preparing for a grand opening event on May 4.
"This a forgotten community, you know being over here over North and Glenwood. that people tend to forget about but it's a great community and we want to build this community back up and get it thriving and take care of the people. We're really here to serve the people," Richardson said. "We don't worry about, you know, the money, we don't worry about things like that, we just want to feed your mind, body and soul."
