Uptown Minneapolis restaurant Kim's to close, citing "ongoing financial losses"
MINNEAPOLIS — The popular Uptown restaurant run by award-winning chef Ann Kim will be closing its doors on Aug. 30.
According to an Instagram post, Kim's is closing due to "ongoing financial losses."
Kim recently rebranded the restaurant on West 31st Street from Sooki and Mimi. She opened Kim's in 2023 with the goal of sharing her Korean-American heritage.
Two months ago, a majority of workers at Kim's voted to join Unite Here Local 17, Minnesota's hospitality and craft beverage workers union. Workers said they struggled with wages and scheduling, but Kim's pushed back, arguing that the move was not necessary.
The restaurant was also vandalized in early June, when someone threw a large cement slab and can of paint through the window.
Kim has voiced her support for Uptown, an area which has been hard-hit in recent years and has struggled to revive itself amid an ongoing reconstruction project on Hennepin Avenue. But when her restaurant was vandalized, Kim wrote that "while we believe in Uptown, our team, and our guests, we are shaken."
In 2019, Kim won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest, the highest local culinary honor.
Reservations at Kim's will be honored through Aug. 30. Anyone with Kim's or Sooki and Mimi gift cards can use them at any of Kim's other restaurants, including Pizzeria Lola, Hello Pizza and Young Joni.
