How Minneapolis chef Ann Kim is forging ahead with her new restaurant plans

Chef Ann Kim is undaunted as she forges ahead with her plans to open Sooki & Mimi in Minneapolis this fall. While it will be the award-winning chef's fourth restaurant in Minnesota, it's her first launch amid a pandemic that has devastated the hospitality industry. 

"It doesn't mean that I'm not scared. But what it does mean is that I acknowledge my fear, but I don't make decisions rooted in fear," Kim told CBSN, adding, "Especially during this time when things feel so uncertain and scary and people are living in fear, it is important to kind of turn that narrative around and lean into it and to say that we can come out of this on the other side stronger and better for it. And that's sort of how I try and live my life."

Ten years ago, Kim scrapped her plans to franchise a Jimmy John's and opened her own shop — Pizzeria Lola. She and her team, including husband and CFO Conrad Leifur, doubled down in the following years with Hello Pizza and Young Joni. Kim went on to win a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest for Young Joni in 2019. In her emotional acceptance speech, Kim said "by saying no to fear, I said yes to possibility." It's a theme that appears foundational to her work, even as she prepares to serve up Sooki & Mimi. 

"It's been challenging mostly because so much in the last months have been so uncertain. And it's really hard to plan anything when you don't know if your reality today is going to be the same tomorrow," Kim said. "But I guess if you really think about it, that's life, you know? I mean, nothing is guaranteed or certain in life. And this has just been heightened 1,000%. And so I'm trying to look at it — to be more positive. Instead of thinking about it as opening up a restaurant in the middle of a pandemic, I'm trying to think of it as an opportunity to open up a restaurant with a new sense of what it could be." 

Sooki & Mimi is inspired by two of Kim's grandmothers: Sook Young, who immigrated to the United States with Kim's family and helped raise her, and Thelma or "Mimi," who Kim calls her "Western" grandmother. But it's also an homage to other cultures that have influenced the chef's palate. 

"The impetus of this restaurant came from me trying a handmade nixtamal tortilla for the first time when I was in Mexico. And it blew my mind! The flavor, the texture, the love that you can — and I do believe you can taste love in food — was unlike anything I'd ever had. And it was something that I thought, 'Why can't I eat this more?'" Kim said. 

So she started researching and studying under teachers who passed along their history and culinary craft. 

"I know there's a lotta conversation about who has the right to cook certain things. But as an American, we are an immigrant nation. I'm an immigrant raised in Minnesota. And so what my palate is is so different from… what my palate might have been if I was born and raised in Korea." Kim said. "And so for me, the idea of authentic is really about what is authentic to that individual and how they can express themselves without saying that I am the author of this cuisine, by respecting it… and also by acknowledging where it started. And that, to me, is very, very important."

According to a Yelp report, 60% of restaurants that were closed as of July were permanently shuttered. For Kim it's a reminder that hospitality is needed more than ever.

"There are things that we give to the community that I think is so missing right now, which is a sense of place, a place that is welcoming, a place where people are taken care of and people feel safe. And right now, that's been turned upside down," she said.

Kim is also keenly aware of her role as a business owner in the Minneapolis community that was not only hit by COVID-19, but also shaken by unrest over racial injustices. 

"When you look at it from, you know, from the bottom of the mound, it seems like, you know, how do we do anything to make a difference?" Kim said. "And so the way you do that is when you're staring at a mountain is, you just begin. And you start scaling it. And we looked at it at a more micro level by doing things within our community and to try and help."

In addition to donating 5% of their June sales, Kim said her team raised more than $7,000 selling T-shirts for the Northside Achievement Zone, a local non-profit that helps families close achievement gaps and end generational poverty. 

"I believe that a restaurant serves a neighborhood first and then the outlying community. And so because of that, because of the support we've received from our own community, we felt it was an opportunity, even though we felt like everything was uncertain, that for me, it's about being even more generous in a time of need," Kim said. "And that somehow filled me personally to be able to do that and to take care of our neighbors just like they've been taking care of us."