Leeann Chin: A Trusted Name for Convenient & Variety of Healthful Take-Home Meals

A household name in Minnesota, Leeann Chin’s has been ranked the best Chinese restaurant and best takeout restaurant in the Twin Cities by readers of Minneapolis-St. Paul magazine every year since 1985. Founded by a Chinese immigrant women and named after the founder, Leeann Chin, Inc. revolutionized Asian cuisine in the 1980s and grew into one of the nation's largest Asian restaurant companies. Today, Leeann Chin, Inc. has more than 55 Leeann Chin restaurants, six Chin's Asia Fresh restaurants, two full-service buffet restaurants, catering, corporate delivery, and retail products including a line of frozen entrees and bottled sauces. Demographics of Leeann Chin's Customer Base The chain enjoys loyal patronage by high-to-medium household income, white-collar and college-educated customers. Chin's is especially popular with time-pressed working mothers seeking alternatives to fast food. Sixty percent of customers are women. “Our chain has evolved as people have become more adventurous with spicier, lighter dishes and a broader Asian flavor profile,” explains Steve Finn, CEO of Leeann Chin, Inc. Take-out As Major Business About half of the chain’s sales are takeout. Customers can easily order take-out meals from Leeann Chin’s through its 28 Leeann Chin’s Asian To Go restaurants, and numerous grocery store locations spread out from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Wisconsin. To facilitate take-out orders, they even have a one-phone-number system, and can dispatch call-in phone orders throughout the system. Yet, there are no drive-thru windows. A drive-thru would present a more downscale image than desired, Finn explains. An office lunchtime delivery service with a minimum order of $75 has developed into a profitable side business, he says. Bundled take-home value meals for three or four persons include a choice of two or three pint-size entrees a quart of rice, appetizers and chocolate-dipped fortune cookies. Most dishes are prepared from scratch at a central commissary and delivered either fresh or frozen to be finished at the stores. "We make all our own sauces," Finn notes. Loyal Partnership with Supermarkets While Leeann Chin, Inc. positions its restaurants as the high-quality, fast-casual concept in a convenient deli-style format, within the clean and contemporary décor, the chain long enjoys stable sales from its take-out food stands in local grocery stores. Leeann Chin has once experienced a number of unsuccessful attempts to export the company to other geographies. As the chain grew during the early 1980s, General Mills became interested in acquiring and expanding it and made Chin an offer she accepted in 1985. Three years after unsuccessful attempting to grow the chain in a couple of competitive new markets, including Chicago, General Mills sold the chain back to Chin. After the Chicago experiment failed, Chin finally sought other expansion directions. Her partnership with Byerly’s and later Lund’s supermarkets has resulted in numerous grocery locations for deli-style Leeann Chin counters throughout Minnesota. Other new business expansions include a retail line of eight bottled sauces and salad dressings, and semiprepared stir-fry dishes in dairy cases to be finished at home at more than 20 locations. The quick-service Chinese chain added frozen products in the summer of 2003, began distributing ready-to-reheat entrees in grocery stores in the Minneapolis area. Product line include appetizers, salads, stir-fries, rice, noodles and some of the chain's signature dishes.