It’s getting hard to keep up with twenty-nine-year-old Min Kyu Kim, who’s taken over and rebranded three Ann Arbor restaurants within a year.
The latest is the former Ann Arbor Coffee Roasting Company, renovated over the summer and now serving the campus-area crowd as ONDO Bakery and Cafe. Kim previously purchased Seoul Street on Plymouth Rd. for an outpost of his Kimchi Box regional chain and ORAM on S. Main, a higher-end concept for sushi and other Asian-inspired fare, now called Azalea.
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ONDO, the Korean word for “temperature,” now bakes pastries on-site and features them up front for customers to place on trays. Coffees and teas are still a mainstay of the business, while a new brunch menu includes open toasts, sandwiches, salads, sweet and savory Greek yogurt options, and even lasagna.
Kim kept on manager Alex McRill and others through the transition. He’s noticed more foot traffic here—next to Nickels Arcade and facing North U—than on restaurant-rich S. Main.
“The location for people is so central, right? Students go there,” he says. “On a Saturday, Sunday morning, I see a bunch of families come in with strollers, and I love it, because it’s a good resting spot before they explore the rest of Ann Arbor.”
ONDO Bakery and Cafe, 324 S. State. Daily 7 a.m.–8 p.m. ondobakery.com
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