Cupcake, the Minneapolis-based bakery and restaurant, is opening an outlet in the former Pardon My French cafe and bakery in Eagan. Owner Kevin Vanderaa, who also operates a Cupcake outlet at the Mall of America, said he hopes the location at Thomas Lake Center on Cliff Road will be open by mid-October.
The Eagan store will be one of two new locations for Cupcake. Vanderaa also plans a new outlet near Snelling and Selby avenues in St. Paul.
Vanderaa said the Eagan space was ideal for his business, since the 6,500-square-foot store already was set up as a bakery. He said he learned that it was available from some former patrons of Pardon My French, which closed abruptly several months ago.
He plans to do some remodeling to the front of the house, including adding a wood-fired stove for making pizzas. In addition to the bakery and fast-casual dining, the Eagan location also will have a full-service restaurant, he said.
Vanderaa said he thinks fans of Pardon My French could wind up being customers. "People have their habits. They get used to going to their favorite neighborhood places," he said.
QA1 expanding
Performance automotive suspension manufacturer QA1 recently began work on a 17,200-square-foot addition to one of its two manufacturing buildings in Airlake Industrial Park in Lakeville.
The expansion at the building at Grenada Avenue and 218th Street will allow the company to accommodate its rapidly growing business and give it more than 83,000 square feet of production space in Lakeville.
QA1 specializes in providing performance shock absorbers, rod ends, spherical bearings, springs, ball joints and other related items to a variety of markets, including circle track racing, drag racing, street performance, construction, fitness, packaging equipment and several industrial markets.
