Business roundup: From car wash to Crisp & Green

Jun 01, 2023

Construction continues on the Mr. Car Wash on Madison Avenue, next to Wendy’s and Kwik Trip. It is part of the nation’s largest car wash chain.

A longtime restaurant, bar and catering group that’s run by the Pearson family and Natasha O’Hara has rebranded, a big car wash is going up on Madison Avenue, Crisp & Green is open in Mankato, Starbucks is open in upper North Mankato, and the former Mutch Hardware building in lower North Mankato is up for sale.

Independent Originals rebrand

Mankato Independent Originals has rebranded as ATOM Hospitality, which stands for A Touch of Magic Hospitality.

The rebrand comes as the group has expanded beyond Mankato.

The group, led by owners Christopher Person, Natasha O’Hara and Carter Person, currently encompasses eight businesses: Number 4 Steakhouse, Dino’s Pizzeria, Flask, Tav on the Ave, 3rd Street Tavern, Konsbruck Hotel, Absolute Custom Catering, and Sky One Eleven Event Space. The group employs about 250 people.

The name came from Chris Person, who would often say, “It takes a touch of magic to do what we do.”

The group grew from brothers Chris and Pat Person, who grew up in their mother’s restaurant, Adrian’s.

In 1988, the brothers opened Tav on the Ave and continued to add more restaurants and bars.

Former Mutch bldg. for sale

The former Mutch Hardware store at 231 Belgrade Ave. in North Mankato is up for sale.

The former Mutch Hardware building, right, is up for sale after being used as an expansion of Neutral Groundz.

Deb Morin, owner of the neighboring Neutral Groundz, bought the building and opened it early last year as an expanded space for boutique and gift items.

The building is now empty, with a For Sale sign on it, but the original Neutral Groundz next door remains open.

Mister Car Wash going up

Construction is well underway on the Mister Car Wash at 1541 Madison Ave., next to Wendy’s and Kwik Trip.

The nation’s largest car wash chain is bringing a 160-foot conveyor car wash tunnel — half the length of a football field.

Plans also include 26 vacuum stations for customers to clean the interior of their vehicles and three lanes with pay stations leading to the conveyor.

Based in Tucson, Arizona, Mister Car Wash operates more than 400 car washes nationwide and has 25 years of experience in the business.

The publicly traded company appears to be making a push in Minnesota. It recently announced the acquisition of Top Wash, which operated in Anoka, Fridley and Champlin, bringing its total number of facilities in the metro to nearly 20. Mister Car Wash also has three locations in Rochester and one in St. Cloud.

Crisp & Green open

The Crisp & Green restaurant at 1351 Madison Ave. is open.

Manager Amanda Bartley said they’ve been busy since opening a couple of months ago.

“Business has been good. We’re looking forward to the college kids coming back, too.”

Crisp & Green is open on Madison Avenue, in the strip mall containing Fitness for 10.

She said the most popular items have been the Fiesta Bowl and the No Prob Cobb.

The Fiesta Bowl features brown rice, roasted chicken, avocado, Napa cabbage, jalapeño, black beans, fajita peppers & onions, queso fresco, pepitas, roasted tomatillo salsa, lime squeeze and jalapeño-lime vinaigrette.

The No Prob Cobb has spinach, kale, roasted chicken, avocado, egg, bacon, Queso Fresco, jalapeño, tomatoes, lemon squeeze and jalapeño green goddess dressing.

They also cater.

The Minnesota company has been rapidly building new restaurants and inking deals for many more around the country.

Crisp & Green founder and CEO Steele Smiley, who started with a Crisp & Green in Wayzata in 2016, said in an earlier interview with The Free Press that there had been requests from Mankato area residents for a restaurant here.

“We’ve had over 500 inquiries to come to Mankato from guests who live there and drive to the Cities to one of our stores,” Smiley said.

Starbucks, Chipotle

The new Starbucks in upper North Mankato opened late last week. It is located next to the recently opened Chipotle.

Starbucks in upper North Mankato is open and Chipotle, in background, opened recently.

The new businesses are at 1721 Lor Ray Drive, between Walgreens and the Shell station.

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