RAINBOW ORDERS OUT FOR CHINESE RESTAURANT

ROSEANNE HARPER

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Rainbow Foods has contracted with a West Coast Chinese restaurant chain to run an operation inside its newest store.

The 41-unit retailer invited Bing Yang, owner of Alhambra, Calif.-based Rice Garden restaurants, to make Rice Garden a part of a food court it unveiled in the store that opened here in October.

The Rainbow store location is on the home turf of Leeann Chin Chinese Cuisine, a locally well-known Chinese restaurant chain that has operations inside units of Byerly's, Edina, Minn. The 13-unit Byerly's hooked up successfully with Leeann Chin eight years ago. One its units with a Leeann Chin restaurant is within two miles of the Rainbow store, according to Yang at Rice Garden.

Officials at Rainbow Foods' corporate offices in Hopkins, Minn., did not return SN's phone calls seeking comment about the link-up with Rice Garden. Yang, however, said he sees the presence of Leeann Chin as a plus.

"People in the area are used to the idea that they can get Chinese takeout food in a supermarket so it will be good for us," Yang said, and he pointed out that Rice Garden at Rainbow has a featured spot in the store.

"We're directly ahead as you enter the store," Yang said. To the right, is a hot pizza station and an espresso coffee bar which has seating for about 20.

Yang said high visibility is the key to success. Last month, when one of his operations inside a Tops Market in Buffalo, N.Y., was moved from the middle of the store to the front as part of a remodel, sales climbed 20%, he said.