8 eateries expanding with new Lansing area locations. Here's a look at when and where

LANSING — Ever thought how great a snack from your favorite restaurant or cafe would taste? Then in the next moment realize it would mean a drive halfway across town to get there?

Your luck may be changing.

Eight food vendors — featuring desserts, wings, coffee and more — are planning to expand this spring and summer throughout Lansing, East Lansing and Delta Township, putting their products closer to thousands of hungry consumers.

Most have existing storefronts in mid-Michigan, including Baskin-Robbins, Strange Matter Coffee and Crumbl Cookies. Other companies expanding include two different chicken wing franchises, a national Italian chain, a popular brunch restaurant and a tea house.

Here's a closer look at where and when to expect them.

Baskin-Robbins to open third location in Delta Township

April and Tom English already own two Baskin-Robbins stores in the area. Their Okemos store opened in 2018, their East Lansing store a year later. Now they are preparing to open a third in a 2,000-square-foot space in a plaza off North Marketplace Boulevard in Delta Township.

Loyal customers who live on the west side of Lansing have been asking them to do it for five years.

"First, they drove from the west side to Okemos and they would let us know how much they would like to have a west side location, and then they would drive to East Lansing and they would again say, 'Oh my Gosh, if you guys could do a store on the west side that'd be great,'" Tom English said. "So yeah, we're happy to do that."

They hope to open the new location in late May, he said. It will employ about 10 people in part-time and full-time positions.

Bobcat Bonnie's to open in former Clara's

Bobcat Bonnie's, a Michigan-based restaurant chain with six other locations, will bring brunch back to the historic former Clara's Lansing Station on East Michigan Avenue when it opens this summer. Starbucks already operates a store in half of the building.

Construction work begins Monday inside the 3,000-square-foot space at the 120-year-old train station, along with the 1,000-square-foot train car on the property, owner Matt Buskard said.

The goal, he said, is to open the eatery by the end of August.

The restaurant will offer a menu centered around "new American comfort food" and a weekend brunch, and employ 35 to 40 people.

Buskard said the interior design will utilize decor that came with the building, including lamps, doors and the antique train car.

"We're going to try to incorporate everything we can, and maybe even potentially re-imagine it," he said.

Detroit Wing Company expands to Delta Township

Detroit Wing Company, an Eastpointe-based company with more than 30 locations in Michigan and Florida, opened the first of two Lansing-area locations last year. Now, with one in East Lansing and another in Lansing, a franchise partnership is ready to open a store in Delta Township.

The new location off North Marketplace Boulevard is next door to the soon-to-open Baskin-Robbins. Ownership partner Troy Yensen, who grew up in Haslett, said he knows Detroit Wing Company will do well there.

"We're just very familiar with the area," he said. "I know that the Grand Ledge and Delta Township area is a great spot."

The 1,200-square-foot store is expected to open in late May or early June. It will employ more than 15 people.

Crumbl Cookies coming to East Lansing later this year

Crumbl Cookies' first local store opened just five months ago in Delta Township. This summer the area will get its second in East Lansing.

Andrew Lord, a member of the franchise ownership team that opened the first area store, said opening a second location near Michigan State University makes sense, and has long been a goal.

The new 2,500-square-foot storefront at 2843 Grand River Ave. is expected to open "in the second half of 2023," Lord said.

"We're still drawing up plans, getting designs approved by our corporate office," he said. "After that point, we'll probably have a better idea of opening timelines."

The store, which serves up a rotating menu of cookie flavors, will employ about 70 people, Lord said.

Gong cha set to add East Lansing storefront

Gong Cha, a worldwide tea drink franchise based in London, opened its first Michigan location at 1500 W. Lake Lansing Road just over a month ago. The 1,500-square-foot store, which offers teas, milk teas, coffees and more, employs about a dozen people.

Now, franchise owner Robert Song, an Okemos resident, is making plans to open a second location near Michigan State University. The planned 1,930-square-foot store, 641 E. Grand River Ave., was previously occupied by a Clean Juice bar.

It will likely employ another dozen people. Song expects to open in June. More than a dozen more Gong cha locations will open in Michigan in the next few years, he said.

Olive Garden to add restaurant at Delta Crossings

Olive Garden fans living on the west side of the Lansing area will finally see the area's second location open, in the Delta Crossings development off West Saginaw Highway. The other area location operates in Okemos.

Restaurant signage is already up on the new restaurant, which has been under construction for six months.

No firm opening date has been set, but Lauren Bowes, a communications manager for Orlando, Florida-based Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, said the location is expected to open this summer.

The company doesn't "currently have any further details beyond that," Bowes said in an email.

Strange Matter Coffee Co., Bango's team up downtown

Strange Matter customers who frequent Lansing's Old Town likely will be disappointed to learn Strange Matter is no longer opening a third location in a 1,000-square-foot site on the ground floor inside the former Temple Club building. The business has had plans to open a storefront there since 2019.

"We terminated our agreement about a month ago, owner Cara Nader said. The high cost of construction and pandemic-related delays in the supply chain played a role in that decision, she said: "I would say at the end of the day COVID killed that project."

Instead, Strange Matter will open its expansion at 337 S. Washington Square downtown in mid-May, partnering up with Bango's a popular food truck that closed recently to bring breakfast sandwiches, burgers and more to the store.

The location will include the two neighboring storefronts, previously home to Subway and Fudge & Frosting. With more than four times the space, the downtown Strange Matter Coffee will serve as the company's bakery for all of its locations.

Bango's will serve its menu at the location, said co-owner Aharon Hebert.

"And that's all our breakfast sandwiches, our lunch and dinner stuff, which includes burgers, vegan coney dogs and cauliflower wraps," he said. "We're bringing back a honey curry chicken salad sandwich that we used to do too."

Strange Matter Coffee gets 5-year deal for MSU Union

Opening a small storefront inside Michigan State University's Union Building is the "most exciting thing I think we've ever done," Nader said.

Strange Matter Coffee has signed a five-year contract with MSU to occupy a 650-square-foot space on the first floor that was previously home to Biggby Coffee. The new outlet will open in August, in time for fall semester, Nader said.

"We're renovating the whole space, so it's a much less orange vibe and a much more chill vibe, what we typically do in our spaces. And we're going to be delivering our baked goods there fresh every morning," she said. The store will offer Strange Matter's full menu.

Nader expects to hire about 10 employees at the location.

Wing Snob's new Delta Township site to have first drive-thru in state

Wing Snob opened its first area location in February off East Saginaw Street in Lansing.

Now company co-founders Brian Shunia and Jack Mashini are opening a location with a drive-thru in a former McDonald's in Delta Township at 645 Menard Drive. The drive-thru will be Wing Snob's first in Michigan.

"That's kind of kind of a big deal for us," Mashini said. "We do have two drive-thrus in the Texas market that do well, so we're trying to perfect the model while still keeping our quality top of mind. Everything's fresh, nothing's frozen so quality is huge for us."

The approximately 1,800-square-foot store could open by the end of summer, he said.

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Contact Rachel Greco at rgreco@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @GrecoatLSJ .

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: 8 eateries expanding in the Lansing area. Here's where