A local restaurant may be hopping into another North Dakota community soon.
The owners of the Toasted Frog, which got its start in Grand Forks eight years ago, are looking to open a third location in Fargo.
The move is a logical step for a restaurant that’s already present here and in Bismarck, where it opened in 2010. The Fargo location, like its two current restaurants, would be downtown.
Its proposed location would be just across the street from the iconic Fargo Theatre.
“We think that our style of restaurant fits really well in vibrant downtowns in North Dakota,” co-owner Jonathan Holth said. “We love what’s happening in downtown Fargo … so we thought we’d like to be a part of that.”
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Holth and co-owner Shawn Clapp, as well as executive chef Scott Franz, have applied for a liquor license in Fargo. That application will go to the city’s liquor control board in mid-March.
Holth declined to predict when the Toasted Frog might be open.
New mall stores
Two new shops are slated to open this month at Columbia Mall in Grand Forks.
Francesca’s is a chain of boutiques selling “an eclectic mix of carefully curated” women’s clothing, shoes, jewelry and accessories, according to the company’s website. It has 350 stores in 45 states, including a Fargo location.
Yankee Candle, a maker and retailer of scented candles and home fragrances will also open a mall store this month. The company bills itself as the most-recognized name and No. 1 seller in the candle business.
Mall manager Bill Reid said the candle shop likely would be open sooner than the boutique.
Simplot layoffs won’t affect GF
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J.R. Simplot Co. has begun layoffs at several plants in its home state of Idaho.
Three potato processing plants are closing in preparation for consolidating operations in a new plant in Caldwell, Idaho, that will employ about 250 people, according to the Idaho Statesman newspaper. The closures, which were first announced in 2011, will mean the loss of about 800 jobs, the paper reported.
Company spokesman David Cuoio told National Public Radio in 2011 that the company needed to open a new plant in Idaho in order to remain competitive.
But the changes won’t affect operations here in Grand Forks, where Simplot is one of the area’s largest employers.
“The activities here in Idaho at the Aberdeen, Nampa, and Caldwell plants will not affect the Grand Forks plant,” Cuoio wrote in an email to the Herald this week.
