Ep 6: A Conversation with Warren McLean, President of NEON

Episode recorded on October 25, 2025

Join us in this episode as we sit down with Warren McLean, CEO of NEON, to talk about the future of North Minneapolis, the power of entrepreneurship, and the development of a new commercial kitchen designed to support local business owners. Warren shares how this facility will help food entrepreneurs grow, create healthier food options, strengthen the local economy, and build generational wealth in the community.

Whether you’re a North Minneapolis resident, entrepreneur, community advocate, small business supporter, or someone interested in equitable economic development, this episode highlights how public investment, community vision, and cultural pride can come together to create lasting transformation.

Main Topics Covered:

•  NEON’s vision for supporting entrepreneurs in North Minneapolis
•  The development of a new commercial kitchen for local food businesses
•  How food connects culture, community, and economic opportunity
•  The importance of creating a cultural hub rooted in North Minneapolis
•  Community input and intentional design in shaping the facility
•  How the project can help address food access and food desert challenges
•  The role of public investment, including light rail, in supporting local economic growth
•  The broader transformation happening across North Minneapolis

Resources & Links:

•  NEON
• Blue Line Extension Project Website

This episode shows how food can become a foundation for community connection, business growth, and long-term wealth building. Warren McLean frames NEON’s new commercial kitchen as more than a building—it is a cultural hub, an economic engine, and a community investment in the future of North Minneapolis.

Transcript

0:05

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you're at. It's your boys, Brett and Rich. Still trying to figure out where we are today. We're a little bit everywhere. We're really excited of uh connecting with our our our guest for the day, Mr. Warren McLean, that we will be bringing on in a second. But Rich, you know, things are really starting to move in this community, man. We saw something amazing yesterday. Um this commercial kitchen that's being developed by Neon, doing some amazing stuff along the line and everything else. It talks about that connection piece around, and especially around food. Especially around food. We're gonna have to check that out like day one. How'd you feel about the how'd you feel about that activity, man? I like to eat. And uh and I think any opportunity to uh for people can to gather and for uh local businesses that represent the the the diverse cultural backgrounds uh in this area um being highlighted. I think that's a beautiful thing, and um I appreciate what Neon represents for that. So I think that it I mean that was a really fun experience. I had my my Ray-Ban glasses, I took, you know, took photos with people with hard hats, you know, because safety's first. Everybody had a hat on. Everybody had a hat on and a vest. So, you know, we were all visible. Um but yeah, we we um it was just a pleasure to be able to see the ideation process of you know, the concept of how things are gonna be laid out, the different kitchens, the storage areas, where the f the fridges are gonna be, um, and just going to the rooftop and looking at the city, seeing the connection of all the development from Capri and just looking, it just seems like it's coming together, you know, little by little. And uh you guys are a major player, and I'm excited. It's it's really exciting stuff. So well, let's let's hear let's hear from the man himself, Mr. Warren McClain, the leader, the president CEO um of Neon. Uh let's give him a hand clap on that one, y'all. Yes, sir. Well, thank you. How are you doing, Mr. McClain? I'm doing well, thank you. Thanks for having me. Uh thanks for coming on, and and what you I mean, you are one kudos on that building. I mean, that that that concept to bring people together. Tell us how that concept came about. I mean, because that is a major undertaking. Uh, we heard 25,000 square feet, and it is just a remarkable uh uh asset to Broadway. Tell us how it came about. Well, you know, it actually came about in uh in 2020. So, you know, during 2020, you know, as you know, we were in the middle midst of uh of COVID and then uh George Floyd's murder and then the subsequent unrest as a result of that. And uh our staff was kind of taxed during that period and we're dispersing funds and so forth. And uh uh at that time Neon was you know, we were like I said, we were dispersing funds, but it it was a a opportunity for us to kind of prove our ability to execute. And so um, you know, we're working seven days a week, eighteen hours a day, um, for about seven months. And then um one of our one of our funders came to us and said in August of 2020, they said, Warren, you need to launch a growth program. You need to do it right now. And so um, you know, I'm sure they were looking at the time frame and you know, sort of things coming together in terms of community resources being poured out into the community at that time, and so we did. And so we um we decided that we would, you know, we launched, we had uh three goals. The first goal was to increase staff because of the demand that uh our services had increased so dramatically. I mean the demand on our services increased. So we had a goal of serving about 700 plus clients. We served 1,352 clients that year. Uh we had a goal of serving about uh providing about 3,000 hours of t TA. We we provided 6,784 hours of TA and then we dis then we dispersed in tw 2019 we dispersed $46,000. In 2020, we dispersed $3.8 million. Wow. So um it was just that kind of uh demand on our services required us to increase staff. So that was the one thing that we that was the first goal. And then the second goal was to buy a building uh because we have been renting it for a while. We want to make sure that this facility would be used um to provide affordable commercial real estate to our clients so that they can on-ramp, yeah, because it's we operate a co-working space that allowed our clients to be able to for one monthly fee get uh you know, Wi-Fi, printing and copy of services, mail sorting, and also access to our we have a you know uh kitchen here and we also have a conference room and then for those clients, mo those members who also are clients, we also got access to TA. So all that is for one monthly fee you get all that. Um so we wanted to make sure we we own the building so we could maintain that affordability for our for our clients. And then thirdly, two of my staff members came to me. A colleagues said, uh, Warren, we need to add, we need to build a commercial kitchen. And I said, What? I said we we need to build one. And the reason was um we got a lot of clients, 40% of our clients are food entrepreneurs. Wow. And they didn't have access, they were using Kindred Kitchen at the time. And and Kindred Kitchen and appetite for change changed their business model. So they no longer provided that kind of access to the kitchen for our clients. And so essentially what we're trying to do is fill a gap. And so what we did was I said, okay, you know, we'll we'll pursue this. And um at the time, uh our campaign was around five million dollars. So we we uh wanted a million and a half for staff, uh, we wanted two million to buy this building, we wanted we wanted a million and a half for the commercial kitchen. We were way off in our in our assessment, so you can see how naive we were in doing that. You know, it's okay. So that's how that came about. Um but the timeliness of it, and I think identifying that major need, you know, again, actually following through with the need of your clientele, your clients um that have been keeping North Minneapolis and other communities kind of afloat. I mean, to really hit that crop, that that that intersection of culture and and economics is critical. Talk more about that. I mean, again, the importance of that building as it's gonna build out, and we'll we'll start to talk about some of the the logistics again. We're getting excited about. I mean, again, I I I won't lie, I got a little hungry even in the building because kind of was kind of getting ready for it, you know. Um, you know, the limited spots, but talk talk more about that cross-section, I mean, recognizing that and and where it can really go, because we're really excited about what you're doing. Well, um, you know, we really got input from our clients. Initially, we were going to have 24 kitchens, um, but really small. And our clients said, no, no, no, no. We need larger kitchens, um, and that would be more effective in terms of utilization, um, and people could scale in those kitchens. And then they said we need a lot of storage space. And then we made some trips. We went down to uh to Chicago to visit the hatchery, which is you know about three times the size of our building. There they're at 67,000 square feet in Chicago, so we were able to visit them and see what to do and then what changes to make. And so um we visited them twice. And so that was helpful in us in terms of us coming back, asking our clients, what do you think would really fit your need? And our clients were pretty, you know, pretty helpful in telling us that. And so we learned some things from from that particular trip. And in fact, just last week, uh two of our team members, Stephen O'Beyuana and Philip, Philip A. uh. Galvad, went to um San Francisco to look at another kitchen. So we're gonna learn about operations from them. So, you know, it was a lot of uh input that we got to help us sort of shape the vision of what we wanted to do. The other thing is um in Chicago, the the hatchery is uh a building that if you didn't know it was there, it's kind of nondescript. It's it's a it's a big building, but you didn't know what what it was. And so we said, well, we didn't want it that. So we decided to to put glass at our facility so people could look at it, they could embrace it and see it's something that is inviting uh to the community. That that definitely spoke yesterday. What we were really, really excited about was the openness and connection, you know, and also the and and I'll take the connection even a step further, that interaction with the capri. You know, now you got the potential of a dinner and a show now. Um that was intentional. I would have to, I know it's intentional, but talk about those possibilities. I mean, not only that dinner and a show possibilities now with the Capri and everything else, but the emergence of all these uh food entrepreneurs as well, what you're really providing that base for. Well, you know, the entrepreneurs now have I mean, we have some clients that go in as far as Wisconsin, and it's a three-hour drive to get there, to get access to their commercial kitchen one way. Right. Right and then they have to drive back. So, you know, there's a lot of demand for this particular facility. Uh, so we, you know, we're excited about that. Uh the the Capri, uh, you know, the location is somewhat um serendipitous. That what I mean by that is uh one of our uh partners, funding partners, had land that they owned right next to the Capri. And they donated us to us, and they said, Oh wow, you need to put your facility right here. And we said, Okay. Okay. So so we said yes. And uh, you know, and they were like one of early partners, and they were uh, you know, really instrumental in us getting the building up and running. So um so we said, this uh, you know, makes a sense in terms of location. That land had been vacant for at least 10 plus years, and and so we wanted to put it into service. And so that's kind of how that came about. Mm-hmm. I mean, that for the wild north siders, that's the old, um, if I remember, well, God, what store was that again? I I'm looking at it right now. Country Club. There it is. Um, it's the old country club. Yeah, it goes all the way back there. And it's been it's been it's it's been underutilized. I mean, that's being kind, uh, for uh for quite some time. So talk about that renaissance in that area right now. I mean, you're now seeing something amazing bubbling up right before our eyes. Talk about that renaissance along West Broadway. And then, Rich, let's get into that cultural connection piece as well. Well, I think, you know, we have a huge opportunity in terms of not only, you know, the the neon collector kitchens, but you know, kind of, you know, two blocks from us is Satory Village with Tim Baylor. Wells Fargo is in his building. You know, you got Kenya's building, the Zara. Uh you got Juxta right off, you know, next to her. Uh and so, and then you got, you know, uh Tito's building that's you know, he's doing the the swankery, swank eatery, and then you know, and then you have all those, you have a collection of businesses right by where we are. Uh that's sort of a black business uh area. So um, you know, it's it's we have a lot of synergy going right now, and um I think that's really something to to build upon. Um we got you do have a lot of momentum going. Uh we have and in just in North Minneapolis overall, you've got huge investment that's intentional by black entrepreneurs and black developers. I mean, you know, like I I've already alluded to that, but you know, we got V3, you know, we've got um Houston White and Camden Town, uh, you know, we got you know, Devin George has got a big project. And so he's got a lot of opportunities and but a lot of investment that's coming to fruition. So it's not things that, you know, are just on the drawing board, but they're things that uh being uh reality. And so I think that that's a shift uh for North Minneapolis. I mean, we're not it's not a renaissance to me, it's a transformation. That's our goal. Rich, um that cultural piece, that connection, talking about bringing people together. What was you what were you feeling yesterday when you were going through it and uh maybe getting that future that future wof of you know certain things coming in, you know, into that building. What w what was your thoughts? I mean, I it's there's so much to learn. I mean, um food is is is a deep part of culture. Um it's a great way of of connecting people. When you have a meal with someone, uh usually it's the opportunity to to to have good conversation and to get to know them. And um I think uh North Minneapolis just thinking about the lack of access to good food, like home cooked type food, you know, food that has intentionality behind it versus just frying it up or whatever, you know. Um I think is really a blessing because uh I I know a lot of people in that area that would just are are s in search of food that's actually more wholesome, right? And and this creates an opportunity that kinda, you know, um and mitigates some of that food desert where people don't have that access and it's right on the bus line, it's in a convenient area, and it's around a bunch of other businesses. Um I think it's that that what you just described, Warren, it sounds like you're creating like a cultural hub. And uh with with all the different the intentionality between between the businesses and all these different opportunities for youth and for, you know, V3 sports and recreation, uh, which is health and wellness, food, all of these things are intertwined in um environmental justice, you know? So you guys are playing a major part in uh creating good relationships with people, learning from different businesses uh that are, you know, up and coming businesses, you know, creating opportunity. Um and yeah, I mean, it's it's a lot. It's a whole lot. I'm very excited to see who's gonna be in there. What are the different cult? Can you give us a little insight of some of the different types of food that we could expect potentially? I know you're not you haven't picked the people yet, but you know, what what can what can we look forward to? Like, you know, can we get a little roti and a little bit of uh uh greens with some turkey, you know, next? You know, what what what can we do? You know? Yeah. Well, I think you're gonna have some certainly some healthy food options that you know that we haven't had. Um we've got a lot of a lot of our clients that are big into healthy foods. Um so you know, it'll be I think it'll be tasteful, um, but it will be on a healthy end. So I think you'll see a lot of that. Um, you know, the detail we haven't selected the the folks that are gonna, we have four front-facing, public-facing kitchens, and so we haven't selected them yet. Um, but you know, we will definitely have, you know, those who will provide healthy options uh for our community. As you're you're right, this is the fifth largest food desert in the country. And uh so we want to make sure that we this facility helps to mitigate that uh and becomes a catalyst for other investment into North Minneapolis. Speaking of investment, you know, while we are all pulling people together and everything else, this this conversation around light rail and how it's gonna be bringing you know people in. But there's been there's been some conversations about it, uh pro and pro and con. Um tell us how public investments such as light rail, blue line extension, can help, you know, projects like yours and others across the North Minneapolis area. Well, you know, like the kitchen is gonna be on the blue line, so you know, we had to actually move our building a little bit to accommodate that. Um I think the huge thing is that it's coming. So the so our role has been to behind the scenes uh try to make sure that um that our businesses get a a large share of the contracts. Um so we've been um we've we had met for almost two years with uh uh Hennepin County and Metro Metro Metro Transit. Uh uh I mean I'm sorry, Met Council um to discuss the uh the contractor selection and what the criteria would be. So what I mean by that is um for this project they're gonna use best value instead of least cost. Yeah. And that that's a huge breakthrough because that means that uh our clients, you know, uh and uh, you know, our you know, DBEs have an opportunity and they're not limited to having the lowest cost. And uh so um that's uh you know kind of what we've been doing, sort of behind the scenes. And so, you know, and also making sure that we have a focus on workforce, although that's not our main objective, but we've been a part of that too. So make sure that um the DBEs and uh you know our our community gets first uh crack at the opportunities that are presented. You know, for instance on the on the um on the kitchen, um, you know, um Mortensen is partnering with with um Tri Construction, and we require that. Yeah. And so um, you know, the they're all they're exceeding all of their DBE goals uh substantially. So it that's extremely helpful in making sure that you know, because we control with our owners, we could, you know, tell them and dictate sort of we want this to happen on our project. And so that makes sure that our our community is getting the jobs, getting the resources, I mean, getting the opportunity to make good money on this particular project. So we're excited about that. So to the extent that we can influence that uh on on the blue line, uh, we're trying to do that. Most definitely, especially for the responsibility of the line itself for the people. It's supposed to do two major things. Of course, move people as much as possible, but provide opportunities uh for businesses to kind of build up. And as you're building uh or providing uh great infrastructure and foundation for a lot of these food entrepreneurs that actually spill into other pieces because of supply chain and and necessary um staffing and everything else, it's a great opportunity to grow the both and using public dollar in order to expand our opportunities. Yep. Agreed. So, you know, that's part of our role. So anyway, go ahead. No, no, I was no, I go go ahead. I I was gonna I wanted to have you elaborate from there because I think that's a good point for people to understand that as we may not be as excited about certain aspects of it, what we're seeing is that no, this is our opportunity to really expand. I mean, normally what would happen is that we get bypassed and now the investment goes somewhere else, and all of a sudden we're like, well, what about us? And then how that plays out. So, you know, expand on that again, the potential of uh having some of those those new entrepreneurs or those expanding kitchens that could be taking place along the line as well. Well, first primarily it was um making sure that we didn't miss the opportunity. We didn't want to happen what we see in the other uh, you know, extensions, you know, like you know what happened in St. Paul and Midway. Um we we didn't want to see, you know, the the the blue line, I mean, you know, the first blue line and the green line. And so, you know, we learned from that. And then, you know, Southwest um, you know, extension two, we learned from that. I mean, you know, uh I don't know if you know this is uh Um the b the Green Line committed um um there was a demise of a lot of uh entrepreneurs as a result of the Green Line. And so so the and what I mean by that is with least cost um you know, when you make a a a change they call change order, the the major the the lead contractor can put that on the backs of their subs. And then have something called liquidating damages. And if you don't complete the job, then you get hit with liquidating damages, and that's gonna that you know if that happens to you one or twice, you're gonna be out of business. And so that happened to one of our major contractors here, and um they and eventually did help the demise of the company, and so we didn't want that repeated. And so we we were uh really proactive in saying that can't happen again. We don't want to see our contractors, you know, bearing the burden of you know these uh you know these additional change orders. So we talked about so we were going into the depths and all the processes and all the things that were uh could effectively um you know adversely affect our our community. And so we wanted to be uh uh proactive on making sure that did not happen. At the same time, we want to make sure there's an investment that causes our community to be uh you know invested in and profit from this. I think that's critical to understand, especially as we are have always we have always paid in, we never get the benefit for it, and then all of a sudden uh people question what really goes on in certain parts of our community. Um I think that's really critical on that one. Rich, what what what's going through your head as you're starting to see? You've toured the place, you're starting to see how this is connecting, anchoring doubt. Uh thoughts from from your perspective. Um what's that key question that you would love to be able to say ask Mr. McLean right now to say, okay, what's you know, what's let's talk about what's next over the next six uh remaining months of really building this thing up. Yeah, I mean, I I guess in the in the long term, I would love to know, I mean, since since um you know, we're building for the future, what what is Neon's view on the youth and and the development of youth when it comes to business and entrepreneurship and you know, thinking thinking about building uh culturally responsive uh businesses? Well, I mean, it's a good question to youth. I mean, uh to be real candidate with you, that's not really our focus, and that doesn't mean that we don't think it's important. It's just that we try to stay on our lane. I got you. Okay. Okay, because it's we don't do everything, you can't do everything well, and we want to make sure we do what we do well. But what I I I think that's also important is is um, you know, black entrepreneurs have 12 times the wealth of their peers. And then uh and then Latino entrepreneurs have four times the wealth of their peers. So, you know, we have one client that was that's in food and we're doing catering during the COVID, uh, you know, all the contracts got canceled, but they pivoted and and produced a tonic that took off, a wellness tonic that took off. They were struggling financially for a while, and now one of the owners has bought a duplex. Oh wow. And and and her son said to her, Mom, are we rich? Okay, so that's how we affecting we want the youth to see, you know, have these role models of their parents now, you know, prospering. And they can see, you know, it's visual, you know, they it's it's something that's you know, you know, it's it's you can see it. And and then you have you have now a an example that's live, you know, it's not somebody else, it's you. And she and they can then replicate uh the things that their parents have done. And now, you know, it just changes the trajectory of their lives uh when that happens. And so I think that's the best way that we can influence that. Our goal is to build generational wealth. And so we want to go from one generation to the next generation by creating wealth, and we want to start with our with essentially their parents, as you know, our clients, adults, and then, you know, and have them teach their kids about how do we do this, you know, how is this how we did it? And you know, and then their kids have this sort of work and role model of what, you know, how to change their future. You know, they make decisions that will shift uh because now they know it's doable. Understood. Yeah, and I think go ahead, Brett. My bad. No, go, uh no, you got you're on you're on that train. Go ahead. No, I was just saying um there was one other thing that I wanted to ask you about because I I heard you know the streets are talking, you know, so we gotta we gotta talk about what the streets are talking about. I was I I heard that potentially in the future that you guys are gonna have some type of shark tank situation going on at your facility, you know, where people have an opportunity to pitch their, you know, their put their businesses and and and you know how they're gonna brand things out and and and and the whole ideation process. Is that is that is that a true, you know, a little birdie told me, I can't say who, but somebody, you know. Okay, well, you're pinning Broadway around there. Well, uh frankly that's news to me, but if we do that, that'd be great. Okay. All right. Well, hey, I mean the streets are talking. They're saying that you you you guys are creating your own shark tank. So I I I don't know what the branding, the name of it is. I you know, just a generic, you know, at this point. But I uh I think, you know, the the commercial, the front-facing, uh public-facing restaurants may be what they're thinking about. Maybe they're you know that because that's gonna be uh it's gonna be an RFP process, but I'm sure they got you know, people have to really come forward with how they're gonna uh build out that that opportunity, that restaurant, that's full front facing. So I think that may be a way of doing that. Um I watch Shark Tank a lot. It's it's fun, I hope. You know, I I I'm always intrigued by what people are proposing. So we have a couple minutes. Yeah, we have a couple minutes left on this segment. Again, we cannot thank you enough for your time on this one, um, Ms. McClain. But Warren, go ahead. Make that make that final like reminder. Uh first and foremost, let's let's let's go, let's do some housekeeping. When is it gonna be open? Uh probably um uh open in mid-January, mid to late January of 2026. Wow. Yeah. So it's coming around it, it's coming around that mountain, is what they're saying. Yes. And again, and that yeah, that's the the screen to talk, and I heard the same thing. I'm just gonna say it that way. Um second, uh again, talk about some of those key things. Again, major investment that's taking place, 25,000 square foot. But again, talk about that debt-free conversation. That was a major point that we were like, oh my God, that's amazing. Talk about that a little bit. So it's uh it's a $21 million facility. Uh actually it's gonna be $22 million now, but um um it's debt-free. Um so we the community is stepped up. You know, we've got a lot of folks that have stepped up to the plate and uh and really invested in this. I mean, I can tell you that uh I want to tell you that Senator Champion got us six million dollars from the state. Um and uh that was huge. Um, you know, Congressman Oldmark got us a million dollars from the federal government, and then um she got us uh a a congressionally directed uh spending, you know, grant that in earmarks, that's what they used to call them. And that was that was strong in terms of that was the first major investment we got. Um and then others followed suit. And then some of the foundations, Bush Foundation has invested significantly in a uh project, you know, and Cargill, Minneapolis, uh there's so many of them that have invested, Wellington Management, they're the ones who donated the land and made a contribution to us. So uh I mean it's it's it's Target, you know, Wells Fargo, um, it's been phenomenal. Minneapolis Foundation, as I said, so uh United Health Group, just uh major funders that supported us in a very significant way, and we're couldn't be more pleased and grateful to this community for supporting us. This really shows that North Minneapolis is on that upswing again, you know, with the other projects that we've talked about. We plan on bringing a couple of those along as well, talking about that intersection between how light rail and the public investment really helps out the potential, but also just how things are actually moving on its own accord right now as well. Um I think that's very important to tell that story. Um so no, we thank thank you for that. We we definitely would like to be able to tell that story about the debt-free piece because it's possible to make this thing happen in North Minneapolis. It is possible, and um, you know, we're delighted to you know see that come to fruition and you know want others to pursue that path. Because, you know, we we one of the things that we didn't want to do is burden our, you know, uh our the folks that will use the kitchen, burden them with the debt, uh debt repayment. And that, you know, because you when you do that, it just makes it harder. It's not as affordable and accessible to the community. Which is a major allowing for them to but to to grow and to prosper and to pair maybe even branch off on their own. It's just amazing to watch that from there. Last question I know we always have with this, with this, we either do mu uh uh we'll we'll go ahead and do the choice on this one. Music or movie. Which one do you want to go? Which pass do you want to go first? I don't know, music. What what's what's current what's currently what's currently in your playlist right now? Uh if you want to be honest with you, I you know, I don't know if you are familiar with Hezekiah Walker's Every Praise. Yes, yes. Keep that spirit going, most definitely. Uh because it's definitely uh a God-inspired facilitated project. So and similar to what's going on with Neon, because we see we see the spirit move in that process. So um I can see how the the inspiration is there for sure. And um I think to Richard's point, we we definitely want to see some soul in that place as well. We're gonna be right there with you. All right. Well, and thank you for this opportunity and thank you for visiting and sharing and you know, and giving your input and spreading the word. We just really appreciate all the help. No, we're we're really excited for it. And again, ladies and gentlemen, you know how we do it here. Hand claps for Mr. Warren McLean, everybody. Well, thank you all. Thank you all.