Lee DeVito
The Asian Corned Beef at 19102 Woodward Ave., Detroit in 2019 (left) and today (right), where it sits empty.
It looks like local fast-food chain Asian Corned Beef, like many restaurants, wasn't able to escape the pandemic unscathed.
The company had expanded rapidly in recent years, with eight Detroit locations as of a 2019 Metro Times cover story. But according to ACB's website, now only three remain — the original location at 13360 Wyoming Ave., 14820 W. Seven Mile Rd., and 13240 Gratiot Ave.
During a recent visit, Metro Times found the location at 19102 Woodward Ave. in a former McDonald's in Detroit to be completely empty. It had celebrated its grand opening in 2019.
Owner Hasan White did not respond to requests for comment.
The chain was started in the 1980s by White's mother Kim, a Vietnamese immigrant who got the idea to combine a corned beef sandwich with a Chinese eggroll after working in a Detroit deli.
The Michigan Restaurant & Lodging Association estimated that one out of three Michigan restaurants would be forced to close due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdowns. The MRLA also reported that nine out of 10 Michigan restaurants are now "inadequately staffed."
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