Pierz

Pierz, MN · Lifestyle
SC Cloud | St. Cloud Times
Longtime waitress opens her own diner in Rice
There is a new owner of a restaurant sitting in a familiar location. The Old Creamery Café, which opened its doors in Rice back in 1989, became LeeAnn's Main Street Diner earlier this year. LeeAnn Hockert has worked in restaurants and food service since she was a 15-year-old dishwasher at the Country Inn in Rice. More: The North Table blends fine dining, local food in St. Joseph After finishing school, she worked as a waitress at Clearwater Travel Plaza and then spent nearly a quarter-century as a waitress at Jimmy’s Pour House in Sauk Rapids. She left that role in April 2026 and didn’t waste time signing the papers on her new diner May 7. LeeAnn's Main Street Diner opened its doors May 17. Opening her own diner has been a dream for Hockert. “I worked my entire life and had an interest in having my own (restaurant),” she told the Times . “I saw it was for sale for a while and started to inquire about it, then went through the process to make it happen.” The menu, created by Hockert, is plentiful and still evolving. More: St. Cloud pizza owners launch XO Fire Pizza food truck “When I