When much of the city of Gary, Indiana, lost power after a devastating storm last week, Jimmy Hendricks didn’t wait for the power to come back on at his iconic restaurant, Koney King. Instead, he went out and bought a $1,300 generator that same day.
In the days that followed, he’d wake up in the middle of the night to fill gas cans to power the generator because the gas station lines were too long during the day. He managed to keep his restaurant open during its usual business hours despite the lack of power.
His quick thinking paid off. Koney King, which serves hot dogs and burgers, did not get power back until a week later. He said it was one of the few restaurants that could stay open and continue serving the community during the ongoing blackout.
“You just adapt to the situations when they arise, and your goal is to get through the day safely. That’s it,” Kendricks told Business Insider.
A derecho — a widespread, long-lived wind storm — swept through Gary on August 11, downing power lines and trees in the northwestern Indiana community and causing widespread power outages. As of Friday, 10 days after the storm, over 38,000 customers remained without power, according to Northern Indiana Public Service Co. Another restaurant owner in Gary previously told Business Insider she was forced to close for most of the week, losing $19,000 in sales.
Koney King, which has been open for over 100 years, gained some attention in May when it featured in a stand-alone episode of FX’s “The Bear” called “Gary.” Hendricks, who has owned the restaurant for seven years, said the place is special to him because he went to Koney King while growing up in the neighborhood, but that being featured on the show was a cool opportunity.
The episode, released ahead of the show’s final season, is a flashback to a drive cousin Ritchie and Mikey took from Chicago to Gary. In one scene, they stop at Koney King to eat and make small talk with an employee, played by a real worker at the restaurant.
Koney King
Hendricks said staying open was stressful. He had to ensure the temperatures in his fridges and freezers were right, manage inventory closely to keep up with demand, and make sure they could feed everyone coming in.
He praised his employees for not missing a shift. “Shout out to my crew for making it every day. None of them had power at home, and they still came to work every single day,” Hendricks said.
As one of the few places that remained open, Koney King saw a slight increase in sales during the week it lost power, Hendricks said. The restaurant served as something of a community hub, with customers coming in each day to eat, hang out, and charge their phones. For some folks who couldn’t afford to buy food, the restaurant fed them anyway.
“I opened with a giving heart anyway, so to be able to just help some people out that were in need was probably the biggest plus,” he said.
Koney King
The most memorable part of the whole experience, Kendricks said, was the storm itself. He said he was inside Koney King, which also had customers at the time, when the sky quickly turned a dark grey, green, and purplish color, and the building began shaking from the extreme wind. He spent several minutes just trying to keep the door closed, adding that he knew the door would have broken off if the wind caught it. Within an hour or two, he said, the skies had somewhat cleared.
“It just came and went. And what it left behind is what we’re still dealing with,” he said.
It was a week later that he pulled up to Koney King with 17 cans of gas, ready for another day running on generators, when he realized the restaurant had regained power.
He said others in the community are still wondering when their lights will go back on, and that the uncertainty has caused some tension, but he’s grateful he was able to stay open and provide a place for people to go.
“I’m grateful to be able to have a place that people felt safe to come to,” he said.
