Duane Hardacre wasn't looking to buy a food court, nor was he looking to buy a business in Lincoln.
But he wound up with a food court in Lincoln, and the Colorado resident said he couldn't be happier.
In September, Hardacre and his father, Larry, bought the former Great Scott's food court at 3111 N.W. 12th St., near the airport exit off of Interstate 80. They closed down the 20-year-old business in January for a complete overhaul and reopened it a little more than a week ago as the LNK Food Plaza.
On Friday, they held a grand opening for the five restaurants, four of which are new concepts they developed themselves.
Hardacre said he and his wife knew the daughter of the previous owners, and because his wife is a native of Thailand, she was asked to help broker a sale in which Thai citizens were involved. However, after seeing the business information about the food court and then seeing it in person, "I came back and told my wife, 'Actually, we should invest in this'."
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The Hardacres completely gutted and rebuilt the interior of the food court while it was closed and also made some exterior improvements.
Duane Hardacre said they decided they wanted to be "vertically integrated," meaning they would own the food businesses rather than just being a landlord. And they decided they would rather develop their own concepts instead of becoming franchisees.
So, with the exception of Baskin-Robbins, which is a holdover from the former food court, the other four restaurants are new.
There's Samui Thai and Chinese, developed by Hardacre's wife, who is a chef; Fly By Cafe, which offers gourmet coffee, smoothies and breakfast fare; TC's Chicken, which offers chicken strips and wings; and Big Ten Subs, which has sandwiches named after the teams in the Big Ten.
Hardacre said that the goal is to open more of the restaurants elsewhere if the concepts are successful in Lincoln.
He said he's see no reason why they won't be.
"We've had great support from the surrounding businesses," Hardacre said. He also said that traffic from Interstate travelers has started to pick up as well.