Abandoned Restaurant Makes Great Hog Barn

Abandoned restaurant makes great hog barn AG WORLD Ag World 11-5-18 Nearly everyone's seen or heard about people who've turn an old barn into a country restaurant, but who's ever heard of turning an old restaurant into a hog barn? That's what happened recently at an eating establishment along Interstate 80 near the eastern border of Iowa. Nickerson Farms Restaurant was once part of a nationwide chain familiar to motorists throughout the country because of its use of a distinctive red peaked roof. When the restaurant chain went broke, the building stood vacant until Heinhold Hog Markets, Inc. decided to convert it to a hog-buying station. According to a report in the Des Moines Register, the new owners gutted the restaurant, auctioning off the kitchen equipment, booths and tables. Heinhold installed hog pens in their place and built an addition that nearly doubled the size of the original structure. Capacity is now about 800 head, brought in by farmers and then transferred to slaughter plants. The company says it chose the Nickerson location because the building was in good shape and because it's so well situated, just off a major freeway. Everything in the building was converted to accommodate hogs except for the original main entrance to the restaurant, which now houses manager Michael Clayton's office.

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