How Koney King, seen in 'The Bear,' managed to stay open and do more in sales during the Gary, Indiana, power blackout

Jimmy Hendricks kept his restaurant, Koney King, open despite losing power.

Koney King Jimmy Hendricks, owner of Koney King, managed to stay open during the Gary, Indiana, power outage.

Hendricks bought a generator and saw increased demand as many places were closed.

Koney King, which has been open for over 100 years, recently featured on an episode of "The Bear." 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.