One of Buda's oldest and biggest employers is laying groundwork for a major expansion

Longtime Austinites are familiar with the Night Hawk brand. It started as a restaurant chain in 1932, selling burgers for 15 cents to service customers who were "night hawks." The chain grew into seven restaurants in Austin, San Antonio and Houston before Harry Akin died in 1976. The last restaurant — "The Frisco" on Burnet Road — closed in 2018. But the brand lives on in grocery stores and it's a hit — so much so, that new real estate, new factory lines and more employees are on the horizon. They're already cranking out 12.5 million single meals annually.