Planned restaurant at Discovery Park District named for Beck’s Hybrids founder
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Cunningham Restaurant Group and Purdue Research Foundation are tipping their hat toward one of the state’s agricultural innovators in naming a restaurant coming to the university’s Discovery Park District.
The Lawrence pays tribute to Lawrence Beck, whose 80 acres of land in the Hamilton County town of Atlanta would later lead to the largest family-owned retail seed company and third-largest seed brand in the U.S.—Beck’s Hybrids.
The farm-to-table restaurant, first announced in March 2024, will occupy part of the planned 10,600-square-foot Beck Barn located between Airport Road and McCutcheon Drive just off Mitch Daniels Boulevard, the foundation said.
The century-old barn was donated by Lawrence “Sonny” Beck, Lawrence’s grandson and now CEO of Beck’s, and the Beck family. More than a dozen Beck family members have attended Purdue since 1929.
“We always start with the historic nature of the building we’re in. We need that connection,” said Mike Cunningham, founder and CEO of Cunningham Restaurant Group, which operates restaurants in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, including Bru Burger, which has a location in the Lafayette area. “The PRF team sent us a list of 10 names and told us they had a favorite but wouldn’t tell us which one. It turned out The Lawrence was everyone’s top. It was an easy call for us to jump on board and celebrate the Beck family.”
Sonny Beck, who earned both a bachelor’s and master’s from Purdue University, said he wanted to give something back to the community. The 400-acre Discovery Park District, with its mix of academics, research, economic development and housing, presented an opportunity.
“Our Beck family had always thought of this historic, beautiful barn as being a great place for a restaurant as development came our way in northern Hamilton County,” Beck said in a news release. “So when PRF asked if we knew of a large old barn to put in the park, we jumped at the chance to relocate it onto the Purdue campus.”
The Lawrence is expected to open by this fall.