House of Doggs will open today in the Grand Traverse Mall, champions of "Food Court Wars" on national television last night.

Nick and Autumn McAllister, the owners, were declared the winning team in the reality television competition series hosted by celebrity chef Tyler Florence on the Food Network. The couple beat out local rival team Matts' Beignets – comprised of Dockside Party Store owner Matt Hunter and friend and fellow foodie Matt Fitzsimons – for the show's top prize of a rent-free spot in the mall's food court for one year.

“It was fun but challenging,” Nick tells The Ticker of the shoot. “We felt like we represented our food well. We were able to roll with the pressure because we've had experience being slammed...we knew if we were prepared and could (react) fast during challenges, we'd be in a good spot.”

The shoot for the show, which took place last November in multiple Traverse City locations (including Grand Traverse Mall, 7 Monks Taproom, Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel and Forty-Five North Vineyard & Winery), consisted of five grueling 12+-hour days for the contestants. In the show's final challenge, the teams served up their wares to several hundred attendees at the mall's food court. Attendees were given tokens with which to buy food items from either or both stands, with the team collecting the most tokens crowned the winner.

While House of Doggs served up new or modified versions of their restaurant's classic hot dogs – including the Fusion, Slaw Dog and Broccoli Cheese Dog – Matts' Beignets opted to go the sweet route, offering original, banana split and forest cake beignets (a popular French pastry). Hunter, who previously served the dessert at his former Soul Hole restaurant in downtown TC, says he thought the treats were “different than anything else at the mall and a financially viable concept,” but acknowledged running into production difficulties in the final challenge.

“Making everything from scratch was a hindrance compared to battling a team that wasn't, so we really had to hustle,” says Hunter. “We were so deeply in the weeds, I think I only looked up five times. But the response (from attendees) was fantastic...we heard a lot of positive feedback.”

Even though his team ultimately lost, Hunter says the experience was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and that he doesn't regret anything about participating. “I'm glad I did it no matter what,” he says. “We had a great time. It was a roller coaster ride of foodie fun.”

As for Nick – who, like Hunter, has known the outcome of the competition since November but was prohibited from publicly discussing it due to confidentiality contracts – opening a second Traverse City location means an opportunity to expand his brand and offset some of the operational challenges posed by his downtown eatery.

“Winning means year-round accessibility, because there's so much parking at the mall compared to downtown,” explains Nick, who has secretly been setting up his new space in the Grand Traverse Mall over the weekend and will officially open today. “We're busy downtown in the summer, but it's slow during the school year. This will let me shift my employees from place to place and benefit from our (seasonal) economy on both the tourist and local end.”

“We want to do everything we can to make (House of Doggs) successful,” Nick adds. “That's what we're hoping the mall location will let us do.”