Something to Relish
Today marks not just the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, it’s also the biggest hot dog day of the year.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council claims that the all-American hot dog is the most popular food for backyard Fourth of July barbecues around the nation.
Lynn Constantino, who sells hot dog vendor carts on the Internet, believes the hype.
“This is our biggest shipping week of the year,” said Constantino, whose upstate New York-based business has grown 300% since 1997 through Internet sales. “Everyone wants their cart by the Fourth of July.”
But although Independence Day may be the high holiday for the hot dog, wieners are actually big business in the San Fernando Valley all year. The longtime giant in the Valley’s hot dog business is Cupid’s, started in 1946 by the late Richard F. Walsh and his family.
His son, Rick Walsh, is still running the hot dog empire, including Cupid’s in Van Nuys, Canoga Park, Northridge and Simi Valley. Friends of the Walsh family own a Cupid’s in Chatsworth; and new Cupid’s, owned by franchisees, have opened recently in Encino and Tarzana.
Walsh says selling hot dogs is a tough business and he is able to make it work only because he owns the land where the businesses sit.
“In the old days it was a whole lot different. We had no competition from McDonald’s or Taco Bell,” said Walsh, who took over the business after his father died in 1980. “It’s hard for us to compete with this 99-cent hamburger stuff. It’s quite an effort to stay alive. You have to sell a lot of hot dogs.”
But the Cupid’s name has a cachet in the Valley, and Walsh is hoping more franchises will open.
“Pink’s is the West Hollywood hot dog. We’re the West Valley hot dog,” Walsh said.
Although most Cupid’s are just tiny hot dogs stands, the Encino site is the first to add ice cream, manager Guy Kochlani said. Future franchises will be modeled along the same lines.
“We’re trying to make a name for ourselves in the fast-food business,” Kochlani said.
At one time, Cupid’s had competition from Law Dogs, the brainchild of lawyer Kim H. Pearman. He opened six Law Dogs, offering free legal advice to patrons along with their frankfurters.
Today, only one Law Dogs is left--at Sherman Way and Hazeltine Avenue in Van Nuys. The free legal advice is available Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m.
“We’re attorneys. We’re not restaurant managers,” said Robert Pearman, the owner’s son, who says the sole surviving Law Dogs just breaks even.
Although the owners of Cupid’s and Law Dogs declined to talk about profits, hot dogs are a major industry.
According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, frankfurter companies had revenues of $1.5 billion last year, selling 840 million hot dogs.
“It’s the most popular convenient food,” said James Ratchford, a spokesman for the council.
The council also lists the Dodger Dog as a champion, of sorts. According to a poll done by the council, Dodger Stadium sells more hot dogs annually than any other baseball stadium.
Constantine, the Internet entrepreneur, thinks hot dogs are getting even more popular.
She and her husband, Mike, have had to move their manufacturing plant three times in three years to get enough space to cope with the demand for new vendor carts.
“A lot of people are quitting their jobs to sell hot dogs. On a good day, you can make $500 to $600 gross,” Constantine said. “In New York, hot dogs are an old classic. Now the rest of the country is catching on.”
Walsh said he hopes the Cupid’s name will survive through franchising.
He also is committed to keeping his family’s original hot dog stands in business.
“I hope to keep it going,” Walsh said. “In the Valley, we’ve been the standard for the hot dog customer for the last 40 years.”
