The Untold Truth Of Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs
The story of Nathan's Famous hot dogs is one of American entrepreneurial spirit, with some pretty weird marketing gimmicks thrown in for good measure. From hot dog-loving gangsters to dead whales and secret recipes, here's everything you didn't know about these famous franks.
Hot dogs might not exactly be expensive food, but when they're being sold for next to nothing, people tend to raise eyebrows. At least that was the case when Nathan Handwerker launched his hot dog business way back in 1916.
Handwerker was working in Coney Island at the upscale eatery Feltman's, and they sold their hot dogs for 10 cents. After being persuaded to strike out on his own and sell a frank made with his own recipe, Handwerker launched his hot dog stand with the weiners being sold for 10 cents as well, though they were quickly slashed to just five cents. Perhaps unsurprisingly, crowds were suspicious as to why these hot dogs were so much cheaper than Feltman's.
To get people on board with the five-cent franks, Handwerker hired men in white jackets to hang around his stand and eat hot dogs. People believed the men were doctors from the nearby Coney Island Hospital, and soon began buying the nickel franks. The gimmick made people think that if these cheap hot dogs were good enough for doctors, than they must be all right to eat.
When Nathan's celebrated its 100th anniversary, they had five-cent hot dogs once again, though no fake doctors were needed to sell them this time.
Nathan Handwerker never claimed to be the inventor of the hot dog. That uniquely American food is generally attributed to Handwerker's former employer Charles Feltman. Nathan Handwerker's hot dog stand may be what New Yorkers instantly think of when somebody mentions a Coney dog, but it's something entirely different to people in Michigan, and the rest of the Midwest.
In Michigan, Coney Island has little to do with New York, but instead is a reference to the hundreds of diners across the state that serve Greek food and hot dogs smothered with chili, onions, and mustard. To them, that's the Coney Island dog or Coney dog.
So how did the name Coney Island hot dog come to prominence in Michigan of all places? Well, at the turn of the 19th-century when Greek immigrants came to the United States, many of them passed through New York and visited Coney Island before moving westward.
These immigrants took the hot dog, added chili and dubbed it the Coney Island dog. It wasn't long before diners popped up in Detroit with names like the iconic Lafayette Coney Island and American Coney Island grills.
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Low prices raised suspicion | 0:19
They didn't invent the Coney Island dog | 1:18
The recipe is largely unchanged | 2:17
That contest started as a patriotic event | 3:16
The contest draws over a million viewers | 4:06
From gangsters to presidents | 5:04
Thanks to the New York City subway | 5:57
The most bizarre promotion ever | 6:42
80,000 glasses of beer | 7:52
They've sued copycats | 8:42