The Daily Populous Sunday May 23rd, 2021 evening edition
Authored by stevepomeranz.com and submitted by 02K30C1

With William Handwerker, Grandson of Nathan Handwerker, Author of Nathan’s Famous: The First 100 Years, An Unauthorized View of America’s Favorite Frankfurter Company

A hundred years after its founding, the most famous hot dog stand in the country, Nathan’s Famous, is still one of the best.

Nathan’s grandson, Bill Handwerker has penned a new book, Nathan’s Famous: The First 100 Years, An Unauthorized View of America’s Favorite Frankfurter Company. In it, he walks us through the history of this iconic hot dog company and the many challenges it had to overcome along the way.

Nathan’s Famous was founded by Polish immigrant, Nathan Handwerker, in 1916. In 1912, Nathan Handwerker was part of the European immigrant wave that swept into the U.S. in 1912. When he arrived, Nathan did not know how to speak, read, or write in English. Ill-equipped to make a living in his new adopted land, Nathan opened a food stand on Brooklyn’s Coney Island. The stand served French fries, malted milkshakes, and frankfurters. This was traditional fare offered by everyone else along the busy stretch of Coney Island. The competition was intense.

So what made Nathan’s Famous go on to become a household name?— entrepreneurial ingenuity and the willingness to take on risk.

While everyone sold hot dogs for ten cents apiece, Nathan boldly slashed his price to five cents. His competitors were livid and slandered the quality of his hot dogs. To overcome that misperception, Nathan reacted with the spirit of a pioneer American entrepreneur. He hired a few people, dressed them up as doctors—complete with white coats and stethoscopes—and got them to regularly eat at his stand.

When customers saw these “doctors” eating Nathan’s five-cent hot dogs, they figured the product was healthy enough for them too. Sales boomed, and Nathan’s was on its way to becoming the iconic brand we know today.

In Nathan’s Famous, Bill writes that it wasn’t exactly a straight path to success. As in most longtime businesses, there were ups and downs. Nathan concentrated on combining quick service and quality food, and that was the key to his success.

When Bill’s own father came back from World War II, he recognized that a simple stand on Coney Island couldn’t sustain their growing family. With returning GIs moving out of Brooklyn to Long Island and beyond, a second store made sense. So Bill’s father convinced Nathan’s to join the mass migration to the suburbs. That led to the second Nathan’s Famous store location, on Long Island.

Steve sees a parallel between Nathan’s Famous GI-driven growth and luxury brand Gucci’s expansion. In Gucci’s case, the founder, Guccio Gucci, focused just on the local Florence market. Then, when his son, Aldo Gucci, returned from the war, he urged his father to expand.

By the time Bill Handwerker joined his grandfather’s business, Nathan’s Famous had expanded into supermarkets with packaged frankfurters. This was a shrewd move. It fit well with the nation’s demand for quality packaged foods and boosted sales.

But Bill needed more to truly break out. So he hired a two-person public relations team. The team was made up of Morty Matz and Max Rosey. Matz and Rosey did PR for Hess’s Department Store at the time, where they had run a successful doughnut eating competition. For Nathan’s, they sponsored a hot dog eating contest also at Hess’s. The competition was wildly successful, and Nathan’s Famous had won a major PR victory.

Nathan’s business was growing slowly and steadily. But, in 1975, the company made a strategic mistake. It acquired the Wetson’s chain of hamburger fast food outlets in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. But Wetson’s had a problem. They had over-expanded and set up Wetson’s restaurants in less than prime locations.

It would take several painful years to unwind its negative effects. Nathan’s survived this setback through a lot of hard work and an uncompromising dedication to quality and service.

Today, Nathan’s Famous is no longer family-owned but still produces some of our nation’s best hot dogs. Nathan Handwerker’s legacy and his iconic brand live on as a true American success story.

Disclosure: The opinions expressed are those of the interviewee and not necessarily of the radio show. Interviewee is not a representative of the radio show. Investing involves risk and investors should carefully consider their own investment objectives and never rely on any single chart, graph or marketing piece to make decisions. Content provided is intended for informational purposes only, is not a recommendation to buy or sell any securities, and should not be considered tax, legal, investment advice. Please contact your tax, legal, financial professional with questions about your specific needs and circumstances. The information contained herein was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however their accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. All data are driven from publicly available information and has not been independently verified by the radio show.

sdsanth on May 23rd, 2021 at 01:08 UTC »

> While everyone sold hot dogs for ten cents apiece, Nathan boldly slashed his price to five cents. His competitors were livid and slandered the quality of his hot dogs. To overcome that misperception, Nathan reacted with the spirit of a pioneer American entrepreneur. He hired a few people, dressed them up as doctors—complete with white coats and stethoscopes—and got them to regularly eat at his stand. When customers saw these “doctors” eating Nathan’s five-cent hot dogs, they figured the product was healthy enough for them too.

Genius! Nathan Handwreker, the founder of Nathan's famous hotdogs, was a Polish immigrant and he didn't know how to speak or write English when he arrived in US.

Edit:- His name is Nathan Handwerker.

Harmonica655321 on May 23rd, 2021 at 00:16 UTC »

...damn, I want a hotdog now🙁

1313_Mockingbird_Ln on May 22nd, 2021 at 23:42 UTC »

I listened to Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! on NPR today, too. Or was it Ask Me Another? Can't remember.