United States, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates[1]
Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of its co-founder Nathan Handwerker (1892–1974),[4][5] who started the business with his wife, Ida Handwerker, née Greenwald.[5][6][7] Ida created the hot dog recipe they used, and Ida's grandmother created the secret spice recipe.[6] Because Nathan's Famous all-beef hot dogs lacked rabbinic supervision and the meat wasn't kosher, Handwerker coined the term "kosher style" because the hot dogs were not made from pork or horse meat.[8][9]
Handwerker was a Jewish-Polish immigrant who arrived in New York City in 1912[5] and soon found work at the Coney Island, Brooklyn, restaurant Feltman's German Gardens.[10] By one account, he was encouraged by singing waiters Eddie Cantor and Jimmy Durante to go into business in competition with Feltman's; as United Press International noted in 1974, "There are many stories about Nathan and how the business began, but this is the way he told it..."[10] The company's official history does not mention the future stars' encouragement.[6] Nathan and Ida spent their life savings of $300 (worth about $7,000 as of May 2018, accounting for inflation) to begin the business.[5]
Handwerker undercut Feltman's by charging five cents for a hot dog when his former employer was charging 10 cents.[10] At a time when food regulation was in its infancy and the pedigree of the hot dog particularly suspect, Handwerker ensured that men wearing surgeon's smocks were seen eating at his stand to reassure potential customers.[11] The business proved immensely popular.[12]
The expansion of the chain was overseen by Nathan Handwerker's son, Murray Handwerker.[7][13] A second branch on Long Beach Road in Oceanside, New York, opened in 1959, and another debuted in Yonkers, New York, in 1965. Murray Handwerker was named the president of Nathan's Famous in 1968,[13] the year the company went public.[7]
All locations were sold by the Handwerker family to a group of private investors in 1987,[13] at which point Nathan's was franchised and a great number of establishments were opened around New York City and beyond. In the 1990s, the company acquired Kenny Rogers Roasters and Miami Subs Grill, both of which were later divested.[citation needed]
On March 28, 2017, it was announced that Nathan's Famous had reached a sponsorship deal with Major League Baseball, allowing the company to market itself as the official hot dog brand of the league. While Nathan's was already the official hot dog brand of the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Miami Marlins, and St. Louis Cardinals (the sponsorship does not restrict teams from making similar deals with competitors), the deal marked the first time that Major League Baseball had named an official hot dog sponsor.[16]
Nathan's hot dogs are primarily manufactured by Smithfield Foods,[17] a subsidiary of China's WH Group. Nathan's Hot Dogs can also be found in stores for retail sale, usually in the lunch meat aisle.
In 2002, Home Depot and Nathan's terminated a co-locating partnership which offered Nathan's space within certain Home Depot stores in New York.[18]
Original location
Nathan's Famous smaller location on Riegelmann Boardwalk
As of 2023[update], the original Nathan's hot dog stand still exists at its original 1916 site.[19][bettersourceneeded] Having been open for business every day, 365 days a year, the stand was forced to close on October 29, 2012, due to Hurricane Sandy. The shop re-opened six months later, on May 21,[20][21] despite a small fire on May 4, 2013.[22] Service is provided year-round inside, and during the summer additional walk-up windows are opened to serve the larger seasonal crowds. The original location still features fried frog legs, which have been a Nathan's menu item since the 1950s. It is not offered at any other Nathan's locations. Nathan's also operates a second, smaller location nearby on the Coney Island boardwalk.
The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest has been held annually at the original location on Coney Island since the early 1970s on the 4th of July.[23] Contestants try to consume as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. Winners include Takeru Kobayashi (2001–2006), Joey Chestnut (2007–2014, 2016–2023) and Miki Sudo (women's 2014–2018).[24] In 2008, Chestnut tied Kobayashi after eating 59 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The tie resulted in a five hot dog eat-off, which Chestnut won by consuming all five before Kobayashi.[25] In 2018, Chestnut consumed 74 hot dogs and buns for a new world record.[26]
Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi is a Japanese competitive eater. Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", he is a six-time Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest champion and widely credited with popularizing the sport.
A hot dog is a dish consisting of a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener or a frankfurter. The names of these sausages commonly refer to their assembled dish. Hot dog preparation and condiments vary worldwide. Typical condiments include mustard, ketchup, relish, onions in tomato sauce, and cheese sauce. Other toppings include sauerkraut, diced onions, jalapeños, chili, grated cheese, coleslaw, bacon and olives. Hot dog variants include the corn dog and pigs in a blanket. The hot dog's cultural traditions include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.
The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition. It is held each year on July 4 at Nathan's Famous' original, and best-known, restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.
Competitive eating, or speed eating, is a sport in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions can last up to thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being declared the winner. Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where organized professional eating contests often offer prizes, including cash.
A Coney Island is a type of restaurant that is popular in the northern United States, particularly in Michigan, named after the Coney Island hot dog.
Tony Packo's Cafe is a restaurant that started in the Hungarian neighborhood of Birmingham, on the east side of Toledo, Ohio, at 1902 Front Street.
A Coney Island hot dog, Coney dog, or Coney is a hot dog in a bun topped with a savory meat sauce and sometimes other toppings. It is often offered as part of a menu of classic American diner dishes and often at Coney Island restaurants. It is largely a phenomenon related to immigration from Greece and the region of Macedonia to the United States in the early 20th century.
A hot dog bun is a type of soft bun shaped specifically to contain a hot dog or another type of sausage.
Joseph Christian Chestnut is an American competitive eater. As of 2024, he is ranked first in the world by Major League Eating.
Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti is an American competitive eater from Chicago. He takes part in a variety of different eating competitions—notable wins include the 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and the first-ever world poutine eating competition in Toronto. He also holds numerous world records, including the most milk consumed in an hour.
A hot dog stand is a business that sells hot dogs, usually from an external counter. Hot dog stands can be located on a public thoroughfare, near a sports stadium, in a shopping mall, or at a fair. They are often found on the streets of major American cities. According to one report, some hot dog stands are paying up to $80,000 in rent for prime locations in Manhattan.
Different areas of the world have local variations on the hot dog, in the type of meat used, the condiments added, and its means of preparation.
Nathan Handwerker was the founder of an iconic hot dog stand that evolved into Nathan's Famous restaurants and related Nathan's retail product line. An immigrant from Poland, he and his wife Ida used $300 to start their business on Coney Island in 1916. As of 2016, Nathan's operates over 400 company owned and franchised restaurants in all 50 states and 17 foreign countries, and Nathan's brand products are found in some 45,000 stores across the United States.
Big Daddy's Restaurants was a chain of restaurants founded in 1964 on Coney Island Avenue in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn serving a myriad of food types ranging from European to Asian inspired dishes. In an article dated April 8, 1990 in the Miami Herald, Napp was looking to make a comeback with the Big Daddy's name by opening a location on Washington Avenue in Miami Beach. Napp died in November 1990, theoretically ending chances of revival.
Murray Handwerker was an American businessman who expanded Nathan's Famous, a fast food restaurant specializing in hot dogs, from a family-owned hot dog stand to a nationally franchised chain. The original Nathan's Famous hot dog stand was opened in Coney Island, Brooklyn, by Handwerker's father, Nathan Handwerker, in 1916.
Charles Feltman (1841–1910) was a German-American restaurateur. He is one of several claimed inventors of the hot dog. In 1871, Feltman began building his restaurant complex. It achieved its heyday in the 1920s, serving nearly 5,250,000 people a year, being a large restaurant complex with several restaurants, two bars, a beer garden, a famous carousel, and other attractions, and offering many types of food beyond hot dogs.
Carmen Cincotti is an American competitive eater and holder of multiple records in Major League Eating, who earned $10,000 for his second-place finish in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2017 in which he ate 60 hot dogs in ten minutes, twelve fewer than repeat champion Joey Chestnut. From August 2018 to June 2019, he was ranked number two in Major League Eating.
Nick's Famous Coney Island is a dive bar and restaurant in Portland, Oregon, United States.
Zach's Shack is a dive bar and hot dog restaurant in Portland, Oregon.
↑ "Contact Us"Archived October 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine . Nathan's Famous. Retrieved December 17, 2011. "Nathan's Famous Executive Offices One Jericho Plaza Second Floor– Wing A Jericho, New York 11753".
↑ "Chestnut Beats Kobayashi in OT". Major League Eating & International Federation of Competitive Eating. Archived from the original on July 13, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
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US$103.325 million (FY 2020) [2] 
US$27.172 million (FY 2020) [2] 
