Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

s specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

neighborhood of the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. The company's headquarters are at One Jericho Plaza in

Jericho, New York Jericho is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island, approximately 29 miles (47 km) east of Midtown Manhattan. Its population was 13,567 as of the U.S. 2010 Cen ...

, part of

Oyster Bay, New York The Town of Oyster Bay is the easternmost of the three towns which make up Nassau County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is the only town in Nassau County to extend from the North Shore to the South Shor ...

History

Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of its co-founder

Nathan Handwerker Nathan Handwerker (June 14, 1892 – March 24, 1974)Nathan Handwerker
at the United States

(1892 – 1974),Nathan Handwerker
at the United States

Social Security Death Index The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Master File has been via the Limit ...

via FamilySearch.org. Retrieved on July 24, 2015 Abstract of subscription article. who started the business with his wife, Ida Handwerker, née Greenwald. Ida created the hot dog recipe they used, and Ida's grandmother created the secret spice recipe. 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 horsemeat. Handwerker was a Jewish-Polish immigrant who arrived in

in 1912 and soon found work at the

, restaurant Feltman's German Gardens. By one account, he was encouraged by singing waiters

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences ...

and

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

to go into business in competition with Feltman's; as

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 2 ...

noted in 1974, "There are many stories about Nathan and how the business began, but this is the way he told it..." The company's official history does not mention the future stars' encouragement. Nathan and Ida spent their life savings of $300 (worth about $7,000 as of May 2018, accounting for inflation) to begin the business. Handwerker undercut Feltman's by charging five cents for a hot dog when his former employer was charging 10 cents. 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. The business proved immensely popular. The expansion of the chain was overseen by Nathan Handwerker's son,

Murray Handwerker Murray Handwerker (July 25, 1921 – May 14, 2011) 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 N ...

. 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, the year the company went public. All locations were sold by the Handwerker family to a group of private investors in 1987, 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 Kenny Rogers Roasters is a chain of chicken-based restaurants founded in 1991 by country musician Kenny Rogers and former KFC CEO John Y. Brown Jr., who was a former governor of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Brown had been an early investor in Ken ...

and Miami Subs Grill, both of which were later divested. , the company consisted of 24 company-owned units, 380 franchised or licensed units and more than 1,400 stores in 50 states,

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, the District of Columbia, and 17 foreign countries, including Kandahar Airfield,

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. One unit was lost due to the collapse of 2 World Trade Center in the

9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

. International

master franchise A master franchise is a franchise relationship in which the owner of the franchise brand (the master franchisor) grants to another party the right to recruit new franchisees in a specific area. In exchange, the other party typically pays some pric ...

agreements were signed (''circa'' 2006) with Egypt and Israel. The company also owns the exclusive co-branding rights to the Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips chain. On March 28, 2017, it was announced that Nathan's Famous had reached a sponsorship deal with

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

, allowing the company to market itself as the official hot dog brand of the league. While Nathan's is already the official hot dog brand of the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major lea ...

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one ...

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...

, 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. Nathan's hotdogs are primarily manufactured by Smithfield Foods, a subsidiary of China's WH Group. In 2002,

Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., is an American multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportation rentals. Home Depot is the largest home improvement re ...

and Nathan's terminated a co-locating partnership which offered Nathan's space within certain Home Depot stores in New York.

Original location

, the original Nathan's hot dog stand still exists at its original 1916 site. 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 Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

. The shop re-opened six months later, on May 21, despite a small fire on May 4, 2013. 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.

Hot dog eating contest

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 Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

." Contestants try to consume as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. Winners include

Takeru Kobayashi , also known as Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, is a Japanese competitive eater. Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", Kobayashi is a six-time champion of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and is widely credited with popularizing the spor ...

(2001–2006),

Joey Chestnut Joseph Christian Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is an American competitive eater. As of 2022, he is ranked first in the world by Major League Eating. He is a California native and resides in Westfield, Indiana. Chestnut's height is ; his wei ...

(2007–2014, 2016–2022) and

Miki Sudo Miki Sudo (born ) is an American competitive eater. She won the women's competition at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every year from 2014 to 2020, unseating Sonya Thomas, who had won the women's competition since its inception in 2011. S ...

(women's 2014–2018). 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. In 2018, Chestnut consumed 74 hot dogs and buns for a new world record.

References

External links

*
A tribute to Nathan's in Oceanside, New YorkSol Handwerker Interview - Nathan's son recounts growing up in the family business - conducted: August 1 2007 by Coney Island History ProjectOral History of Nathan's Famous - CIHP
{{Authority control 1916 establishments in New York City Brand name hot dogs Companies based in Nassau County, New York Companies listed on the Nasdaq Coney Island Fast-food chains of the United States Hot dog restaurants Jews and Judaism in Brooklyn Kosher style Oyster Bay (town), New York Restaurants established in 1916 Restaurants in Brooklyn

History

Original location

Hot dog eating contest

See also

References

Further reading

External links