Woody's Chicago Style is a franchise

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced Hot dog bun, bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausag ...

company based in the

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, area, serving

Chicago-style hot dog A Chicago-style hot dog, Chicago Dog, or Chicago Red Hot is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originating from the city of Chicago, Illinois. The hot dog is topped with yellow mustard, chopped white onions, bright green sweet pick ...

s. Woody's was started by the Meyer family in 1987 in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii, as a special events concession company. The family of five would do various events ranging from "Family Sunday" at the Bishop Museum to Super Bowl Sunday at the home of known public figures, catering event at the famous ''

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'' house and UH football games, including the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Since their inception, Woody's has constantly worked on doing more with less. In the early 1990s, Woody's started a few regular locations around the island. These locations included the Bishop Museum,

Dole Food Company Dole plc (previously named Dole Food Company, Standard Fruit Company) is an Irish agricultural multinational corporation headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. The company is among the world's largest producers of fruit and vegetables, operating wit ...

, Dole Pineapple Cannery, Pay-N-Pak, Scofield, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, Camp Smith, Tripler Hospital, Hawaii Maritime Museum, Waikiki and Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. Within a few years, the blossoming relationship with Pay n Pac's Home Improvement Warehouse allowed Woody's the opportunity to open a concession at the newest hardware concept,

Eagle Hardware & Garden Eagle is the common name for many large Bird of prey, birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Ou ...

. Within a year, Eagle offered Woody's the rights to open franchises in new stores in Colorado, California,

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. Hawaii is still remembered as one of Woody's most recognized market. In 1998, Eagle Hardware was purchased by the hardware mega-giant Lowe's. After the purchase, Lowe's approached Woody's about providing service to as many of their stores as possible. Locations opened from Hawaii to North Carolina. Woody's transitioned their name upon their growth on the Mainland to Woody's Chicago Style and the corporate office was then moved in 2000 to Morrison Colorado and then finally to their own facility in 2009 to Lakewood, Colorado. Woody's has had a drastic decline in franchised locations in the last five years due to the economic recession. Poor leadership can also be considered a contributing factor. In an email sent to a former franchisee following their declared bankruptcy in 2005 co-founder Coe D. Meyer stated "your foolish people to think you can just walk away from a franchisee commitment with no recourse" while later saying "I suggest you retain an attorney as you are going to need one" after earlier threatening wage garnishment. In a 2002 article Coe D. Meyer said average pre-tax revenue of their hot dog stands could reach "$150,000 a year" then continued to mention one that would be reaching "$300,000 that year" as well. In 2018, nearly all of their locations are closed, peaking at 86 after stating on their website Lowe's "awarded 300 to developing stores in the west" in the early 2000s.

External links

* {{Official website, www.woodyschicagostyle.com Hot dog restaurants in the United States Restaurants established in 1987 Restaurants disestablished in 2018 Companies based in Lakewood, Colorado 1987 establishments in Hawaii 2018 disestablishments in Colorado