How Nathan's Famous turned one hot dog stand on Coney Island into a household name
- Nathan Handwerker opened Nathan's Famous hot-dog stand on Coney Island, New York, in 1916.
- That same year, he launched a hot-dog-eating contest to publicize his restaurant.
- The contest started with only a dozen people, but has turned into an internationally recognized event watched by thousands of people around the world.
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Following is a full transcript of this video.
Jake Gabbard: Quick to make and easy on the wallet, hot dogs are a fast way to a New Yorker's heart. Tons of spots cook them well, but one Coney Island icon stands high above the rest. This is Nathan's, and it's been serving New York's most legendary hot dogs since 1916.
Customer: This is the spot. This is the family spot, when you come in the summer and stuff.
Customer: Even in January, it doesn't matter. We would come to Nathan's.
Jake: We're here on Coney Island to visit Nathan's Famous hot dogs. Now, I'm super excited, 'cause I'm a bit of a hot dog enthusiast. I even have a supercool hot dog tattoo. Now, we're here in the off-season, which personally for me is my favorite time to come to Coney Island, because hopefully it'll be a little bit less crowded and we can get an awesome sneak peek at what makes Nathan's so famous.
Nathan's is iconic, if not the most iconic, hot dog in America, if not the world. And one of the most recognizable things about Nathan's is the hot-dog-eating contest on the Fourth of July. How did that get started?
Bruce Miller: Well, it's a funny story. You know, he wanted to publicize Nathan's, so you didn't have TV and radio in those days, in 1916, so you had to come up with a gimmick, and Nathan's was pretty smart. So he says: "You know what? I'm gonna conduct a hot-dog-eating contest right in front of the store." So as people were walking by, he'd say, "How many hot dogs can you eat?" It was, like, a dozen people, and then they would eat. If they ate 12 hot dogs, it was a lot.
All: Three, two, one, go!
Jake: Today, crowds pack together closely in the peak heat of summer to see competitors like Joey Chestnut funnel 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes. But before Nathan's won over Coney Islanders, there was another go-to place for fresh franks.
Legend has it that Feltman's, opened by German immigrant Charles Feltman, was the first to introduce the cheap eat to Coney Island, in 1867. But about 50 years later, one of Feltman's employees found a way to do it better.
Nathan Handwerker left Feltman's to open his own hot dog stand on the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues, using his wife's secret recipe. He sold each frank for $0.05, and customers loved it.
Customer: And I'm from Brooklyn, not from here, but I used to bring my children to the beach. And they all go: "Mommy, are we going to Nathan's? Mommy!" So, I got three kids, so I had to spend a lot of money from all those years, so Nathan owes me a free hot dog. [laughs]
Jake: Now, on a good day in the summer, how many hot dogs do you think you guys are selling?
Bruce: We sell anywhere between 4,000 to 10,000 hot dogs.
Jake: In one day?
Bruce: In one day.
Jake: [laughs] Wow.
The go-to order is an all-beef hot dog with deli mustard and sauerkraut, plus a side of salty crinkle-cut fries.
When you're eating the Nathan's hot dog, it's, like, a full-on experience. You've got the flavors, and you've got the smells, but then you've got the texture thing with the snap, where it just cracks in your mouth and just tastes so fresh and unique.
Customer: I've been coming to Nathan's for 40 years.
Customer: And I've been coming for 60 years.
Customer: You can't drive through Brooklyn without going to Nathan's.
James Walker: It's really the nucleus of the neighborhood. So, Coney Island, it really in many ways is Nathan's, and Nathan's, for many years, was Coney Island. So what started as a small hot dog stand now encompasses an entire city block behind us, so it's hard to miss. It really is that tent pole to Coney Island.
Jake: Nathan's roots are deep in Coney Island, but its name is known across the world. The once small stand can now be found at 58,000 stores in over 10 different countries, and still, locals and tourists seek out the original.
Customer: We are from France. We're here at Nathan's because it's the king of hot dog. It's excellent.
Jake: It's, like, quintessential New York. When you move to New York, you feel you don't fit in, or you come to New York, it's very overwhelming, it's very loud, there's a lot of, like, crazy sights, and there's something about just, like, the New York hot dog that makes you feel like you're a part of it, so, like, every time I come out here I feel like I'm not just this kid from the Midwest, I'm like, I'm a New Yorker now. It makes me feel like I fit in. This is what people have been eating here for 100 years.
Bruce: Yeah, it's all about the history. It's the longevity. You know, it's the community. It's the loyal customer base. Almost like a cult that we have that follows us, but that's what it's about. That's what made Nathan's famous.
Customer: I love it.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published in October 2019.