Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs

Overview

Nathan's Famous, Inc. is an American company that operates a chain of fast food restaurants specializing in hot dogs. The original Nathan's restaurant stands at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. The company's headquarters are at One Jericho Plaza in Jericho, New York, part of Oyster Bay, New York.

Nathan's began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of co-founder Nathan Handwerker (June 14, 1892 - March 24, 1974), 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.

As of 2018, the original Nathan's hot dog stand still exists at its original 1916 site. 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. Contestants try to consume as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. Winners include Takeru Kobayashi (2001-2006), Joey Chestnut (2007-2014, 2016-2018) and Miki Sudo (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.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nathan's Famous", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0