Life handed him a lemon, so he made hot dogs. After being downsized, the former sales manager started his own street-vending business.

If you are a first-time customer, Rick Eberth rings a hand bell in your honor as you order your very first Plumpfurter, whether it be the one-quarter pound Plumpie or the one-eighth pound Plumpie Junior, from his hot dog cart set up on the sidewalk along Lincoln Avenue in Youngstown just across from Williamson Hall at Youngstown State University.

You can get as much chili and/or sauerkraut as you want as well as the traditional mustard, ketchup and onions on your dog.

“I don’t do your laundry, so you tell me when it’s done,” Eberth said to a woman customer as he loaded chili on a Plumpie.

“It’s done,” she replied.

Eberth, of Canfield, is a victim of economic downsizing.

He was national sales manager for a small electrical safety-devices company of which he is part owner, which means he essentially downsized himself.

He said he decided to buy his stainless steel hot dog cart (distinguished by a large red umbrella sticking up out of the center) after a friend bought one and raved about it.

The idea sounded so good that Eberth said he and his wife, Karen, decided to buy one of their own, making the purchase online from a small manufacturer.

The former YSU student (he attended classes here in the mid-1980s before tiring of his economics major) determined there was no better place to set up shop than at the university.

At first, he wanted to actually be on campus, but the university has a “no competition” clause with its food vendor, so he had to settle for just being next to campus.

Eberth said he secured the necessary city permits to be a street vendor and hauled his cart to Lincoln Avenue. He came up with the name Plumpfurter one evening as he thought about hot dogs and frankfurters while trying to come up with a name for his business.

He generally has a line of customers over the lunch hour, and, if the sun is shining, a number of them use the low sandstone wall behind him as a combination seat and lunch table as they devour his wares.

Eberth said he serves only Nathan’s all-beef hot dogs, a product with a very good flavor of its own.

“I had the big hot dog,” said a YSU senior from Niles who declined to give his name. He said he visits the Plumpfurter vendor “two or three times a week.”

“This is my first time,” said Jacob Thomas, a YSU senior business major from Cortland.

He said he tried the “combo” meal — a Plumpie, chips and can of pop for $3.25 — and said he planned to come back.

Maureen Wilson, an employee in YSU’s media and academic computing department, also was there for the first time on a recent sunny day. A co-worker recommended it, she said, adding that she was impressed.

“I’m not a real big hot dog fan, but she raved about it so much so I decided to try it,” Wilson said, adding that she wasn’t disappointed. “Everything was very clean. He seems like a very personable man.”

A lot of customers say it’s the best hot dog they’ve ever had, Eberth said.

He hands out a “Hot Dog Lover’s Loyalty Card,” and, for every six hot dogs you buy, you get a seventh free.

“Friday is double-punch day,” he reminds those who carry the cards.

He opened his stand last October and can generally be found on Lincoln Avenue between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“I’ve been here in the snow,” he said, adding that the only thing that keeps him away is a forecast of 90 percent chance of rain.

The business seems to be working. “I could foresee putting two or three of these around campus,” he said, noting that he has a couple of additional spots in mind but declining to identify them.

“The market is there,” he said.

When 3 p.m. rolls around, Eberth hooks his cart to the back of his car and hauls it home to Canfield.

“This is a blast,” he said during a rare lull between customers, adding that there is nothing he would rather be doing.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with people, and this is as close as it gets,” he said, turning away to wait on the next Plumpfurter customer.

original story at vindy