Video: St. Louis’ Best Hot Dog of 2009

I’ve seen the Frank’s N Brats stand outside Busch Stadium when I go see the Cards play, but I’ve never stopped. Something I need to do, especially now that they are the best in town!

I ran across the following story in the Riverfront Times, a St. Louis news blog. There’s a great marketing hook in there that could make you huge money, so pay attention…

Busch Stadium sells more nachos — 120,000 pounds of chips and 32,000 gallons of cheese sauce a year — than any other ballpark in baseball. This gut-busting statistic can probably be attributed to the fact that the hot dogs available inside the stadium are overpriced and underwhelming.

Luckily for the city’s hungry baseball fans, Frank Merrins has his hot-dog stand on the corner of Clark Street and South Broadway. (When it’s not baseball season, he can be found on the riverfront near the Arch.)

Frank, the silver-haired mustachioed guy behind the grill, sells all his items to go in brown paper bags that are allowed inside the stadium. Try the frank, the owner’s namesake, an eight-inch wiener grilled to perfection and laid on a bed of grilled onions.

It’s a darn good dog, and at a mere $2 (or $3 if you want a brat) it’s a darn sight cheaper than what you’ll find on the other side of Busch’s gates.

RFT

11 thoughts on “Video: St. Louis’ Best Hot Dog of 2009”

  1. Way to go Frank! I love your cart, who makes it? Excellent video. Thanks Steve for your constant and consistant work on encouraging the venders and dreamers of the hot dog cart business. I look forward to your every email. Thanks again for your encouragement.

    Chuck

  2. hello everyone, i’m a man who is experiencing money problems because of hours being cutback at work. 4 the last 2 years my brother has been trying 2 convince me 2 buy a hotdog vendorcart. is their someone in the rochester, n.y. area that can give me advise on purchasing 1. please email me. all advise welcome. Thank You.

  3. This cart looks like a converted popup camper. If thats the case, its a brilliant idea. I see dead ones for cheap all the time on Craigslist. Hey Frank where did you get the cart, or did you build it?

  4. I too would love to know more about the cart – Steve, maybe you could get us more pictures directly from the guy and do an interview of him explaining how he converted the camper?

  5. Mike,

    Vienna Beef (I’m a biased Chicago boy)
    Nathans
    Sabbretts
    Red Hot Chicago (again, Chi – town bias)
    Hebrew National

    And a special mention to Applegate Farms organic hot dogs and sausages. A very high quality product that would set you apart from the competition.

    I’ve been trying to get an interview with them.

    Everyone – help me out here…

    Call Applegate farms at 215-431-4932 and ask for Gina.

    Tell her that you would love to hear an Applegate Farms interview with Steve on Hot Dog Cart Radio.

    Let’s see if we can make this happen 😉

    Come to think of it, I’m going to post this request in the next article!

    -Steve

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