Phoenix may not look or feel like New York but the hot weather and lack of hustle and bustle has not stopped one local from trying his luck at running a street corner hot dog stand.
“It’s not a big moneymaker, but it’s fun,” said Joe Grant, the owner and operator of Big Daddy’s Dogs, located on the corner of East Taylor and North Second streets.
Open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the week, Big Daddy’s Dogs sells Nathan’s polish sausages and hot dogs with chips and soda, food options Grant said both local business employees and students enjoy. Grant said he estimates as much as 35 to 40 percent of his customers are students who live across the street from his stand at Taylor Place.
“What I sell is much cheaper than your lunch (at the Taylor Place dining hall),” Grant said. “I used to have a steak sandwich that the journalism school Dean (Christopher Callahan) loved.”
Grant, who previously worked as a general manager of automobile dealerships in Chicago, said he has been running his new business for about a year and a half after buying the stand off Craigslist, a Web site for classified advertising. To earn rights to the location, Grant said he had to bid on the corner in order to purchase it from the city.
Vending locations in Phoenix can “run anywhere from $500 to $10,000,” Grant said. “In New York, locations can cost as much as $100,000.”
Grant said he estimates there are about 35 vendors total in Phoenix. The city decides the spots where vendors can take up shop, noting that his location is designated by a small “33” painted in white on the sidewalk corner pavement.
“Closer to the center of town there are more vendors, and more expensive [locations] are closer to the stadiums,” Grant said.
According to Grant, Phoenix is looking at locations throughout the city to add more vendors.
Purchasing a location “is insane because you have to have a state license, a city license and a county license,” Grant said.
Despite the regulations and admittedly low revenue, Grant said he’s content knowing he’s giving customers something they want.
“In the car business, no one was happy,” Grant said. “Here, (my customers) are happy. I enjoy the heck out of this.”
Contact the reporter at dustin.volz@asu.edu
