NOT YOUR AVERAGE DOGS
In 1979, Diane Phillips opened D.A.D.’s Hot Dogs, originally named Dok Shoons at the time. Diane and her business partner Denise are the names and faces of D.A.D.’s (Diane and Denise) Hot Dogs. Celebrating now 40 years later, Diane proclaims that “to make a business work you need a great product, a great location, great customer service and great customers. I am happy to say we have all those things”.
What separates D.A.D.’s Hot Dogs from others, are the quality ingredients that go into the hot dogs. These gourmet hot dogs are custom made from the bay area with half the fat and fewer preservatives than any other hot dog found at the grocery store. This is why Diane still eats her favorite chili dogs and takes some home to her 86-year-old father to this day.
D.A.D.’s Hot Dogs is a small business that thrives off customer service. “This job is fun because I like talking to people [and] being small is actually good because you get to be one on one with people,” Diane says. She knows people have bad days and instead of kicking out a customer for being rude, she tries to work around them and see things from their perspective.
40 years later, Diane is in the same location, with only a few small upgrades—like a credit card machine—as the day she started. Their newest update being an air fryer, which makes her corn dogs crispier and healthier by using hot air instead of oil.
When asked what the next 40 years of D.A.D.’s Hot Dogs are going to look like, Diane jokes, “well I can’t see that far, I’m looking at the next five, but I’m not ready to retire quite yet.”