The New York City Hot Dog Company, founded a year ago by former Assembly Member Robert Straniere, his wife Ruth, and three sons—Ken, Bret and Jeffrey—offers 14 varieties of hot dogs and 40 possible toppings.


In a city with thousands of post-political career stories, not many of them involve bison hot dogs.

Former Assembly Member Robert Straniere's (R-Staten Island) does. A lot of them. And not just bison dogs, but Kobe beef dogs, organic nitrate-free dogs, soy dogs, chicken dogs, turkey dogs and, soon, duck and venison dogs.   

Those are some of the menu items at the New York City Hot Dog Company, which was founded in 2007 by Straniere, his wife Ruth, and three sons, Ken, Bret and Jeffrey. All of the Stranieres play a central role in business operations in a company which, now celebrating its one-year anniversary, has grown to have a staff of 11.     

Journeying from politician to hot dog entrepreneur was not the original plan. After 24 years in Albany, Straniere's Assembly career was cut short in 2004, when he lost the primary to Vincent Ignizio, who was backed by several Republican elders on Staten Island.

Nonetheless, Straniere said he welcomed the change.

“It was time for a new career,” he said.

Ironically, the idea for what would become the New York City Hot Dog Company originated half a world away from its namesake city.

“I was sitting in Peking on Christmas Eve of 2004 eating Peking duck with some Hong Kong businessmen,” Straniere recalled recently in the company’s store on Chambers Street in Tribeca. “And I asked them, ‘What can I bring to China from America?’ And they said, ‘American hot dogs.’”

So Straniere boarded a plane at 8 o'clock that night and flew from Beijing to Los Angeles. There, he brought his family together and promptly announced that they were going to introduce hot dogs to China. 

As the idea developed, however, they decided that a more prudent plan would be to try their business plan on the streets of Manhattan before heading to more exotic locales. But in a city awash in hot dog eateries, the question immediately became how to set the company apart.

“From the beginning, we wanted it to be a destination place that we could build into a national hot dog-centered company,” Straniere said. “We weren't going to have these skinny hot dogs where you don’t even know what they’re made of, and we also wanted to be responsive to healthy choices for customers.”

The emphasis on health drives the menu, with healthy options accounting for more than 40 percent of the company's sales. With 14 varieties of hot dogs currently offered, and a goal of adding two more by the fall, only one is a variation on your standard high-fat beef hot dog. And while that one remains the top seller, Straniere says, it is not by much.
Not only are Straniere's hot dogs unconventional. The toppings are, too. Of the more than 40 varieties available, rarities like mac 'n cheese, plum sauce, and apricot chipotle mustard stand out as the most unexpected.

Straniere said his long-term goal was to have stores in all five boroughs, but more immediately he is negotiating with the city to get permits for hot dog carts on the street.

“This is almost like a legislative cause,” he said of the effort to get the fleet in action.

Straniere added that in negotiations with the city, he hoped officials would see the company's menu as consistent with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (Ind.) emphasis on healthier food options.

“This is a product people are eating every day,” he said. “They can have the same product but it will be better for them.”

While the company’s focus is on New York City for now, Straniere said he still sees the possibility of a global presence.
Indeed, after Time Out New York rated theirs the best Kobe beef dog in the city, the New York City Hot Dog Company found itself live on Japanese television. 

Founded by a politician and located a few blocks from City Hall, the store sees its fair share of political clientele, perhaps giving it a chance to become the Capitol Grille of hot dog destinations. 

“We do have regulars, but some may not want their wives knowing they're eating hot dogs,” Straniere said, declining to name specific politicos who haunt the shop. “We have a lot of well-known people who come in here, and a lot of friends of mine through politics come in.” 

His political background not only provided a base of customers, Straniere said, but also provided the perfect training for getting the New York City Hot Dog Company off the ground.

“You get an idea for a legislative bill and you try and sell it,” he said of his Assembly experience. “It's the dynamic of that process that is not unlike trying to develop the concept of a hot dog-centric series of stores.” 

While the journey from politics to the food business has been successful so far, Straniere recently toyed with the possibility of returning to politics. He pushed his name into discussion as the first choices of Staten Island Republicans all passed on the race for the congressional seat held by scandal-ridden Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn). The Staten Island GOP, which has long been at odds with Straniere, instead chose Francis H. Powers, a former Wall Street executive who also served as the finance chair for Fossella's campaigns.

Nonetheless, Straniere said ultimately, the challenges and rewards of his business venture far outweighed those of political life.

“Being a congressman would be easy compared to trying to make this business a success,” he said.
But when asked which was the messier process—cooking hot dogs or navigating the political turf in Albany—Straniere did not hesitate.

“Definitely Albany,” he said. “Getting a bill passed as a Republican in the Assembly is a lot more difficult than selling a hot dog.”