By Michael A. Friel
HQ 11 | SPRING 1992
The order itself was ordinary: two hot dogs with everything, thank you. It was the kind of order John Mandt Sr. had scribbled on his waiter’s pad a thousand times. Of course sometimes the everything was something – just chili or mustard or even onions only. No problem.
But the request Mandt received that summer day in 1964, the one for two hot dogs with the works, surprised him, perplexed him. He could fill the order, all right, but it would take a little time.
Meanwhile, Gregory Sears and Rodney Honaker waited.
Several thousand miles away in Germany the two Marshall University students had a hankering for hot dogs. Problem was, their hunger for American food had struck them at the most inopportune of times: on their summer sojourn to Europe. Search as they might, the food they most fancied could not be found. As best they could tell, Hamburg was hot dogless.
What to do?
Pondering their predicament, an idea was born. Remembering the hot dogs they had enjoyed at Stewart’s in Huntington, the pair sent 10 German marks and a letter to Mandt. It was the young men’s request he received that day in 1964 along with the plea: “Hurry, please, we’re hungry.”
“I figured if they had enough nerve to order the hot dogs then I had enough nerve to send them,” Mandt recalled recently.
He prepared nine hot dogs, froze them, packed them in dry ice, enclosed instructions and shipped the order to Germany. Several days later the two Marshall University students found themselves in hot dog heaven.
Indeed many Huntingtonians – whether permanent residents or transient students – are drawn back year after year to that little orange-and-black stand on 5th Avenue, just past 24th Street. There, for 60 years now, four generations of the Mandt family have been serving up salvation on a steamed bun.
Huntington’s oldest restaurant and first drive-in was founded by John Mandt’s grandparents, John Lewis and Gertrude Mandt. John Lewis immigrated from Germany and for several years worked in the coal business in Southern West Virginia and Indiana. In the early 1930s he opened a gas station along the Lincoln Highway in Ohio. His wife ran a food counter in the gas station. As it turned out, the restaurant did better than the gas station itself.
So, in 1932, the Mandts decided to move to Huntington and open a drive-in. The staple product would be root beer developed by a man they had met in
Ohio by the name of Frank Stewart. The couple bought property along 5th Avenue, built a small drive-in, painted it orange and black – the colors for Stewart’s Root Beer – and the rest is hot dog history.
Well, almost.
At first Stewart’s served no hot dogs. The menu began and ended with popcorn and root beer.
“It didn’t take my grandparents long to realize they weren’t going to make it on a nickel root beer and a nickel popcorn,” John Mandt Sr. said. “The second year they were in Huntington my grandmother developed our hot dog sauce and that was really the beginning of Stewart’s Original Hot Dogs.”
Today, in addition to the hot dogs and root beer, Stewart’s sells barbecues, potato chips and, the most recent addition, french fries.
“Adding french fries was a tough decision,” Mandt said. “That was a major change in the menu. It really was. We had been successful all those years without french fries. There are a lot of people who tell me my grandfather would be turning over in his grave if he knew we were selling french fries.”
Maybe so, but Mandt’s grandfather would no doubt be proud of how much things have remained the same. The hot dogs are still steamed the way he developed back in the 1930s. So are the buns. The sauce (or chili, to some) is made fresh using Gertrude Mandt’s original recipe. And the root beer is still made on location.
Even the building has remained the same. There has been some slight remodeling over the years, but the 5th Avenue location looks much as it did when John Lewis Mandt built it in 1932.
John Mandt Sr. believes the continuity has contributed to the popularity of Stewart’s. “It’s a hook people can hang a hat on and say: ‘You know, I remember when I was a little boy and came to Stewart’s. It hasn’t changed.’ “
“There is a lot of tradition here. People grew up with us. Some people say that when they come back to Huntington the first place they go is to Stewart’s – then they go home to see mom. And people will stop by who are in their 60s and 70s and say ‘you know the first date I ever had was right there (and they will be in their car and point to the spot on the lot). Right there was where I had the first date I ever had.’ “
Although through four generations the faces have changed, the relationship between the Mandts and their employees has remained close. When John Lewis Mandt died suddenly in 1942 he was sitting at his desk writing congratulatory letters to those of his employees who were graduating from high school. Today, John Mandt Sr. said he tries to practice his Christian values when dealing with his employees.
“I need to be able to apply the Bible’s teachings to all walks of life,” he said. “For many of the young kids who work here, this is their first job. They’re scared, unsure of themselves. You have to almost be a surrogate father to some. And you have to be flexible in scheduling.”
Nearly 2,000 people have worked at Stewart’s over the years. For many Huntingtonians it’s their first place of employment. Mandt said his employees have included WOWK-TV 13 anchor Doug Sheils, single parents, and countless Marshall University students work
ing their way through school. Many people have worked for more than a decade, and one current employee has been with Stewart’s for nearly 26 years.
Like so much else, even the food suppliers have remained the same.
“We are a four-generation business and that is unique,” Mandt explained. “I heard in a seminar that only four percent of the family businesses in this country make it to four generations. We have been doing business with Logan Meats for four generations and Logan is a four generation business. And Heiner’s Bakery is a four-generation business, and we have done business with each of their generations. And that is very, very unusual.”
Over the years there have been some changes, of course.
In the early 1950s the name was changed from Stewart’s Root Beer to Stewart’s Drive-in. Then, in the early 1980s, it was changed again to Stewart’s Original Hot Dogs.
Today there are three locations, but the second store actually was opened about 1934 on Piedmont Road at the foot of the Spring Valley bridge. John Mandt’s parents, Harry and Isabelle, ran that restaurant until 1942, when meat shortages brought on by World War II forced them to close. When Mandt’ s grandfather died suddenly that same year, his parents took over operation of the 5th Avenue location. Another store was opened on First Street in 1979 and a Kenova store opened in 1986.
“I think we are looking at some point in the very near future of opening up another store,” Mandt said. “We don’t know exactly where yet, but I like to take my time and get the right spot and make sure the company is in the right position to expand.”
In addition to the three locations, Stewart’s sells hot dogs at Huntington Cubs baseball games, Huntington’s Summerfest and Marshall University sporting events. When Stewart’s began selling hot dogs at Marshall University football games, it sold more during the first contest than were sold the entire previous season at the stadium.
After the new stadium was built, Marriott Corp., which has the university’s food contract and services large stadiums across the country, was in charge of concessions. But after sampling Stewart’s Hot Dogs and observing the family’s method of operation, it entered into a contract with Stewart’s to provide the hot dogs at the new stadium. Officials of the large corporation decided Marriott simply could not do a better job.
Many Stewart’s customers believe nobody can do a better job when it comes to serving up hot dogs. That’s why some people order a dozen to take home and freeze. Others have the Mandt’s freeze them a dozen or so to take on vacation. A few people have even sent Stewart’s Hot Dogs as surprise birthday presents.
“We’ve had some customers who come in here every day and get the same thing,” explained John Mandt Sr. “We don’t even take their orders. When the workers see them pull onto the lot they just turn the order in.
“I hope they don’t decide to change their order at some point,” he said laughingly.
Stewart’s not only provides hot dogs to area residents, it attracts the rich and famous as well. Marshall University alumnus and nationally know TV personality and comedian Soupy Sales visits every summer or so and orders a dozen hot dogs. He has testified to the greatness of Stewart’s on national radio and on the “Donahue ” show.
Like his customers, John Mandt Sr. loves to eat the products he sells. A chili-mustard-onion man, he’s been eating Stewart’s Original Hot Dogs for more than 50 years, and he said he never tires of them.
“When you get that steamed bun and that steamed wiener with all that on there … there is just something about it. There is just something about a Stewart’s Original Hot Dog. And I don’t know exactly what it is.”
Could it be the steamed buns and wieners?
The special sauce, spread under not over the hot dog?
Or perhaps the price – 84 cents for a hot dog with everything?
Or, to wash it all down, the Stewart’s Root Beer, still made like it used to be, on location?
Maybe the way the hot dogs are prepared, each wrapped in a Stewart’s napkin?
“They’re not as messy this way,” Mandt explained. “Interestingly enough, if you go to any other drive-in in Huntington you’re going to find they are wrapped that same way. But have you ever seen hot dogs wrapped in a napkin anywhere other than Huntington? I haven’t. Never.”
If anyone in Huntington should know hot dogs, John Mandt Sr. should. At 50-something, he has seen his share of hot dogs come and go. And he’s eaten his share – thousands he guesses. Because hot dogs have always been his family’s business, Mandt was inducted into the world of wieners at an early age.
“Ever since I was a little boy I’ve always known what I wanted to do. It’s amazing. As a child I would come over here to the Fifth Avenue location and play all the time. I never played much at home. So I have always, always, since I was very young, wanted to continue, to be involved in this kind of business.”
And like father, like son. John Mandt Jr., 29, also began hanging around Stewart’s with his father and grandfather at an early age.Just as his father had done,John Jr. began working at Stewart’s when he was just 13.
“I learned the value of money quickly,” said the younger Mandt. “I found out quickly what it’s like to have a job, to have to be there. You kind of grow up quick.”
Said John Mandt Sr.: “I started working in 1951. I started as a curb boy waiting on cars and that’s how I started my son John.”
Today, the younger Mandt is vice president of operations. John Mandt Sr. is president. His father retired in the early 1970s and his mother later that decade.
It’s not uncommon to see the father-son team out of the office serving hot dogs to their customers.
“Even now, the most satisfying time for me is out there on the trays,” said the younger Mandt. “Time flies when you are out there on the lot.”
Added the older Mandt: “We’re here every day, very much involved in the daily operations of the three stores. That’s what makes it a family business.”
John Mandt Sr. said he believes one of his biggest responsibilities is to prepare his son to carry on the Stewart’s tradition.
“He needs to know not only how to operate and continue the business from a business standpoint, but he needs to know the history, the tradition, the things that have been important to us as a family. And I believe he is to the point that he can do that.”
John Mandt Jr. said he is ready for that challenge. “I was groomed. I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing.”
What about future generations?
“When I have kids I would like for them to work here, too,” said John Mandt Jr. “I’m looking forward to the fifth generation being born.”
