The History of Wienerschnitzel.

wiener schnitzel is a fast food chain that specializes in hot dogs that was founded in 1961. thank you for your suggestion and everyone's got a different idea [Music] with hamburgers and hot dogs and a full delicious menu of both [Music] schnitzel [Music] John gallardi opened his first hot dog restaurant in Wilmington California in 1961. after graduating high school Mr gallardi moved with his family to Southern California and enrolled at the Pasadena Junior College was walking across the street and a guy was hosing down the lot he asked him if he needed any help and the man with the hose turned out to be Glenn Bell Jr founder of the Taco Bell chain Bell hired gallardi at 50 cents an hour for part-time work which soon led to gallardi managing Bell's commissary he took over a poor performing Taco Bell under a partnership Arrangement by working double shifts and his wife taking on three part-time jobs gallardi was able to save six thousand dollars he then lent the money to Belle who was strapped for cash unable to pay back the loan though three months later offered to sell the store to gallardi for twelve thousand dollars so collardi borrowed two thousand dollars from his parents let everyone at the restaurant go work 30 days to get the other thousands and paid twelve thousand dollars for a little taco store in Long Beach that's how he got into his ownership position after learning the ropes from Bell collardi was ready to carve out his own niche in the fast food sector a major break occurred when his hard work was recognized by a businessman who offered to build him a restaurant in Wilmington California because the location was next to one of glendale's stores gallardi informed his mentor who advised him to grab the opportunity as long as he sold something other than tacos galardi decided to try his hand at selling hot dogs since it was an unexploited area in the market his wife after looking through a cookbook then suggested Wienerschnitzel as the name for the store an idea that he immediately dismissed however three days later unable to come up with anything better than John's hot dogs gallardi decided to call his new hot dog stand Der Wienerschnitzel opening in 1961 Der Wienerschnitzel proved popular in some ways too popular with the car clubs of younger customers who tended to get rowdy gallardi then came up with a creative answer to the problem he set up a drive-through pickup Lane one of the first in the industry that passed straight through the middle of the store's A-frame structure in this way customers could not get out of their cars and after they bought their food found themselves back on the streets looking for somewhere else to go not only did calardi get rid of the Rowdy loiters he was able to use a smaller format for his restaurants lowering his rent gallardi began franchising their Wienerschnitzel concept which took off in the early and mid 1960s making him a millionaire when it was still in his 20s by 1968 the chain was 200 units in size and gallardi was turning down offers of as much as 20 million dollars to buy the business the fast food sector hit a rut and galardi found he had expanded too quickly half the units were losing money and he had 8.5 million dollars in debt in addition he was contending with monthly negative cash flow of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars moreover he was besieged with scores of lawsuits it took about six years but gallardi succeeded in paying back his creditors he also fought off every lawsuit and not only rebuilt the business but also doubled the chain sales volume this comeback was accomplished despite hot dogs slipping in popularity because consumers were becoming more health conscious to remain competitive Wienerschnitzel began offering hamburgers in 1973. in that same year it quit building its 800 square foot A-frames and turning instead the larger structures able to accommodate indoor and outdoor seating galardi had succeeded so well in turning around Wienerschnitzel that in the early 1970s he considered taking the company public with the help of Bank of Boston in order to fuel further expansion however fear of losing control of the business he built he elected to remain private the chain would reach its peak in 1975 when it totaled 450 company owned and franchised operations spread across 20 States two years later the chain dropped the dur simply becoming known as Wienerschnitzel in 1981 Wienerschnitzel decided to focus on what it was best known for hot dogs while still pursuing a marketing theme of were not just hot dogs and a campaign headlined by baseball Superstar and noted hot dog Reggie Jackson in 1985 the chain added chicken sandwiches as well as biscuit breakfast sandwiches but despite a significant increase in consumer awareness Wienerschnitzel remained firmly associated with hot dogs the chain began de-emphasizing everything on the menu other than hot dogs changing its motto in 1986 to nobody's hot dogs like we do as wiener schnitzel moved into the 1990s the chain had lost momentum John gallardi was on the verge of selling the business to the New York buyout firm Kelso group but he held out for a higher price and the deal was shelled to get back on track the company slashed overhead including sizable Cuts in corporate staff and closed down more than 53 of the A-frame units that were no longer profitable the chain began a dual branding program with a Tasty Freeze Chain by becoming a Tasty Freeze franchisee when we understand it so added dessert items to its mix and experienced a significant increase in business during the late afternoons and evenings by 2003 Tasty Freeze was incorporated into 52 wiener schnitzels and eight Original Hamburger stands resulting in sales increases at some locations as high as 14 percent but generally between 5 and 10 percent the gallardi group was so pleased with his dual branding experience that in June of 2003 it decided to buy the Tasty Freeze chain a decision influenced by the news that a major chain was considering acquiring the business after two years gulardi group was operating about 300 dual branded units since 1999 the delicious one or tdo wiener schnitzel's mascot has been put in advertising their slogan the World's Most Wanted wiener celebrating Wienerschnitzel's 50th Anniversary the restaurant created a new slogan that was released in 2011 to continue the Der theme der fund since 61. on April 13 2013 Mr galardi died of pancreatic cancer his ex-wife Cynthia gallardi Culpepper who previously was a silent partner assumed the role as CEO and chairwoman after his passing she was the corporation's first and only woman in a managerial position she would appear in reality TV series called Undercover Boss in 2016. Wienerschnitzel sells upwards of 120 million hot dogs each year the company dubbed the world's largest hot dog chain Wienerschnitzel currently operates nearly 350 locations and only 10 U.S states located in the South and Southwest the company is looking to expand to the Midwest in the next few years thank you for watching if you like this content and if you haven't already hit that subscribe button thanks

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Length: 9min 25sec (565 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 26 2024