By THOM SENZEE Contributing Reporter Restaurateurs are a unique breed of businesspeople. They speak their own language, and of course they see food differently than do others. The eternal challenge facing every new restaurant adventurer is how to make the most ancient of human activities eating somehow new again. Remarkably, Murray Wishengrad, co-founder of The Stand, says he has found a way to reintroduce that most well-aged American staple, the hotdog, as a fresh experience. Wishengrad on June 30 opened the fourth outlet of The Stand in Woodland Hills. Its first outlet opened in Encino in 2003. From Wishengrad, one learns that making hotdogs in the 21st Century is as much a lesson in geography as it is an experience in gastronomy. According to him, a hotdog in L.A. must be boiled and topped with chili. In Chicago, the dog is crowned with a garden of fresh greens, mustard and pickles. Meanwhile, southerners want sauerkraut on their boiled wieners, yet New Yorkers would never boil a frankfurter. “They split ’em and grill ’em,” Wishengrad says. “There are more steps to cooking a hotdog than a filet mignon, but you can still get one for $3.50.” Question: What is The Stand? Answer: A great place to enjoy classic American hot dogs and burgers and more. The idea was to create a restaurant concept that featured the most iconic American food of all, hot dogs, that would elevate the quality of both food and service while providing an extremely comfortable environment not usually associated with the category, producing both value and fun for the customer. Q: What does the name mean? A: The Stand as a name was chosen to represent the roots and origins of the menu items; food inspired from “street stands” that were once prevalent in our culture. Q: How long have you been in business? A The Stand in Encino, our first Stand location opened in late December 2003. We are celebrating our five-year anniversary this year. Q: What is the company’s structure any partners? A: The Stand, LLC is the parent company operating all current Stand locations. Two of the four existing locations are owned by The Stand, LLC and the other two are owned in partnership with individual investors. Q: Did you do anything special for your grand opening? A: Not yet. We like to grow by word of mouth and people discovering the Stand. Q: What kind of revenues do you expect? A: We don’t quote revenues or profits. Q: What specific challenges do you face as a restaurateur in so competitive a market? A: The hardest challenges for us have nothing to do with specific competitors. They are always the challenges of providing great food and service all the time. If we take care of that objective, the customers will follow us regardless of the specific competition. “Always the Finest” is our challenge and slogan. Q: What distinguishes your menu? A: The focus on hot dogs followed up with literally something for everyone; but done classically or traditionally. The menu was designed to have something for everyone to fall in love with. If you’re not a hot dog eater, try our Stand Made Veggie Burger or Classic Entr & #233;e Salads. Q: What is your favorite menu item? A: My current Stand favorite is one I share with one of our regulars, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters .a slaw dog, a classic southern style dog. Q: Any expansion or franchise plans? A: Our fourth location, Woodland Hills opened on June 30. This will be followed early next year by our largest Stand location to date in Hollywood, right at the corner of Sunset and Vine. Q: Can you give us a little background about yours and other principals’ business experience? A: Co-founding partner, Richard Shapiro, was a co-founder of The Grill and The Daily Grill concept (no longer involved in any way with them). Both of us had previous careers together and as competitors in the rental car industry. Richard owned and operated Budget Rent a Car Franchises in California and I owned and operated 30-plus Dollar Rent a Car locations in the Los Angeles, Orange County area. Q: Did you find the current credit climate to be more difficult than it might have been in the past ? A: We are not utilizing credit instruments to fund expansion, so it hasn’t directly affected us. Q: Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know? A: We are planning on beginning franchising activities to increase our growth rate after Hollywood opens. We will be looking for proven multi-unit restaurant operators to build strong regional franchises within 5-10 location areas. Franchising activities will begin in California and contiguous states.
