Several internationally and nationally known businesses call SM home
OCEAN FRONT WALK — Donning the bright yellow, blue and red hat and uniform, Brittney Meyers is a celebrity in the Santa Monica tourist circles.
That is because Meyers is the smiling face who stands behind the window of a free standing red shack nestled next to the Santa Monica Pier on Ocean Front Walk, across from where volleyballs fly freely and the original Muscle Beach once lured bodybuilders.
Hot Dog on a Stick is one of several nationally and internationally known business ventures that had its start in Santa Monica, a city known to be a desirable place to start a business because of its picturesque oceanic views.
“It’s a beautiful place to work,” said Jim Lynch, president of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce. “It has wonderful amenities because with the attraction of tourists come the nice restaurants and shopping.”
“When you have a place like this, it’s going to be a magnet for good retention and recruitment of good employees,” Lynch said.
The chamber is planning an installation in 2007, honoring the employees of businesses that have been in Santa Monica for decades. Many of the honorees were businesses that originated in Santa Monica.
Businesses like social web community MySpace.com are based in Santa Monica. Other businesses that were already established overseas, such as Red Bull, made its national debut in Santa Monica.
Dietrich Mateschitz founded Red Bull in 1984 in Austria, modeling the drink after the tonic drinks that were popular in Asia. By 1992, the company was able to expand oversees, introducing the product in Hungary.
In 1998, Red Bull made its United States debut in Los Angeles, choosing the city after identifying it as one of the top markets in the country. Santa Monica was chosen as the headquarters because its proximity to the entertainment industry, creative arts, global and marketing companies.
“The US is a very important market for Red Bull,” said Patrice Radden, spokeswoman for Red Bull.
Perhaps the most well-known and beloved brand in the city is Hot Dog on a Stick, which calls both Ocean Front Walk and Santa Monica Place, home.
Meyers has served corndogs and fries at the original Hot Dog on a Stick for six years, spending much of her time squeezing fresh lemons into lemonade while chatting with the tourists who are excited to see the original corndog stand that made the red, yellow and blue uniforms a fashion icon for fast food.
“I’m probably all over the world,” Meyer said of the pictures in which she’s appeared.
It all started in 1946 when Dave Barham took his mother’s cornmeal recipe and his own special lemonade formula and opened the first Hot Dog on a Stick on Muscle Beach, right across from where he played volleyball every day.
His business plan was simple, take 100 percent turkey dogs, to appeal to the health conscious bodybuilders, and stick them on paper sticks.
The business started out with only female employees because “Dave was at the beach and finding cute and friendly girls,” joked Marnie Purvis, spokeswoman for Hot Dog on a Stick. The female employee theme stuck as most Hot Dog on a Stick stands in malls across the country are manned by women even today, although there are more male employees than ever before, Purvis said.
The business survived the move of Muscle Beach to Venice Beach in the late 1950s because it had already established a strong and loyal clientele.
Barham was popular with his employees and essentially allowed them to inherit the business when he passed away in 1991. All adult employees who have worked in the company for a certain period of time are awarded a stake in the business.
“He was infamous for showing up late to work and grabbing employees into a game of volleyball,” Purvis said. “Sometimes, if there were new employees, he would throw a volleyball at them [to make sure they were tough].”
In 1973, Hot Dog on a Stick opened its first mall stand in Salt Lake City. Today, there are 103 stores in 17 states.
The company has received correspondence from customers from around the world, raving about the corndogs on a stick.
“It’s amazing for us to read stories about people who go to California and have to look for the Hot Dog on a Stick stand,”Purvis said. “If people have been to Santa Monica, they have definitely been to a Hot Dog on a Stick.”
Good businesses can be born anywhere, Lynch said, using McDonald’s as an example, which was founded in San Bernardino by Mac and Dick McDonald and later franchised by Ray Kroc, who opened his first McDonald’s in Illinois.
“They start out with a good idea and good leadership and get moved along regardless of its origin,” Lynch said. “It’s mostly the company leadership [and employees] that create the success.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2007. Read the original PDF.