Mizzou Hot Dog stand draws downtown patrons

The owner attributes his success to Hebrew National beef franks.

By Tarah Benner

Published March 23, 2010

On a late-night walk downtown, the bright yellow and black umbrella of the Mizzou Hot Dog cart is a fixture of Columbia.

Tim Mallory, who opened the stand two years ago, has gained a following among the late-night crowd in Columbia. People buy almost a hundred hotdogs in a given night, and police officers offer a hello as they pass by on a patrol.

Mallory and his wife started selling beef franks along with condiments in Columbia after their daughter and niece, both MU students, suggested he start selling food to the late-night crowd in downtown Columbia.

The Mizzou Hot Dog cart is open for business Wednesday nights at The Field House, and from about 9 p.m. until the street is empty Thursday through Saturday at the corner of Ninth and Locust streets. He also opens for lunch occasionally Mondays and Tuesdays at the corner of Ninth Street and University Avenue.

Mallory said he has made the business his main source of income.

"I do a little bit of day-trading, but mainly this is all I do," Mallory said.

He attributes his success to the quality of beef frank used and the variety of condiments included in the price of the hot dog. He only uses kosher Hebrew National beef franks.

"They're just about the most expensive hot dog or beef frank you can buy on the shelf, and they're just really fresh," Mallory said.

Mallory sells his regular hot dogs for $3, and the jumbo quarter-pound beef franks cost $4. Chili cheese, sauerkraut, relish, onion and jalapeños are available free of charge with a Mizzou Hot Dog. These prices are $1 less during the week for lunch.

"They're not just for drunks," Mallory said. "They're just high quality beef franks, and there's nothing to eat like after 10, 11, 12 on Ninth Street. So I've got a pretty captive audience."

The couple previously ran a hot dog cart business in Florida before moving to Columbia.

Beth Mallory, his wife, said getting started in Columbia wasn't that difficult.

"We were already familiar with the hot dog cart itself, and we had basically had the same hot dog cart in Florida too," she said.

Mallory, who teaches at Rockbridge High School during the week, said the hot dog business is something she and Tim can do together.

"We became friends with a lot of the kids that like us, and it's always, always entertaining," she said. "Everybody's pretty wasted. It's just always comical to be around that."

Tim Mallory said his regular customers, most of them MU students, wait for him to show up with his hotdogs.

"I have a pretty good, big following actually," he said. "It's pretty crazy. If I don't show up I hear about it. So now I actually go out even when it's raining most of the time."

Terry Patterson, Columbia resident of 30 years, frequents the cart and knows Mallory personally.

"He and his wife Beth they do really well — good people, good product, decent price," he said.

Patterson said the hotdog stand is a part of what a college town should be.

"A little taste of New York," he said of the business. "The hotdog stand, the street food that this town really doesn't see too much.”