#Vienna beef pro#
#Vienna beef free#

The pair was Jewish and used beef in their products-hence, the company’s name.Ī cocktail sausage, gold-plated in the 1970s. Sales were so strong they ended up purchasing a storefront on South Halsted Street the following year. Trained in sausage-making in the Austrian capitol, they set up a stand to sell their chops at a prime location near one of the fair’s entrances. Among them were Vienna Beef’s founders, Samuel Ladany and Emil Reichel, brothers-in-law who had arrived in Chicago three years before. The 1893 Columbian Exhibition featured a number of sausage vendors from Germany and Austria-Hungary jostling for attention. “There are also curious artifacts that demonstrate the evolution of the Chicago-style hot dog from its very beginning at the World’s Fair to today.” “The rich history of Vienna Beef and how it’s been part of the fabric of Chicago-that’s the number one thing that people can walk away with,” McGlade says. Visitors can check out a retired sausage stuffer from 1859, hand-painted signs by Gus Korn, and a whole row of merchandise that underscores the hot dog’s prominent role in local sports culture. Much of the material on view was in company offices, while other objects came from the Vienna Beef factory, which occupied the building between 19. He also served as its curator, foraging for objects that, for the most part, have never before been on public display. McGlade, working with the company’s chairman and president, came up with the idea to create the Vienna Beef History Museum as one way to engage customers in the quasquicentennial celebrations. “I’m sure it’s turned into a rock by now.” “That came out of somebody’s drawer,” says Tom McGlade, Vienna Beef’s vice president of marketing/eCommerce.

Occupying a former plant room, the small exhibition features archival documents and an array of paraphernalia that chronicle the company’s origins and evolution-including one surviving gold-plated sausage keychain, whose tips have gone green from corrosion.

#Vienna beef free#

This year, Vienna Beef turns 125. To celebrate its long history of hawking hot dogs-most famously, Chicago-style hot dogs-it recently opened a free museum at its Chicago headquarters on 2501 N. It’s the least appetizing way Chicago’s leading hot dog supplier has ever dressed up a sausage in its many decades of being in the business. Cocktail franks were sent to California, where a specialist encased each in a thin coat of metal. It’s amazing that a family company that started 127 years ago is now selling in all of these places.In the 1970s, someone at Vienna Beef came up with a one-of-a-kind idea to promote the company’s sausages: electroplate them in 24-karat gold, and turn the results into keychains to hand out to customers. We also sell all the hot dogs to Portillo’s, Shake Shack, Freddy’s Frozen Custard and hot dog restaurants all over the city and suburbs.

We’re in all the zoos, airports and all of the city’s museums along with all the Chicago Park District’s lakefront concessions and Navy Pier. Wrigley, Guaranteed Rate, Soldier Field, the United Center for the Cubs, Sox, Bears, Bulls and Blackhawks.

#Vienna beef pro#

“Every single pro sports team and venue in Chicago sells our product. The foundation of the Chicago Style hot dog, Vienna® Beef franks are served at over 1,400 locations throughout Chicagoland for a memorable taste experience unique to The Windy City. Any true Chicagoan says ‘no’ to ketchup on a hot dog.”Ĭhicagoans have a lot of love for the city’s namesake hot dog and the memories that are often part of the package. Adding ketchup on there just masks the flavors we’re trying to get out of this experience. We’ve got spicy, we’ve got mild, we’ve got crunch, we’ve got soft and all of these things are going on in the same bite. That’s because all of the condiments on a Chicago Style hot dog work together and don’t fight each other. We’re not allowed to put ketchup on a Chicago Style hot dog unless you’re still using training wheels on your bicycle.