SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | It’s a burger! It’s a hot dog! No. It’s a BurgerDog. What started out as an idea in the early 1950s to save money, the Hot Dog Bills’ BurgerDog has become famous for its novelty and has been a longtime staple at the Olympic Club, site of this week’s U.S. Amateur.
“You could liken [the BurgerDog] to the pimento cheese sandwich that they serve at Augusta National in the wax paper, it’s in that elite category,” said Nate Smith, a former PGA Tour pro and reinstated amateur competing at Olympic this week.
Hot Dog Bills has come a long way since its first food cart in 1950. Today, it has three stands on the grounds of the Olympic Club and also spots at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park Golf Course and the Silverado Resort in the Napa Valley, not to mention at the Chase Center, home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
This week at the U.S. Amateur, the family-owned company has seen some of its busiest days in 75 years. While she’s had to constantly hustle, Candy Parrish, daughter of Hot Dog Bills’ co-founders Bill and Billie Parrish, couldn’t be happier.
“I have a lot of fond memories of being out here,” she said. “It’s my whole life. It came before my husband. It came before my kids.”
When Bill and Billie opened Hot Dog Bills in 1950, the small food cart that sold hot dogs and burgers wasn’t supposed to be a main source of income.
“My father was a professional musician and he started this as a side gig to make some more money,” Parrish said. “We lived right across from the Olympic Club in Parkmerced.”
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