Frank follows $250 hot dog stunt with San Antonio expansion, retail plans

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Nick Simonite

Frank, which operates the well-known eatery in Austin on Colorado Street, pictured, will open a San Antonio location this spring.

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Chad Swiatecki

Staff Writer- Austin Business Journal

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The $250 hot dog that gained Austin restaurant Frank lots of social media attention during Fun Fun Fun Fest this month began as a flight of fancy that's become typical for the quirky downtown business.

Owner Daniel Northcutt told Austin Business Journal that the restaurant's tradition of selling a premium specialty dog themed after the festival's headlining musical acts reached a new level with the addition of heavy metal band Judas Priest to the 2014 lineup.

The idea for a $250 price tag on a Judas Priest Turbo Dog came early during some brainstorming sessions but Northcutt said he didn't settle on what the finished product would be until the day before the fest's Nov. 7 start.

As a treat to the brave buyer, Northcutt went with a $500 cash reward as well as a mustard-covered sausage and free dogs all weekend, with word of the one-time stunt spreading quickly on social media in the aftermath.

"I thought we could do an amazing dog themed after Judas Priest, but no matter what I did the question was whether that was worth $250," he said. "We decided to make it fun and make it about having a great experience for that one customer."

With festival season behind him Northcutt and his team are focusing now on the spring 2015 opening of a Frank location in San Antonio.

After the second Frank is up and running he hopes to launch Frank's retail line of specialty sausages in 2015, which will add to the company's revenue growth of roughly 18 percent per year since its opening in 2009.

Chad Swiatecki covers Austin's creative industries, health care and education.