Woody's Chicago Style
 | |
| Private | |
| Industry | Franchise Food Service |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Headquarters | Lakewood, Colorado |
Key people | Kristin K. Meyer, Co-Founder,CEO & President |
| Products | Retail - Chicago Style Sandwiches |
Number of employees | 0 |
| Website |
www |
Woody's Chicago Style is a franchise hot dog company based in the Denver, Colorado, area, serving Chicago-style hot dogs.
History
Woody's was started by the Meyer family in 1987 in Honolulu, Hawaii, as a special events concession company. The family of five would do various events ranging from "Family Sunday" at the Bishop Museum to Super Bowl Sunday at the home of known public figures, catering event at the famous Magnum, P.I. house and UH football games, including the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium.
Since their inception, Woody's has constantly worked on doing more with less. In the early 1990s, Woody's started a few regular locations around the island. These locations included the Bishop Museum, Dole Pineapple Cannery, and Home Improvement Warehouse (owned by parent company Pay-N-Pak, Scofield, Hickam, Pearl Harbor, Camp Smith, Tripler Hospital, Hawaii Maritime Museum, Waikiki and Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. Within a few years, the blossoming relationship with Pay n Pac's Home Improvement Warehouse allowed Woody's the opportunity to open a concession at the newest hardware concept, Eagle Hardware & Garden.
Within a year, Eagle offered Woody's the rights to open franchises in new stores in Colorado, California, Nevada and Arizona. Today, these are still some of Woody's most recognized markets.
In 1998, Eagle Hardware was purchased by the hardware mega-giant Lowe's. After the purchase, Lowe's approached Woody's about providing service to 300 of their stores within a five-year period. Woody's was unable to fulfill that commitment.
Today, Woody's has only 2 concessions (hot dog carts). One in Hawaii and the other in Washington. Update: Zero locations.
Woody's has had a drastic decline in franchised locations in the last 2 years. They have lost numerous franchisees. In 2014, they are down to zero locations from a high of almost 90. Entrepreneur Magazine [1]