In 2008, Steve Ewing, frontman for The Urge, thought he’d roll out a cart similar to Danny Meyer’s initial hot dog cart in Madison Square Park that launched Shake Shack. The idea: to satisfy late-night, post-concert food cravings.
More than a decade later, Ewing is hanging up his tongs. He announced on Facebook yesterday that he’d be closing Steve’s Hot Dogs in Tower Grove East, adjacent to Tick Tock Tavern, on February 1.
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Last September, Ewing closed the original Steve’s Hot Dogs location on the Hill, which sprang from his humble hot dog cart in 2011. From the start, the tiny hot dog shop racked up local awards, prompting the symbiotic Tower Grove East expansion in 2014. “One spot was open at lunch, the other at dinner, which made the business easy to manage,” he says.
Then came the national awards. (New York Times dining critic Mimi Sheraton included Steve’s Hot Dogs as one of the best hot dog shops in the world in her book 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die– A Food Lover’s Life List.)
Ewing also refinished a kiosk from America’s Center, installed it inside The Pageant, and began selling hot dogs during concerts, “which was profitable,” he recalls, “but impossible to staff, due to the randomness of their schedule.” After eight months, he moved the kiosk to International Tap House in the Central West End, but the staffing issues persisted, and Ewing shut down the kiosk idea six months later.
Alluding to yesterday’s comments on Facebook, Ewing tells SLM that the problems began when the Kingshighway bridge construction cut off access to the flagship store, causing “a slow decline in business which persisted for years.” Even after the construction ended, that business never came back.
“I learned the hard way that when you lose a customer temporarily, you can lose them forever,” he says.
He tried clever promotions (such as waffle dogs) and adding burgers to the menu (all named after characters played by comedian Eddie Murphy, a favorite of Ewing’s).
“For the past few years, I kept the business afloat through the slow winter months by working more and by reinvesting, as many restaurant owners have to do,” he says. “The profit level was still decent, but the business level wasn’t. We never recovered on the Hill, and Tower Grove never took off the way I thought it would and should.
“Sometimes, location is part of the appeal,” he continues. “What you create in one place may not translate to another. Sometimes, customers have a hard time grasping even a simple, successful idea in a different space. Even with delivery, I could not make [the Tower Grove space] work. I was working a ton for what I was taking out of the place.”
Ewing remains bullish about 2020, though. “I keep being reminded that I created something special,” he says. “I’m helping some friends who are planning similar things. After all I experienced, I know I can help.”
He’s also always made a respectable living playing music and says the Urge will be busier than ever this year. In fact, the band’s popular LP Too Much Stereo celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, which has generated an uptick in tour dates.
