Taste of the Town: Fast Eddie’s Hot Dog Cart finds success in unlikely location

The owners of Fast Eddie’s Hot Dog Cart practically stumbled upon an idea that worked. Located in an industrial park, the duo set up the cart one day in 2004, and have been busy ever since.

Sisters Christine Baer and Cynthia Gugliuzza began selling hot dogs at the northeast corner of Swanson Drive and North Raddant Road after their father, Ron Clark, purchased a hot dog cart to bring to car shows. The cart is set up in the parking lot of Clark Molding Co. Inc., and Clark owns the building near 901 Swanson Drive in Batavia.

“Cynthia and I thought, ‘Why don’t we put it out here?’” Baer said. “There’s nowhere to go for lunch. If you have a half an hour for lunch, you gotta drive all the way down Wilson Street, and – by the time you get back – you have to get back to work again.”

It was an immediate success.

“We put it out one day – we didn’t even broadcast we were going to do it – and we were so busy, we just haven’t stopped,” Baer said.

Fast Eddie’s is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday but is busiest between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with the line sometimes reaching across the parking lot and toward Raddant Road.

“It can get crazy,” said Gugliuzza. “We feel really bad if people are waiting, but it usually doesn’t take that long.”

With a humble beginning, each year the Fast Eddie’s crew adds something new to the business, like an indoor kitchen and storage.

“We started out with coolers and ice packs. Now we have actual refrigeration. I’d have stuff at my house; she’d have stuff at her house. In the beginning, it was a lot more work,” Baer said. “We use fresh ingredients every day. I think that makes a difference.”

Baer said that Fast Eddie’s menu started with just hot dogs. Their No. 1 seller remains the Chicago-style hot dog ($2.75), which features a Vienna Beef hot dog, mustard, relish, onion, tomato, pickle, sport peppers and celery salt. The menu has expanded to include Polish sausage ($3.25), nachos ($3.50) and more.

“We’re pretty much known for our Chicago-style hot dog,” Baer said.

Fast Eddie’s added Italian beef ($5.50)  a few years ago, and a meatball sandwich ($5.50) this year.

A unique menu item at Fast Eddies is the Mother-In Law sandwich ($3), which Baer said they started serving a few years ago. The sandwich features a tamale on a bun with chili, onion and sport peppers. The sandwich originated on the South Side of Chicago, according to Baer.

“We had what came on it [already], and we thought it would be, well, funny, since it’s named the ‘Mother-in-Law” – and people love it,” Gugliuzza said.

Fast Eddie’s has 12 combos, which include chips and a pop, that range from $4.50 to $8.50, and even allows people to call ahead with their order, especially large ones. The call-ahead number is 630-677-1370.

Fast Eddie’s has gained its popularity through word-of-mouth.

“We had a gentleman stop by last week that has lived in Batavia for 25 years and his neighbor just told him about us,” Gugliuzza said. “It’s exciting, to me, to get new people. It makes me think, ‘Word is getting around, and I guess my food is good.’”

Gugliuzza said they do have a large amount of regulars.

“There is one family where the kid was 3 years old when they first started coming here. Now he’s in high school. It’s really cool for us to see they’ve made this a tradition for that family,” Gugliuzza said. “It’s really neat.”

Fast Eddies will host its Fourth of July classic car show July 4. The cart will be open, and registration is from 8 a.m. to noon, with awards at 3 p.m. It’s $20 per car, and Baer said it usually draws between 80 to 100 classic cars.  For more information on the car show, visit OldGoldCruisers.com.

If you go

What: Fast Eddie’s Hot Dog Cart

Where: Near 901 Swanson Drive in Batavia (at the northeast corner of Swanson Drive and North Raddant Road)

Hours: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, rain or shine; typically open in mid-April through the last Friday in October

Call ahead: 630-677-1370