Eatery bids goodbye to 2-foot hot dog

NEWINGTON, Conn., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Connecticut restaurant Doogie's said its famous 2-foot hot dog will soon be a thing of the past after its manufacturer closes down.

R. Elliot Aronheim, co-owner of the Newington restaurant, said he received a call last week from Michael Greiner, president of the Grote & Weigel plant in Bloomfield, saying the plant would be closing down after 122 years, leaving the restaurant without a supplier for the 2-foot wieners, The Hartford Courant reported Friday.

"It's a major issue for us. We've been with Grote & Weigel forever, since we started doing this," Aronheim said.

Aronheim said he has contacted other meatpackers to replace the items on the menus for Doogie's and his Clam Digger franchises in Waterbury, Bristol and Manchester, but he has not yet found a supplier of 24-inch frankfurters, which were once featured on the Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food."