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The exterior of O'Betty's Red Hot, 15 W. State St.

O'Betty's Red Hot celebrates 15 years

Bob Satmary opened O’Betty’s Red Hot 15 years ago and has since created an Athens staple. 

Satmary, an Ohio University alumnus, said his friends wanted him to serve pizza, but he didn’t want to compete with the many pizza places in town. He chose hot dogs because they are an American tradition. 

“They’re American, the general white tie, and are a part of our history,” Satmary said. 

O’Betty’s Red Hot, 15 W. State St., has a theme to its restaurant: burlesque. Each style of hot dog is named after a burlesque dancer. 

Satmary said he buys the hot dogs from Cleveland for 75 cents per dog. They sell for $4.25 per dog without add-ons. 

“Everything is super quality,” Satmary said. “Our profit margin is way lower. When I go to other cities, I see $6 for a hot dog.”

This month, O’Betty’s Red Hot celebrates 15 years. Satmary said O’Betty’s was planning to do a celebration, but everything was pushed aside because of troubles regarding the restaurant. He said O'Betty's will do a grand reopening once renovations to the restaurant are complete. 

“We are going to be doing a grand reopening through this place because they’re putting on a new roof now and putting up a new ceiling,” Satmary said. 

The new ceiling will be 16 to 18 feet high. Satmary said he would like to have a stage in the back to put on burlesque shows. 

Renovations were supposed to be done in July, but Satmary said they may be done at the end of September. He said O’Betty’s will recognize this year as the 15th anniversary but celebrate it next year instead. 

The dining room will reopen next week, Satmary said. O’Betty’s is closed for lunch, but it opens after 4 p.m. for carryout. After 9 p.m., carryout is available from the front window. 

Satmary said he likes the engaging environment of O’Betty’s. 

“We get to tell people what burlesque is and what a real hot dog is,” Satmary said. 

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Ohio University student Madison Keller holds a Gypsy style hot dog from O'Betty's.

Tracy Duncan began working at O’Betty’s 6 1/2 years ago and is now the manager.

“It’s easy to manage because it’s small,” Duncan said. “The customers love us.”

Orders are typically split between students and locals, Duncan said. She thinks the late-night business is what has grown the most. 

“We do anywhere between 50 to 60 percent of our business after 9 p.m., and I think most of them are students,” Duncan said. “We get a lot of food traffic because I don’t think there’s a lot of parking Uptown.” 

Duncan said its most popular hot dog is the Dixie, which has chili sauce, onions, cheese and mustard.

“Late night, the French fries are where it's at,” Duncan said. “I think the cheese fries and chili cheese fries are top sellers.” 

Regular hours are 11 a.m.-3 a.m., but the dining room closes at 9 p.m. 

Duncan said the biggest challenge is that the restaurant is small, which causes it to be crowded on busy weekends. 

“We’re really, really small, so we jump from having slow days to days where it's like Homecoming,” Duncan said. “The events on campus make a big difference.” 

Christopher Russell, a junior studying biology of aquatic marine and freshwater sciences, said he hasn’t been to O’Betty’s, but he would be interested in trying it because he likes hot dogs. 

“Whenever I have them in my fridge (I eat them),” Russell said. “It’s a nice easy meal to eat.”

@AshtonNichols_

an614816@ohio.edu

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