The scent of grilling brats and dogs wafts through the air as the sizzle signals hungry party-goers. Carol Chappuis, owner/operator of Chappy’s Snappy Dogs, rolls up the umbrella of her hot dog cart and the crowds start to flock.
“Every place we go, if the umbrella goes up, I’m ready to serve,” Chappuis said.
This is Chappy Snappy Dogs’ eighth season serving up hot dogs, bratwurst and sausages at events around Northwest Ohio. Chappuis and her husband Richard “Chap” Chappuis didn’t have an interest in the food-service industry until Chap’s friend, Bob Thompson, owner of two hot dog carts, gave them a call.
“One weekend, he says ‘Chap, I have a graduation party and another party and I can’t do both of them. Can you help?’ And we got hooked,” Chappuis said. They drove out to a graduation party in Oak Harbor, came back and talked him into selling his second cart.
“He passed away a year and a half after we got the cart,” Chappuis said. “We don’t know where his other cart [named Mustard’s Last Stand] is now.”
She and her husband manned the cart together until health issues relegated him to organizational duties two years ago.
Cart catering
She does graduation parties, wedding receptions, and makes appearances at Honda East events and many animal rescue events, like Bark in the Park.
“I do all of it. Not only the food I’m cooking, but I’ll watch their food too, that way mom and dad can enjoy the party. I also have time to take pictures and I put those on a CD for them,” she said.
Depending on the event, Chappuis offers package deals or sells to peopled individually.
“I like the package deals better than selling, but at the same time, we’re not expensive,” she said. Our hot dogs are $2, our sausages are $2.25 and our brats are $2.75, and it includes everything—coney sauce, sauerkraut, eight different kinds of mustard, cheese, onion and relish.”
They use sauerkraut from Toledo’s Hirzel Canning Co. and their bratwurst come from Wyoming, MI. “We try to keep everything local,” she said.
Chappuis said the secret to their flavorful wieners is that they steam everything instead of boiling. After steaming, the dogs are finished on a grill to enhance the taste.
In the rare instance that she has leftovers, Chappuis likes to give back—whether to her neighbors or to the less fortunate. A few months ago, she had about 14 packages of buns left over, so she filled them with hot dogs and took them to the Cherry Street Mission.
“Everyone in the neighborhood knows us as the ‘Hot Dog People,’” she said.
Although Chappuis works full time Monday through Friday in medical billing at HRC Manor Care, running Chappy’s keeps her feeling happy and youthful.
“I don’t do it to make a lot of money, I really don’t. I do it to have fun and keep myself out of trouble, keep myself young,” she said.
To book Chappy’s Snappy Dogs for an event, call 419-297-1004 or email [email protected]
