Sammy's famous franks soon in Cooney
Owner is Oconomowoc resident, wants something closer to family's hometown
City of Oconomowoc - Sammy Bohringer is bringing his acclaimed West Allis hotdog business, Sammy's Taste of Chicago, to Oconomowoc.
The new location is something Bohringer said he's been thinking about for five to six years, but it's also a chance to have something closer to home that his sons, Grant and Noah, can be connected to, he said.
"My boys mean everything to me," said Bohringer, who's already famous among some of their friends for bringing Sammy's dogs to their classrooms for lunch on birthdays. He said Grant, 14, now a freshman at Oconomowoc High School, already shared the news of the new location on his Facebook page, and Noah has been sharing the news of Dad's new venture with his friends at Silver Lake Intermediate.
"I love that kid so much," Bohringer gushed.
An obvious family man, Bohringer is also loyal to Lake Country and said he sees great opportunity opening a location here.
"Even though I'm not as happy as I would like to be with the economy, I see opportunity in Oconomowoc," Bohringer said. He said the location, 1225 Robruck Drive, will be a nice fit. The building once housed White House of Music and a Harley-Davidson dealership. Bohringer said the transition will be fairly easy. "I'm adding benches and tables in a former showroom. So instead of pianos or Harley-Davidsons, I can now fit seating," he said.
He also said creating a kitchen will require some work, but when you're serving hotdogs, it's not as intensive of a renovation as a steakhouse, Bohringer said. What he's most excited about with this location is the space, about 1,300 square feet more of it than at his West Allis eatery.
"I've had people call up so happy that I'm opening a Sammy's out there, but they've said, 'It's got to be big.' Well we've got 3,700 square feet in this new one compared to 2,400 in West Allis," Bohringer said of his acclaimed hotdog spot with flavor accolades - Sammy's Taste of Chicago was voted best hotdog on the wisn.com Alist for three years running.
Lake Country is not completely new to a Sammy's. Bohringer said he sold a franchise to a man who opened it in Okauchee in the early 2000s. However, he said the location was hampered by the Okauchee downtown road reconstruction at the time.
"He could have made it if he'd stayed open" after construction, but the former franchisee decided to close up shop, Bohringer said. All the better for him, now he can charge ahead with the Oconomowoc location which he is looking to open in March. Bohringer said he will begin putting photos of construction progress on Sammy's Taste of Chicago Facebook page. To watch for updates just log on to Facebook and search Sammy's Taste of Chicago.
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2 Comments
Clay Shannon - Jan 11, 2012 9:22 AM
I used to live in West Allis, live in Oconomowoc now, and can't wait for the opening.
WiscActor - Jan 12, 2012 9:33 AM