From the bottom of my pure beef heart: The tale of two Chicago hot dogs and what they can teach you about choices and success

Sitting on my desk at the office is a copy of my favorite conversation starter and reminder of my beloved hometown. It's a book entitled, Never Put Ketchup on a Hot Dog by Bob Schwartz, a former executive at Vienna Beef. His book title is the widely accepted Golden Rule of Hot Dogs adhered to by virtually all Chicagoans. Every Chicagoan has a favorite hot dog stand. Every Chicagoan has memories attached to them. Your favorites are part of your family and folklore. Relationships started at them. Long nights ended at them. When you move away from Chicago, you plan vacations to accommodate them. Somewhere, tucked between that welcoming poppy seed bun, lies a wealth of pure beef wisdom. It's the type of wisdom that is usually only reserved for those willing to commit to foregoing ketchup, but you can have a taste of it for free.

Two of my favorite hot dog "stands" in Chicago have always been Superdawg and Portillo's. Trust me. There are MANY others worthy of a separate debate. Fans of Gene & Jude's, Gold Coast Dogs, Wiener's Circle or others cut me a break please. There's a story I'm building here.

I chose to focus on Superdawg and Portillo's because 1) I grew up on Superdawg, and 2) as a fan of the little, local guy, I was not originally a huge fan of Portillo's until a chance encounter with Dick Portillo changed my perceptions.

What's interesting to me about both Portillo's and Superdawg is that when you learn a bit about their stories, they are both stories of exceptional success rooted in simple beginnings. While they start out relatively the same, they take some different turns based on different choices and motivations. But they're both success stories. These success stories can help us learn a bit about our own personal perceptions of what success is for each of us. And I'd argue one is not more successful than the other and both are worthy of our admiration.

PORTILLO'S: FROM AN $1,100 6 -by-12 FOOT TRAILER TO $1 BILLION SALE

When Portillo's was acquired by Boston-based Berkshire Partners in 2014, it was the culmination of one of Chicago's greatest success stories and gave credence to Dick Portillo's moniker as "the Hot Dog King of Chicago." It's a truly amazing story that started with an $1,100 investment in a 6-by-12 foot trailer with no running water in suburban Villa Park. At the time of sale 50 years later in 2014 for a reported $1 billion, Portillo's boasted over 40 stores and 4,400 employees that expanded from Illinois into Indiana, California, and Arizona.

I had an opportunity to hear Dick Portillo chat many years ago while attending graduate school. I was never over-the-top in love with Portillo's more so because of their many locations than the quality of their dog or beef, but after hearing Mr. Portillo, I became quite fascinated.

• First, he talked distinctly about the care put into the selection of their products and customer experience. Find the finest hot dogs. Use only the highest-quality Italian beef. And so on. This level of thought is not only apparent in their food, but down to every detail of the restaurant including what serving trays they use. Who puts that much effort into selecting a serving tray? The answer: Dick Portillo. Then, once you find the best, negotiate down the price of your vendors to maintain affordability for your customers. (Many companies forego that part about the "best" product.)
• Second, he talked about thinking about your customers and surprising them. If you go in many Portillo's you'll also find a Barnelli's Pasta Bowl. A restaurant within a restaurant? It makes no sense. Or maybe it does. When you understand it, it's rather brilliant. There's always the naysayer in every group that doesn't want a hot dog or an Italian beef. This is pure craziness in my opinion, but true. Rather than putting a salad on the main menu, why not give these naysayers a separate high-quality experience? Add salads, pasta, and more. Now you have a solution for everyone in the group. And it works. Some of their locations sell over $2 million per year in salads alone -- more revenue than most entire fast-food franchises generate for their entire store.
• Last, if you go to any Portillo's you can't help but be a bit mesmerized by the difference in how they manage their preparation and production relative to just about any other restaurant. Their drive through includes employees standing outside in the freezing cold taking orders and running payments to reduce wait times. If you see a drive through at McDonald's or Taco Bell that is twenty cars deep, you typically turn away. It's not worth the wait. At Portillo's you say, "No sweat. We'll be out of here in a few minutes. It's worth it."

Does it work? Portillo's revenue per store equals between $7 and $8 million per year as of a couple years ago -- nearly double most McDonald's and squashing most competitors. Dick Portillo built Portillo's to tickle your taste buds with high quality, provide a quality customer experience, and ALSO maximize revenue per store. Arguably, from a business perspective, you can't always accomplish all of these at the same time. But he did. Ultimately, you can't help but admire how years of hard work resulted in turning his initial $1,100 investment and labor of love into nearly a billion-dollar sale.

SUPERDAWG: A CHICAGO CULTURAL ICON SINCE 1948

If Dick Portillo is the undisputed "Hot Dog King of Chicago," Superdawg founder, Maurie Berman is Chicago hot dogs' "Godfather." As you pull up towards the intersection of Milwaukee, Devon and Nagle Avenues in Chicago, you can't miss its beacon of pure beef genius. Sitting atop Superdawg's roof are its undeniably distinctive and recognizable architectural icons, a loving couple of two 12-foot hot dogs, nicknamed Maurie and Flaurie, that wink and blink at passersby.

Superdawg was only a stone's throw from my childhood home. My Dad was always a little bit happier when he saw Maurie working the window and enjoyed a short, quick chat with him. Those small interactions with customers made a lifetime of difference. Plus, his wife Flaurie was a former Chicago Public School teacher just as my father. That immediately helped justify the frequent contributions my family made to their many years of success. I'm fairly certain our family contributions paid for a few, small family vacations.

Just like Portillo's, Superdawg started with simple beginnings. So simple were these beginnings that they weren't even intended to be a long-lasting business. Returning World War II G.I. Maurie Berman and his newlywed wife Flaurie started Superdawg as a summer side business to make a bit of extra cash in between Maurie's school schedule attending Northwestern University to become a CPA and his wife's Chicago school-teaching schedule. Yet nearly 70 years later, Superdawg has become a Chicago icon.

How has Superdawg survived for 70 years?

• First, a commitment to quality that has spanned decades. Just like Portillo's, Superdawg may never have made it through the years without an unwavering commitment to quality. While they've added new menu items such as two of my favorites, the Whoopercheesie and tamales (your choice of bunch or tube), what draws so many Chicagoans back to Superdawg, and why you find time in your vacation to visit them, is that a Superdawg today is virtually identical to how you remembered it as a child. You get to share your experience with a whole new generation. Let's face it, in today's world of endless TV channels, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV, video games, etc. it can be difficult to find a flurry of connections with our children. My father and I bonded over Bob Newhart because we had six channels. My kids have zero interest. But, it's pretty difficult for your children not to appreciate Superdawg -- even if they insist on putting ketchup on their dog or eating it plain. (Don't forget that most kids don't realize their parents know what they are talking about until they become adults. Some parents pray their kids are doctors. My dreams are more tangible. I pray mine will eventually ditch the ketchup and figure it out how to properly enjoy a Chicago hot dog.)
• Second, distinctive service. While the idea of carhop service was fairly common in the 1950s, it's virtually unheard of today. But, Superdawg is a rare exception where you can still (to this day) park your car, order your meal from your parking spot, and have it delivered right to your car. It's a travel back in time that seems an even more unusually welcome break in today's world of instant communication.

And perhaps what is most distinctive about Superdawg is what you don't see it all --- which is dozens of locations all over Chicago and surrounding states. Aside from their original location in Chicago's northwest side, you'll find only one other Superdawg in Wheeling, Illinois.

I remember my father telling me that he asked Maurie, as I'm sure many had, why he didn't expand to multiple locations and franchise. And Maurie replied (something along the lines of), "I've had my opportunities. But why would I do that when I've got everything I need right here? I make enough to take care of my family. And I can't have these conversations if I've got thirty restaurants to worry about."

Does it work? In the case of Superdawg, choosing not to franchise and potentially compromising Superdawg's roots, character, and uniqueness (such as carhop service or it's iconic 12-foot hot dogs atop the roof) have made Superdawg a cultural and fast-food culinary icon. They have been featured on a variety of shows on Travel Channel and recognized on the Food Network as one of the top five drive-up restaurants. They've gone from local lore to national acclaim to a travel destination visited by tens-of-thousands of hot dog lovers every year.

THE LESSON ABOUT CHOICES AND SUCCESS

It can be difficult to gauge our own personal success in a world where others frequently want to define it for us. We live in a "start up-turns-billions" world where many would frown upon the idea of not cashing in on the opportunity to franchise and make hundreds-of-millions of dollars. We applaud those that turn their idea into billion-dollar valuations. We love the start up too, but it's rare that we applaud the small business owner that purposefully stays small to protect the way they want to do business and/or because they may be willing to make less money to spend every day doing what they love on their own terms. In the cases above, it's difficult to argue that in their own way, Maurie and Flaurie Berman were not equally as successful as Dick Portillo.

The reality is, regardless of what others say, a) we define our own success, and b) we set our own terms of what success means for us. We make choices every single day that impact and challenge our own vision of success and happiness. In the case of Dick Portillo, clearly his choices to invest and expand turned him into a billion-dollar success story; however, not pursuing opportunities to expand helped Maurie Berman create, build and protect a Chicago cultural and culinary icon along with managing his own desired path of success and way of life.

There's a great saying that "success isn't what you're willing to dream about, it's what you're willing to suffer for." Every choice we make is a compromise. We all have different motivations: money, career, family, moving through the corporate ranks (or not), being your own boss, work-life balance, etc. And we all have different calibrations of those motivations that form our views of success and what we're willing to suffer for, or what's worth no suffering at all. It can be easy to let our views and focus get jaded; yet sometimes, the best choices we make are the ones we choose not to pursue at all.

Ultimately, we are challenged constantly with new choices and opportunities, and confronted with conflicting viewpoints of how others view success. It's easy to question or own goals, paths and desires. Understanding your own personal view takes some serious soul searching and introspection. Knowing what opportunities to pursue and what opportunities to leave behind that are personally best for you...well, to understand that you'll need to look deep within your own pure beef heart.