Type Restaurant Founded 1966 Key people Pete Graphos (founder) | Industry fast food Headquarters Birmingham, Alabama | |
Products fast food (including hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, breakfast) | ||
Sneaky Pete's is a Birmingham, Alabama-based chain of hot-dog restaurants founded by Pete Graphos in 1966 and sold to the present-owner Bernard D'Amico in 1986. Sneaky Pete's corporate offices are located in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. As part of its franchise plan, many Sneaky Pete's stores are located inside gas station convenience stores under the nameplate Sneaky Pete's Express. The company has also experimented with a more upscale sit-down style restaurant with a larger menu, dubbed Sneaky Pete's Cafe.
Contents
Sneaky Pete's hot dogs are a beef-pork blend with a very thin casing. The signature hot dog has mustard, onions, kraut, and the resraurant's signature hot dog sauce. Other options include chili, cheese sauce, beef sauce, and bacon. The restaurants also serve hamburgers, french fries, onion rings, nachos, and a full breakfast menu. Sneaky Pete's Hot Dog Sauce is bottled for retail sale and is available at several local grocery stores.
History
Graphos first location, called Sneaky Pete's Hot Dogs & Things was on the 2000 block of 8th Avenue South. He took the name from a nickname given him by one of his friends. The second location, in downtown Homewood, opened when Sammy Graphos joined his brother in 1970. Another brother, Jimmy, came on board in 1973, the same year that the partners licensed their first franchise location.
Sam and Jimmy left the company in the mid-1970s, but held on to their locations. Sam renamed his Sam's Super Samwiches in 1978 and Jimmy renamed his Jimmy's Hot Dogs and Burgers in 1990. In 1986 Pete sold the chain, then numbering 24 locations to D'Amico. Graphos went on to open two Mountain Brook eateries which have since closed, and went into real estate full-time.
In 2000 the Sneaky Pete's name was licensed to former Coca-Cola executives Ben Katay and Greg Petro. In addition to expanding the chain in the Atlanta-area, the two planned to pair it with their own "Crazy Crepes" concept for franchising in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. A concept store in Marietta, Georgia showed early success, but eventually closed.
Sneaky Pete's has had several slogans, the most memorable being "The way hot dogs should be".
Locations
Many locations are in the Greater Birmingham area, and other stores are located throughout Alabama.