Operations

Pinkbox owner acquires Hot Dog on a Stick

Stephen Siegel, the founder of Amazing Brands, said the acquisition of the 80-year-old brand will launch a new phase of national and international expansion, targeting growth through flagship street-front locations, drive-thrus, airports, stadiums and resort markets.

Photo: Hot Dog on a Stick

July 8, 2026 by Cherryh Cansler — Publisher, FastCasual.com

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Amazing Brands, parent company of Pinkbox Doughnuts, Siegel's Bagelmania, and Piero's Italian Cuisine, has acquired Hot Dog on a Stick through a bankruptcy court-approved transaction.

Stephen Siegel, the founder of Amazing Brands, said in a company press release the acquisition of the 80-year-old brand will launch a new phase of national and international expansion, targeting growth through flagship street-front locations, drive-thrus, airports, stadiums and resort markets.

Siegel said the company will immediately look for opportunities to open a flagship location on the Las Vegas Strip, as well as other venues across the Las Vegas Valley. Amazing Brands also plans to launch a consumer-packaged goods line to bring the brand's iconic lemonade and other products into grocery stores.

"This acquisition is personal for me," Siegel said. "I grew up loving Hot Dog on a Stick. It is one of those brands people remember with real emotion and nostalgia. My wife also has a deep connection to the company, having served as General Manager of the Montebello Town Center location in the 1990s — a restaurant that is still proudly operating today."

Founded in 1946 at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California, Hot Dog on a Stick became a staple of American shopping mall food courts, known for its hand-stomped lemonade, striped uniforms, and stick-mounted hot dogs and cheese. The brand operates 44 corporate-owned and franchised locations.

The new ownership group plans to modernize the brand's design and introduce menu innovations while maintaining its core identity. Substantially all existing employees will be retained as part of the transition, including corporate team members with more than two decades of service.

"Sometimes great brands simply need renewed energy, attention and a lot of love," Siegel said. "While Hot Dog on a Stick has been predominantly a West Coast success story, we believe the time has come to bring it to the rest of America — and ultimately to the world."

Behind the acquisition

The acquisition comes after FAT Brands Inc., the former parent company of Hot Dog on a Stick and 17 other restaurant concepts, including Fatburger and Johnny Rockets, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

While Amazing Brands walked away with Hot Dog on a Stick, FBG Bid Co. completed a separate acquisition in June of 13 of FAT's other brands for approximately $595 million, according to a Fat Brands statement to FastCasual. That transaction included more than 1,700 locations worldwide, spanning Round Table Pizza, Fatburger, Marble Slab Creamery, Johnny Rockets, Fazoli's, Great American Cookies, Buffalo's Cafe & Express, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Pretzelmaker, Native Grill & Wings and Ponderosa and Bonanza Steakhouses.

The deal did not include Smokey Bones, which has closed all locations, or Elevation Burger, which was sold to Kuwait-based Tabco International Food Catering for $2.5 million.

Lastly, Twin Peaks is now owned by its bondholders via TWNPKS Bid Co., following a $359 million debt-to-equity bankruptcy deal, with management assumed by Summit Acquisitions LLC, a creditor group composed of several of the chain's franchisees.

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is Publisher of FastCasual.com and Vice President of Connect Food. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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