But we thought that we would do a few things. “They were suffering from the effects of the pandemic,” McGlade said.
Tom McGlade, the vice president of marketing and commerce at Vienna Beef, said the company wanted to figure out how to help independent restaurants struggling during the pandemic. Lamont finished her 367th hot dog stand 26 hours behind her sister.Īs the second- and third-place winners, Buralli and Lamont each received a mini hot dog cart, a T-shirt, a ribbon featuring a hot dog and will get a catered hot dog party for 60 people. Lamont’s husband knew about the competition - but didn’t tell her because she’s so competitive, Buralli said. 21, 2021.īuralli and Lamont started the challenge about a week after it began. And being able to share it back is kind of a cool thing.”Ĭredit: Provided Sisters Karen Buralli (left) and Rose Lamont (right) competed with each other during the Vienna Beef Hot Dog Stand Challenge on Oct. That’s part of the hot dog stands, it’s your community. “It’s gonna go back to the community and the seniors and the kids, and getting to share it with other people. “Part of this prize is going to go directly back to the kids that I work with, because what else are you going to do with $1,000 and hot dogs?” Esposito said. “It just became a fun, competitive driving thing to do, and you could do social distancing and not have to worry about anybody else.”Įsposito will use part of her prize on the kids and older people she works with in her job teaching sports and recreation at the Park District. “I just started making it a priority and going to it all the time,” Esposito said. Seeing others get close to winning the challenge, including Buralli and Lamont, kept her motivated to continue. When she started experiencing burnout from eating several hot dogs each week, she would change which items she ordered. Just a week in, she’d already visited about 60 of the stands.Īt times, Esposito would eat at hot dog stands every day after work and on weekends. 21, 2021.Įsposito said her boyfriend thought the challenge was a cool event but wasn’t seriously interested in participating in the challenge - while she, a highly competitive person, was determined to win. Credit: Maia McDonald/Block Club Chicago Sisters Karen Buralli (left) and Rose Lamont (right) show off their second- and third-place winner ribbons on Oct. “And then two days later, I’d already been to a bunch of stands, and was like ‘Oh, you’re really gonna do this,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah.’” Credit: Maia McDonald/Block Club Chicago Southwest Side resident Stephanie Esposito won the Vienna Beef Hot Dog Stand Challenge in about five weeks. It will be fun to do something because there’s nothing else going on,’” Esposito said.
“I was like, ‘OK, that’s something that we could do.
She will also receive VIP tickets to several sporting and entertainment venues over the next year.Įsposito started the challenge after her boyfriend mentioned it to her in passing. The winners were announced Thursday.īy becoming Vienna Beef Top dog, Esposito, a Park District emmployee, received a Top Dog T-shirt, a $1,000 Vienna Beef gift card and a one-of-a-kind Top Dog trophy - with a Vienna Beef hot dog on top, of course. More than 4,300 people participated in the challenge, and there were 29,000 check-ins at participating stands, according to Vienna Beef. She said she racked up an extra 9,000 miles on her car. The second- and third-place winners - sisters Karen Buralli and Rose Lamont - also ate at all 367 participating stands, but they finished in six weeks.Įsposito doesn’t know how many hot dogs she ate during the challenge - but, at 367 stands in just 35 days, she visited an average of more than 10 stands per day. CHICAGO - Thousands of Chicagoans scarfed down hot dogs in hopes of being named Vienna Beef’s Top Dog - but no one was quite as passionate as Stephanie Esposito.Įsposito, of the Southwest Side, visited 367 hot dog stands in just five weeks to win Vienna Beef’s Hot Dog Stand Challenge.