Local restaurant expands with new spot for hot dogs, burgers, milkshakes and more
When the newest location of Rock Hill favorite Hot Dog Depot opens this fall in Fort Mill, you can expect to see a few changes.
The new Hot Dog Depot shop will be located at 106 Clebourne St. in downtown Fort Mill at the intersection of Clebourne and Main streets.
The restaurant’s menu features hot dogs, sandwiches and burgers to go with sides such as fries, tater tots and onion rings. The restaurant serves Pepsi products to drink, and milkshakes and cakes for dessert.
The opening will come with the launch of a new menu for both Hot Dog Depot locations, a Facebook post from the restaurant said.
Customers will be able to try three new items — the Hot Honey Brat (a bratwurst with sweet heat honey and grilled onions), Smokeshow (a smoked sausage with burnt ends topped with hickory BBQ sauce) and Corn Puppies. Another addition to the menu is the option to order a burger with the same toppings as any of the hot dog styles.
Hot Dog Depot will also offer a 10% discount on all food items every Wednesday.
It’s a big step for the Rock Hill-based restaurant, thanks to new ownership.
Jacintha (Jay) and Dave Sutton’s decision to buy the Hot Dog Depot in Rock Hill two years ago was both a business decision and a personal one.
The couple wanted to get into the food business, intrigued by drive thru-only locations. The popular hot dog restaurant on Albright Road. in Rock Hill had a loyal local following that interested them, too.
The Suttons were also fans of the Hot Dog Depot and made sure not to change any of the food recipes.
Now, the couple are in the process of opening a second location in Fort Mill, but the road to get there was not the smoothest.
“It was not doing well financially (when we first bought it),” Dave said. “We had to do an overhaul of operations, and, eventually, we did a price increase (about six months later), which wasn’t super popular ... and did our best to keep everything the same on the menu.”
Dave has a background in finance and business operations and Jay in marketing and sales, so the couple turned for help to their new general manager, Melissa Lee, who had previous experience running a hot dog restaurant in Myrtle Beach.
“My husband and I plus our GM, we’re the perfect trio of combined talents,” Jay said. “It’s like ‘OK, you’re up’ or ‘OK, this is in your field’. Having the three of us for voting purposes or having our collective opinions has been beneficial. I say without that, we wouldn’t be where we are.”
The Suttons said they are committed to their customer base and hope to continue to expand Hot Dog Depot to bigger and better things.
“It’s a big step, we want to see if it’s repeatable,” Dave said. “Can we open in a second location and be successful? If so, can we stabilize again and do it again somewhere else? We get a lot of input from people on a third location, and that’s cool to see.”
The Fort Mill restaurant is expected to open sometime in September.
Dave said that the restaurant, already on GrubHub, will work on expanding its delivery catalog to DoorDash and UberEats, as well.
Hot Dog Depot
Location: 106 Clebourne Street, Fort Mill, SC, 29715
Cuisine: American, hot dogs, burgers, dessert
Instagram: @hot.dog.depot
