New owners of Mel's Hot Dogs keeps Tampa tradition going

It's been nearly two years since Mel Lohn sold his famous hot dog restaurant on Busch Blvd. to new owners.

Mel's Hot Dogs opened in 1973 and quickly became a Tampa tradition in the University, Temple Terrace area.

The new owners are local, with fond memories of the restaurant.

"Things have been great. The staff is wonderful. That's our biggest asset that we've figured out is our staff has been tremendous. We have a very loyal following here that comes in every week and every month, and Busch Gardens doesn't hurt either. They're right in our backyard, so, you know, so that helps too," says Mark Szabo, owner of Mel's Hot Dogs.

Szabo says they haven't changed much since taking over. The recipes and vendors are all the same.

But new things are on the horizon. They're getting ready to launch Mel's Hot Dogs on GrubHub, and catering is also in the works.

"You know, I think 50 years, 50 plus years, I fell in love with Tampa here. Our customers are something different. I don't know if it's that these are generations of families that we've been serving this Tampa staple. Even during the pandemic, a lot of our customers kept this thing going. I mean, we probably made more money during the Pandemic than we made in a multitude of years," explained General Manager Jessica Purvis.

Purvis continued, "So it's just a testament to who our customers are. They just showed up. They showed up really just to show us love. These are the same customers that we see all the time, generations of families that went to USF that went to Florida College down the street, they moved away, they come back. They bring their kids, or people who live at the beach now. They live on the other side of town. They come from Brandon. They come from all over who used to live here. This was their stomping ground, and a lot has changed in this area. They come back."