Painted red and white to look like a dog house, this new hot dog joint opens in Macon
In a small space painted red and white to look like a dog house off Pio Nono Avenue in Macon, Tony Walker serves up more than a dozen hot dog combinations.
He opened Doggie Dogs at 880 Pio Nono Ave. in early April.
“I have to give God the glory,” said Walker, who credited God with giving him the idea for his business. He said the name “just came to me.”
His mom, Helen Walker Law, works alongside him.
Doggie Dogs
Walker wanted to open a hot dog stand but needed a commercial kitchen.
He started looking for places and found a space he could lease in a building that once housed Hillcrest Cleaners and other businesses in the Cherokee Center shopping plaza.
He thinks the part of the building he leases may have once been used for window tinting before he transformed it for cooking up hot dogs.
Driving south on Pio Nono Avenue, the red and white dog house painted on the side of the building is visible. But driving north,the business is easy to miss except for a vertical hot dog banner signaling its existence. That’s because that side of the building, which parallels Pio Nono Avenue, has a water fountain mural painted on it.
What to expect
Walker’s customers arrive at Doggie Dogs on foot or by vehicle or they order via DoorDash or Grubhub.
His hot dogs range from plain to piled high with all sorts of toppings.
His scrambled dog is two hot dogs and two buns cut up and topped with chili, nacho cheese, barbecue chicken, shredded chicken and pickles.
His plain hot dogs cost $1.
The prices go up from there depending on how much is piled on the hot dog and the type of dog ordered such as a sausage dog or a corn dog and the size of the hot dog. Foot-longs cost more.
“We’ll make anything to order that we have in the store,” Walker said. “If they like it, we’ll make it for them.”
More options
Walker also offers hot dog sandwiches, a barbecue chicken sandwich and a pork chop sandwich.
His nachos start simply like his hot dogs with nacho cheese and then piling on to reach the top level of disaster nachos, a name coined by his 8-year-old son, Antonio.
Disaster nachos are a plateful of nacho chips with chili sauce, nacho cheese, barbecue chicken, jalapenos, shredded cheese, cut-up hot dogs and then some more nacho cheese on top.
He also offers combos by adding a drink and chips or fries, and plates with additional side choices such as coleslaw or potato salad.
His most popular dog is the chili cheese dog. His barbecue chicken sandwich and his chili and cheese nachos also sell well.
Walker hopes to add breakfast options when he’s able to hire some help.
His operating hours are ambitious: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and then 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. with Mondays generally his off days. If he’s closed, a security gate generally covers the front of the fledgling business. The phone number is 478-464-6437.
