To celebrate 100 years of the Mother Road, we’re taking a trip down Route 66 to see how the small businesses along the way are faring this summer.
Josh Waldmire is the owner of the Cozy Dog Drive In in Springfield, Illinois. For three generations, his family has kept the business afloat.
This year, Waldmire is experiencing record traffic as travelers from across the globe visit his corndog shop.
“Actually, when I was setting up for this interview with you,” he said, “I had some Germans come in that I was talking to and taking pictures with.”
But amid all the excitement, even he is dealing with higher costs.
“At the beginning of this year, we experienced an increase on our hot dogs,” said Waldmire. “They went up almost a 15%, which probably came out to close to almost a nickel, but when you sell hundreds of thousands of them, it adds up.”
To hear the rest of Waldmire’s story click the audio player above.
