Hot dog wars in Dewey

Hot dog wars in Dewey

"People come in here and say they have always gone to Deerhead, but when they try this, they say, 'We're never going back,'" says Dewey Dogs' Dave Goldfarb. "They come back here. Without a doubt. It's just a better hot dog."

Deerhead's Carmine Courtney, who has been managing Deerhead locations for nearly 20 years, says he is not intimidated by his competition.

"Deerhead stands alone, as far as hot dogs go. We have the split hot dog with the steamed roll and our secret sauce that nobody else has," he says. "I like it when my competition is right next door to me. If you're competing with my hot dog, I'll blow you away."

Hey, at least they didn't call each other weenies.

But with the floundering economy and two weeks of nearly non-stop rain earlier this summer season, Goldfarb and Courtney are united on one front: They hope that July, which is National Hot Dog Month, will help make their investment pay off.

With plenty of late-night business from the party crowd -- Deerhead is open until 3 a.m. and Dewey Dogs is open until 2 a.m. -- there should be room for both shops, says Carol Everhart, president of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce. "Common sense would say that servicing the nightlife crowd could probably do very good business, even if there's two of them," she says.