Westborn Mall Brings Hot Dog Stand Back
The hot dog cart is coming back to Westborn Mall.
We wrote about the dog stand being asked to move back in April but now the Westborn Mall owner and tenants have found a way to bring the cart back.
In a press release issued by Westborn Mall, the owner reports that Anna Ford, owner of the hot dog cart, and the owner of the Red Olive restaurant have worked out a way for both to operate in the mall.
Westborn Mall owner Tom Petzold took action to bring the cart back after customer complaints.
“This has really opened my eyes. I never intended to break the good will we have been striving for many decades to build in this community,” said Petzold, whose family has managed Westborn Mall for more than 40 years. Realizing that his decision was affecting shoppers and tenants including Red Olive, the new restaurant tenant unfairly taking the most criticism, Petzold said he knew he had to act.
Petzold called Pete Goulas, owner of Red Olive with 10 restaurants in the Detroit metro area, to talk about a possible solution. Both their companies had made substantial investments to bring the family restaurant to Dearborn.
To satisfy the shopping center’s customers who missed Ford’s hot dog cart, Petzold then called Ford with his idea. He knew her to be an astute business woman from their temporary rent free agreement set up two years earlier when the hot dog cart first came to the shopping center’s parking lot, the statement indicated.
“I asked Anna if she’d be willing to bring the hot dog cart back to the parking lot and pay a nominal rent that Westborn Mall would donate to local charities that she designated,” said Petzold.
Ford, a lifelong resident of Dearborn, readily agreed and designated both the Dearborn Historical Museum and the Dearborn Animal Shelter.
So if you stop by the mall today, the dog cart is open for business.
June 13th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
Glad to see that a “David” can once in a while with with a “Goliath”.
June 13th, 2012 at 2:44 pm
Well, this is good news. But I still won’t go to Red Olive. The actions taken by that business in the first place pretty much knocked them off my list of restaurants to try. This agreement will not change anything.
June 13th, 2012 at 10:58 pm
I’m happy for Anna and her customers!
June 14th, 2012 at 7:42 am
http://saveoursmallpools.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-slogan-would-you-put-on-dearborn.html#comment-form
Livonia City Entrance Sign “Families Still First” – Dearborn is “Hometown of Henry Ford” – – – should be “Hometown of the Mayor McCheese!”
June 14th, 2012 at 9:14 am
Nice to see them admit an error and take action to make things better. Now if this would happen with paid parking, public service days and the proposed pool situation we could take steps to make things better there. But nobody will ever admit that these are bad ideas for our city.
June 15th, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I have a question…what is the point of the ‘rent’ if it is given to a charity? If Ms. Ford wants to give part of her revenue to a charity, that is fine, but by forcing this ‘giving’ the landlord is diminishing her revenue – which can’t be very much – just to appease the Red Olive.
June 16th, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Is it because everyone else pays rent?
June 20th, 2012 at 10:32 pm
Donna, I don’t have a problem with the stand paying rent. But if the point is to pay rent like the permanent businesses, then the landlord should keep the rent for expenses. Giving it away seems to make it a publicity stunt. If that is all it is, don’t charge the rent. Assuming a hundred customers per day, what is the net? A hundred bucks?