NEDERLAND — Wednesday marked National Hotdog Day in the United States and the newest eatery to Nederland Avenue was packed, but that hasn’t been unusual since Wienerschnitzel opened on July 12. In fact, many of the customers had no clue of Wednesday’s celebration.

Taylor Childs, 15, of Hampshire-Fannett said that he just came for a great-tasting hotdog with his grandmother.

“I remember eating at a Wienerschnitzel when I was about 8 years old,” he said. “I just wanted to come today because it was something new in the area.”

The new establishment consistently has a line that goes around the building and out to the street during lunch hours, franchise owner Aggie Davis said.

“Our biggest challenge has been getting the kids used to all of this traffic coming in,” she said. “I heard a lot of customers say we move cars pretty fast. That’s what we are focused on.”

Davis said that the eatery’s ability to move fast gives them an advantage over a potential upcoming rival.

“We want Whataburger to move in across the street,” she said. “We want them. We want the competition. That makes our game better and we can get our hotdogs out faster, so that’s what we’re practicing right now. You have to practice speed. Whataburger is going to come.”

Davis said that the Nederland location has had a successful launch.

“I’ve had a lot of stores over 30 years,” she said. “I have five in California, but this has been different than anything than I could have ever dreamed.”

Davis said she thanks the community for the robust support during the first week.

“I think the biggest difference here has been community support,” she said. “We have customers that tell us that they are so happy that they don’t have to go to Orange or Lumberton. That’s what they were doing. I love talking to them and I love listening to them.”

Davis said that their busiest hour resulted in $941 in sales, which came on the first day.

“Some of the high-volume stores make about $5,000-$6,000 a day,” She said. “It’s very exciting to see that we are making about $8,000 a day.”

Davis said whether the customers knew it or not, the fast food chain was definitely celebrating National Hotdog Day.

“We respect National Hotdog Day,” Davis said. We have five chilidogs for $5 today. We have a national day everyday. Whatever it is, we celebrate it.”