On a regular normal day in the office, the phone rang and on the other end of the line was a nice young man named Bruce. Bruce had recently attended a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game with his parents in Niles, Ohio. As it happened, Angie and Dee Cowger had visited the same ball park earlier in the Spring of the year. The folks at the park liked CSHDC so well that it is now served at Eastwood park and Custard Stand Food Products is a Scrappers sponsor. Bruce called to compliment Custard Stand Food Products on the great tasting chili that topped his family’s dogs that day at the park, but he didn’t stop there.

See, Bruce works for Discount Drug Mart in their Pro Points program in affiliation with Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Gladiators and the Lake Erie Monsters; and he wanted Custard Stand Hot Dog Chili! This all sounded very exciting, but could it really happen? It wasn’t but a few day until that question was answered with an invitation sent to Dee and Angie Cowger, Owners of CSFP:

“Discount Drug Mart and the Browns would like to extend a special invitation for you to attend our Browns Pro
Points vendor meeting, hosted by the Browns and the Discount Drug Mart Senior Management Team. The
meeting will be held on Thursday, September 8th, at Cleveland Browns Stadium.”

So, Dee and Angie went to Cleveland to the Browns stadium and served up Custard Stand Hot Dog Chili and Custard Stand Chili Soup.  And what they’ve known  for so many years proved to be true again: the taste of the chili sells it.  In a just another few days Custard Stand Food Products was reviewing a contract  “subject to the rules, regulations and by-laws of the NFL.”

Now, this week, 71 Discount Drug Marts across Ohio are stocking Custard Stand Hot Dog Chili and Custard Stand Chili Soup!! To find a Discount Drug Mart near you visit their Store Locator.

Here at Custard Stand Food Products, we have always thought that Ohio was a good place for our products. We know many West Virginians reside there and are fans of a good “hill billy dog”.  So, we are very excited to be part of this program and have the opportunity to reach more of our Ohio fans.

Click below to learn all there is to know about the Pro Points program.

Eddie and Stella Blake opened the first franchise of The Custard Stand in Oak Hill at 4342 Lochgelly Road. Click here to read the story in the Beckley Register-Herald!

Get hot dogs (with our chili, of course) sandwiches and soft-serve ice cream. Hours: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. The restaurant is just off U.S. 19. on Lochgelly Road. (Click here for map.)

Click here to email us for more infomation on franchise opportunities.

In his winning effort, Vasquez downed 12 1/2 hot dogs during the 10 minute contest to take home the grand prize.  A total of seven contestants, including the Nicholas County Fair Queen, participated.

For his winning efforts, Vasquez collected the 3WS Double Dog Dare trophy, t-shirt and a cash prize of $200.  The 3WS Double Dog purse was sweetened by Summersville Mayor Robert Shafer, who added $100 to the grand prize.

Besides having a visit from The Fun Finders (Jim and Bonnie Parr), the good folks
at Rand McNally/USA Today sent a video crew as part of the Best of the Road Contest!

P.S. That’s Linsey singing at the end of the video.

P.S.S. Click here if you would like to cast a vote for Addison/Webster Springs in Rand McNally/USA Today’s Best of the Road contest.

Gary (from left) and The Fun Finders: Bonnie and Jim

America has spoken and the results are in! Addison/Webster Springs has been named one of six finalists competing for the Best for Food title in Rand McNally’s search for the Best of the Road with USA TODAY.  In a monthlong call for nominations and votes, over 20,000 Americans. Addison/Webster Springs will be competing with Burnsville, MN; Costa Mesa, CA; Gulfport, FL; Lafayette, LA; and Visalia, CA.

The Fun Finders team — Bonnie and Jim Parr — visited Addison/Webster Springs on Saturday, June 25, and the Rand McNally film crew visited Sunday, June 26. ”It was an honor to show Webster Springs — the Mountain Park — to Bonnie and Jim,” says Angie Cowger, member of Addison/Webster Springs Main Street and an owner of Custard Stand Food Products. “Our town is not only beautiful but a wonderful place to raise a family and a great way to enjoy a simpler pace.”

Bonnie and Jim got their bellies full with a traditional country breakfast at Vickie’s, enjoyed a hot dog and a milk shake at The Custard Stand for lunch and finished up with dinner at the Addison Cafe. During the day, they crossed a swinging bridge, went four-wheelin’ up Back Fork, toured Custard Stand Food Products production facility and visited Carpenter 5&10, Addison Visitors Center, Make-It-Personal Boutique, Catholic Charities Resale Shop and the all-volunteer Fire Department. They met with town dignitaries at the Main Street Office to sample some West Virginia food products and visited with World Champion Woodchopper Arden Cogar, who lives in Addison/Webster Springs. (Click here for photos of the visit.)

The top 30 finalist towns across five categories were narrowed down from more than 600 submissions, and were determined by a combination of public appeal and analysis of reviews and photos by the judges. Five teams participating in the Best of the Road Rally departed New York City on June 23 on a three-week cross-country road trip in which they will personally visit and review each of the finalist towns in their assigned category. In Los Angeles on July 15, the winning team of the Best of the Road Rally will be crowned and awarded a $10,000 prize based on creativity, number of destinations met and quality of category descriptions.

Best of the Road judges will weigh blog posts, videos and photos submitted by the Best of the Road Rally teams to determine the winning town in each category.  On July 21 at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention in New Orleans, the winning towns will be announced. Top towns will be highlighted on www.bestoftheroad.com and in the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas, as well as on USA TODAY’s Travel site.

The inaugural Best of the Road Rally partners include USA TODAY, Saab, Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Shell and Fleetwood RV.

For more information and to follow each team’s whereabouts throughout the Best of the Road contest, visit www.bestoftheroad.com and http://travel.usatoday.com.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Rand McNally/USA Today “Best of the Road” contest! Addison (Webster Springs) is a finalist in the Best for Food category. More than 600 towns were entered in the contest. The next step is a visit from the Best of the Road® cross-country rally team sometime between June 23 and July 15.  The winner will be featured in the 2013 Rand McNally Atlas next year. Let’s get an even bigger place on the map and bring them to our beautiful town!

Click here to read more about the contest.

Click here to watch the report!

Thanks to WBOY and reporter Macall Allen for visiting this week and featuring The Custard Stand on “Restaurant Road Trip”! Thanks to our super-fan Allen Clayton for his campaign to get us on the show!

In case you missed it, click the video to watch!

Read to the bottom of the newsletter or you’ll miss the coupon for something sweet on Valentine’s Day!