Meet Richard Pink of Fairfax District

Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Pink

Richard, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 1939, 85 years ago, Paul and Betty Pink’s, my parents, purchased a hot dog cart of $50 and placed it on a rented property at La Brea & Melrose and started selling hot dogs for 10 cents and cokes for a nickel. They found the hot dog cart in an ad when reviewing the Help Wanted pages of the newspaper. Since they were out of work, they decided to buy the hot dog cart with $50 they borrowed from Betty’s mother and went into business. The rent was $15 per month. There was no electricity on the lot they rented so they had to buy a 100 yard extension cord to plug into a friendly neighbor’s outlet to fire up the cart. After two years, the landlord raised their rent to $25 per month, but Paul and Betty could not afford the higher rent. They were informed the landlord would consider selling the property. Paul and Betty went to Bank of America for a loan to buy the property, which was granted. They continued selling from the hot dog cart until 1946 at which time they built the existing hot dog stand that is there today including about 500 square feet, a small kitchen and dining room, an outdoor patio and a parking lot. they named the hot dog stand PINK’S after their last name. The dining room walls were soon filled with photos of wannabe actors who heard that famous directors like Orson Welles, Howard Hughes and others often had hot dogs at PINK’S and may discover them. The location of PINK”S on La Brea benefitted from the heavy traffic and visibility. The hot dogs were bought from Hoffy starting in 1939 and is still the hot dog sold today. It is an all beef hot dog that snap when you bite into it due to the natural casing. Pink’s also sold hamburgers. All the drinks were bottled to maintain the old fashioned loo,.
PINK”S stated selling French Fries and onion rings in the 1980s. Business at PINK”S slowly grew over the next 50 years at which point Paul and Betty retired in 1986 and turn the business over to Richard, his wife, Gloria, and daughter, Beverly Pink. The new Pink family members substantially added to the menu, which now has over 40 varieties of hot dogs and over 12 varieties of hamburgers. The business grew significantly between 1986 and today due to various factors: 1) Cable TV often televised food and travel channel shows at Pink’s; 2) Pink’s often marketed through Chili Dogs for Charity promotions both on TV and with gift certificates at charitable silent auctions; 3) Pink’s frequently appears in movies and TV shows; 4) Pink’s became known for a place celebrities dined based on the 200+ celebrity photos on their dining room walls; 5) Pink’s atmosphere became a favorite place to take photos and post them online; and 6) Pink’s bullt up a customer base over the 85 years it has been in business.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The struggles were typical of most fast food restaurants:
1. Maintaining a profit but still keeping prices affordable.
2. Retaining staff.
3. Facing continual competition.
4. Constant upgrading to maintain an A grade..
5. During Covid Pink’s closed for 7 months.
6. Hiring after Covid and ensuring everyone is tested for a period of time.
7. Keeping up with the increasing minimum wage raises.
8. Keeping up with inflation.
9. Coming up with new promotions to market Pink’s.
10. Maintaining food quality with a high volume of business.
11. Coming up with new hot dog and burger combinations.
12. Expanding Pink’s through licensing. Pink’s has had 20 licensed locations over the past 20 years, many of which have closed, but new ones are opening.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
My background includes a Bachelors Degree from UCLA, a Masters Degree from USC and a Law Degree from Loyola. My experience between 1970 and 2016 was both the practice of law and the acquisition and asset management of shopping centers, office buildings and apartment buildings as an executive of large real estate companies. This experience provided me with the background to oversee Pink’s since 1986 with my wife and sister. Of course, I was born into the hot dog business and from an early age were given jobs at Pink’s and started to develop ideas on menu creation and promotion.

What’s next?
I am looking forward to expanding Pink’s through licensing in the US as well as the Philippines and possibly Japan and Korea. In the US we have existing locations at CityWalk in Los Angeles, El Segundo at the Cinema West Theater, and Trailers at various county fairs. We expect to open soon at the LA Zoo and at two water park locations in Las Vegas. We have three locations in Manila. We are researching other movie theater and water park locations in the US and hope to pursue locations in Korea and Japan. We also plan to sell merchandise in various retail stores.

Pricing:

• Hot Dogs: $7.50 to $14.75 depending on the size of the hot dog and sausage and the amount of toppings.
• Hamburgers between $8.75 and $11.50
• French Fries and Onion Rings at $4.95

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pinkshollywood.com
• Instagram: @Pinkshotdogs
• Facebook: @pinkshot dogs
• Twitter: @pinkshotdogs

Image Credits
None needed