A Cherished Hot Dog Stand Celebrates 50 Years of Business, with an Owner and Employees Who Have Been There for Decades

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When Byron’s Hot Dogs opened on Irving Park Road in Lakeview in 1975, a hot dog cost 59¢, the price at which you can again enjoy a hot dog from the cherished stand when it celebrates its 50th anniversary on May 10 (while supplies last). Today, a normally priced Byron’s hot dog will set you back $5.32. These days, the only thing that comes close to 59¢ is an add-on.

“If you ask for cheese on your sandwich, it’ll be 60¢,” says Mike Payne, the owner of Byron’s.

Of course, the prices aren’t the only thing that have changed over the decades – even as many other things haven’t, like Payne’s involvement, the Vienna Beef hot dogs, and the addition of lettuce, cucumber, and bell pepper to the classic toppings of a Chicago dog. But the menu has expanded to include various sandwiches such as grilled chicken, Italian beef, fish, and gyros. Payne is planning to add a covered dining room where there’s currently some picnic tables next to the stand. There’s now tap-to-pay and online ordering; Byron’s has been unafraid to adopt new technology, as a 1990 Chicago Tribune story about its acceptance of dining orders via fax machine notes, although owner Byron Kouris’ joke in that article that “one day we may be able to beam your hot dog straight to you” has yet to come true.

Kouris died in 2012, but Payne has carried on his hot dog stands, and was there from the beginning. Payne was the milkman for Kouris’ previous restaurant in the early ’70s, and became friends with Kouris during his three weekly deliveries there. Payne had worked at a couple hot dog stands on the northwest side and in the suburbs, and Kouris was interested in opening his own. So Kouris took over a Steak ‘n’ Egger on Irving Park, gutted and remodeled it with Payne, and opened it as Byron’s Hot Dogs on his mother’s birthday.

Payne was the manager, and soon hired a teenaged Brant Lidman – who still works the grill today. (Both Payne and Lidman left Byron’s for a time, but Payne has been with Byron’s without interruption since 1982, Lidman since 1987.) Lidman’s wife Sandy can be found feet away from Brant at the register, just as she has been for some 30 years. “She’s my best friend,” Brant says.

“You can’t pick out one thing,” Sandy says when asked what about the job has made her stay so long. She and Brant mention the interactions with people, the energy, the food. “It’s just fun,” says Brant. He says they’re recognized around the city by regulars of Byron’s.

While it’s those regulars who keep the hot dog stand afloat, it has also had some high-profile fans and visitors. Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins frequented a Byron’s located near Clark Street and Peterson Avenue, then started coming to the original location when that one closed. The Rolling Stones and other bands have stopped in when playing shows at nearby venues like Metro or the Aragon. Governor Jim Thompson’s security guards would sweep the tiny stand before he ordered a Polish sausage. And Senator Dick Durbin liked Byron’s enough that he helped bring it to the White House for a picnic on the South Lawn in 2010, a celebration of a hometown food for President Obama.

“In the beginning, I thought it was a prank phone call,” Payne says of the initial outreach from the White House. There’s still a picture of him in the White House with Obama in the Irving Park location, while the Byron’s on Lawrence Avenue in Ravenswood has a sign on its side announcing “Proudly Served at the White House.”

Payne, who became a partner in the hot dog stands in 1989 and fully bought Kouris out with his wife in 2006, has a long memory for the people who have frequented, worked at, or supplied Byron’s. While the White House visit is memorable, he’s most proud of the people he has been able to help over all the decades, whether as an employer or as a kind of “mentor,” as Brant Lidman calls him. “This guy is the best guy to work for,” Lidman says. “I look at him as a big brother.”

While only two Byron’s remain, there have been six total locations, including one next to Wrigley Field – and Brant Lidman and Payne worked at them all. Payne grew up a White Sox fan but eventually found himself a Cubs supporter after feeding the players for years out of the Wrigleyville stand.

“In the morning we used to make them breakfast sandwiches, 75 or 80 breakfast sandwiches, to bring them inside for the players and the people that work there,” he says. “I want to be fair to myself,” he adds of becoming a Cubs fan. It wasn’t “just because we were making money from being next to the Cubs; I got to meet all the players and the people that ran the thing and I started liking them.”

Enjoying food from Byron’s seems like a surefire way of endearing Payne – or both Lidmans – to you. “I love watching people eat and how they feel after they eat,” says Payne. “That’s what’s kept me around for a long time.”

And he has no plans of giving it up any time soon, 50 years in.