The difference between a $30 million yacht and a $3 hot dog isn’t a big deal.

At least that’s what David Ross, former president of Burger Boat Co., hopes in his new career as a hot dog restaurant owner in Manitowoc.

Introducing Dr. Dawg.

It’s the latest venture for the entrepreneur widely credited for salvaging Burger Boat from bankruptcy and creating hundreds of jobs at the company’s Manitowoc shipyard.

Ross and business partner Jim Ruffolo bought Burger in 1993. They pumped new life into the business that was founded during the Civil War and had made custom yachts for some of America’s most famous families – names that include Ford, Rockefeller and Walgreen.

Ross left Burger in 2007. He was reluctant to discuss his departure, but others in the company said Ross left after disagreements with a Texas investor who infused tens of millions of dollars into Burger and became majority owner.

“He was very willing to take over the rest of the company and had a much stronger financial wherewithal than I did, which was something the yacht-building business needed,” Ross said.

“One thing led to another, and I decided it was time for me to move on.”

Ross went into the health insurance business, helping create an insurance plan which gave consumers more control over their health care dollars.

He is still involved in that business but now is more focused on hot dogs.

It started with a “dog wagon” vending cart last summer and has morphed into the Dr. Dawg restaurant.

A hot dog aficionado

The transition from Burger Yachts – where Ross mingled with Russian tycoons and sports stars – to the farmers market, where he pushed a dog wagon, might seem jarring.

“I think that initially a lot of people in our community, not to mention my friends and relatives, had a difficult time understanding the dramatic career change, literally from Burgers to dogs,” Ross said.

But it’s not so odd, given the 62-year-old entrepreneur has a history of starting businesses, including a tow-truck company and a commercial photo lab in downtown Chicago, where he and his wife, Katie, lived on the 55th floor of the Bloomingdale’s building.

A Chicago native, Ross is passionate about hot dogs sold on the city’s streets.

“I found that I became particularly aware of every nuance and detail that separated the good from the really great stands. I have my favorite places that I go to every time I visit Chicago. I will hit one, two or three of them depending on how long I stay.”

His test marketing in Manitowoc, and a course in hot dog business management, led Ross to create Dr. Dawg.

The dog wagon had developed a cult-like following, with regular customers called the “Dawg Squad.”

The restaurant, located at the Harbor Town shopping center, will sell Vienna pure beef hot dogs and Maxwell Street Polish sausages. Poppy-seed buns are from the parent company of Natural Ovens, based in Manitowoc.

The menu includes a variety of sausages, Mexican tamales and hand-cut french fries.

“It’s very Chicago. It’s what I grew up with,” Ross said.

If Dr. Dawg is a success, Ross said he will replicate it elsewhere in the Fox Valley or the Milwaukee area.

The Marine Corps veteran has a reputation in the business community for his insatiable appetite to try new things.

“I guess my entrepreneurial spirit got the best of me, and I decided that I am going for another one,” Ross said.

Some of that spirit comes from being a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with the disease in 2006.

“I view life with a different perspective,” Ross said. “Every day I get up and enjoy the day and enjoy the moment because life is so unbelievably short. It’s amazing how many people just don’t understand that until they have some kind of life-defining moment.”

original article at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

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