Now, you've got a family connection to the Cozy Dog, but it goes all the way back, doesn't it, generations? Can you just tell us a bit about where it all began and how you connected to it?

Yeah, it actually all started with my grandfather, Ed Wolmeyer Jr., in the 40s when he was in the military.

He saw a corn dog being aped and thought there should be a quicker way to cook that instead of in an oven.

So he asked a friend of his whose father owned a bakery and said, hey, do you think you can come up with a batter that would stick to a hot dog that could be submerged in cooking oil? So to his surprise, a few months later, his friend sent him some batter and said, hey, Ed, I got something I'd like you to try.

So my grandfather mixed it up there in the mess hall and tested it on his fellow army mates, and that's how the Cozy Dog became.

Do you do lots of different varieties of that dog? Sure.

No, we just have one version of it.

It's the original that my grandfather came up with.

Coming up...

I ship more of my corn dog mix to Canada than we use here in the United States.

Today, we're grabbing a bite to eat.

Hello.

I'm Josh Waldmeier, the third-generation owner here at the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Illinois, and we're 205 miles south from the start of Route 66.

[upbeat music] My grandfather opened this establishment when he got out of the military service back in 1946.

Of course, I grew up in the restaurant, but after I graduated high school, I went out in the private sector and tried to see what I could do, and I came back probably about eight years or so later, around 2006, decided to see if my mom needed any help.

It felt good, so I decided to stay around and ended up taking over in 2013.