Chicago hot dog eatery reverses course on Manatee County location

Fred Booth remembered eating at the first Portillo’s hot dog stand.

It was a 6-by-12-foot trailer fashioned to look like a dog house. 

Booth is from Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The “Dog House,” as it was called prior to taking on owner Dick Portillo’s name, was opened in 1963 in Villa Park, another Chicago suburb. 

Now, the chain has 100 locations across 10 states, one of which is 48 miles away from Booth’s home in Rosedale. 

“I hate driving up to Brandon for a hot dog,” he said. 

Or he could drive 39 miles to the Portillo's in St. Petersburg.

But Booth will have to keep taking a long drive if he wants a Portillo’s hot dog. Booth and several other former Chicagoans have been waiting for a Portillo’s to open off State Road 64 in The Marketplace at Heritage Harbour. 

However, Manatee County records show the permit was voided Dec. 28 due to six months of no activity. Under Florida Building Code 105.3.2, the building permit reached its time limitation.

The code requires a business to reapply for a new permit once the time runs out. But Portillo’s and The Marketplace mutually terminated the lease at 7267 State Road 64, so there will not be another application or a Portillo’s closer than St. Petersburg or Brandon anytime soon. 

While Portillo’s did not respond to the East County Observer’s requests for more information, the company’s Quarter 3 Earnings Conference Call held Nov. 4 shed light on the decision.

Interim CEO Michael Miles, Jr. updated investors on Portillo’s “strategic reset” to slow development in 2025 and 2026. 

“We added too many locations too quickly and too close together over the past 24 months,” Miles said. “As a result, we have slowed development to the extent we can, limiting openings in 2025 and 2026 to sites with already signed leases. Quite a few sites in the pipeline were pushed back or dropped.” 

Moving forward, Portillo’s will leave more time and distance between new openings, and the restaurants will be smaller. 

Portillo’s “restaurant of the future” is a 6,250-square-foot restaurant with a 47-foot production line, which the company said in an August press release is more efficient to build, and better reflects the way consumers interact with the brand.