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G&G Hot Dogs: Building the American dream in Red Bank, one hot dog at a time

Brett Kimmins
Special to the Asbury Park Press

RED BANK - For 50 years, G&G Hot Dogs has been feeding a hungry public at the Red Bank train station while building the American dream for two generations of its founding family.

Gus Tangalos started the business in 1972. Gus, who originally hails from Greece, had his own construction business in the old country, which he operated for 10 years, as a means of paying bills and taking care of his family, said his daughter Dimi Tangalos, who today runs the food truck with her husband George Leboussis.

“My father’s big dream was to come to the States and make a better life for himself,” Tangalos said. “That was a big thing at the time, to immigrate and fully realize the American dream. Our family had past generations of people coming to America from Greece and just working and raising their families. Once that happened for my father, he took full advantage of the opportunity and never looked back.

“My father started out with a small hot dog push cart in Jersey City,” Tangalos said. “Although he worked hard and did a great job with that small business, he wanted to get to a different, more safe location, because Jersey City back then was just not a very safe place to have that type of business.

George Laboussis, owner of G&G Hot Dogs, a Red Bank-based food truck business that provides fresh hot dogs and other food for its customers, prepares hot dogs in his food truck near the Red Bank Train Station in Red Bank, NJ Thursday, May 26, 2022.

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"After looking around extensively and trying to find the right location, my parents found our current spot in Red Bank next to the train station," she continued. "This time, though, they decided to open up a hot dog truck and call the business G&G Hot Dogs, instead of continuing with the cart.”

Learning everything about the business

Once Gus Tangalos and his family moved to Red Bank and established their business there, Dimi would help her father after school and during the summer.

“I pitched in and worked when I had to just to help out as much as I could,” Tangalos said. “I pretty much did everything from making the hot dogs to serving and interacting with all of the customers. I started just giving out refreshments like sodas and things to customers, but I graduated to preparing the food there just the way my dad would for so many years.

“It was a life-changing experience,” Tangalos said. “I really learned of hard work and working with my father prepared me for the real world. He loved to serve his customers because he got such joy out of seeing them really enjoy his hot dogs. People would come back again and again just because they couldn’t get enough of this wonderful food. It was a family thing and we took a lot of pride in the end product.”

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George Laboussis, owner of G&G Hot Dogs, a Red Bank-based food truck business that provides fresh hot dogs and other food for its customers, prepares hot dogs in his food truck near the Red Bank Train Station in Red Bank, NJ Thursday, May 26, 2022.

Gus Tangalos worked 41 years with his business, but health concerns eventually put him on the sidelines permanently. However, Dimi’s husband George Leboussis stepped in.

“I met George through a friend,” Tangalos said. “He was working at an auto-repair shop when we first starting to see each other. I would go and help him out with his business for a while, as he worked on the cars and I did what I could here and there to keep the business going. My father decided he wasn’t going to go back to work after his medical condition, and so, George took the reins and filled in for my father.

“He really saved the day,” Tangalos said. “It was a learning experience for him, but he liked it, or else he wouldn’t have done it. He didn’t think twice about taking over the operation because he knew the responsibility and that he had some big shoes to fill. He made a smooth transition into the business, even though he had to learn some things.

"My father and I helped teach him the business and got him familiar with how to operate  it just like my dad did from the get-go," Tangalos said. "He eased right into it.”

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George Laboussis, owner of G&G Hot Dogs, a Red Bank-based food truck business that provides fresh hot dogs and other food for its customers, prepares hot dogs in his food truck near the Red Bank Train Station in Red Bank, NJ Thursday, May 26, 2022.

Keeping it in the family

After Laboussis took over for Gus, G&G Hot Dogs remained as successful as ever.

“People knew who I was when I worked there and I would introduce George to the regulars and the newer customers," Tangalos said. "They took to him very nicely and had a deep appreciation for the way he ran the business. He did everything right and people just kept coming because of how great the food was and how great his customer service skills were.

“In the beginning, people would see George and think that someone else took over the business, but when they saw me with George, they understood that the business was still in the family," Tangalos said. "They were comfortably reassured that the business was being run with the same care and attention to detail. George really came into his own at that point and he still runs the business with great success to this day.”

Fortunately, the business was not damaged by COVID-19, despite the dropoff in people commuting to work on the train.

“We were able to stay open and serve people, whereas other businesses could not do that,” Tangalos said. “We were able to be there for our customers and people were very conscious about social distancing and things like that. We kept everything clean and were very mindful of keeping customers satisfied with the way we ran a safe and professional operation.”

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The couple don’t just serve hot dogs, even though they are their main draw.

“George does hot dogs, sausage sandwiches, meatball sandwiches, along with bags of chips and drinks,” Tangalos said. “We really take pride in our food and the way we make it because it is unlike anything you can get anywhere else. Many places can serve their customers hot dogs, but we have fresh ingredients and we give our customers a one-of-a-kind interaction. That’s how we stand out.”

The couple are not sure what the future holds, but they have no plans to stop.

“We don’t know what will happen 10 years from now, but we will definitely be there for the time being before we think about retiring,” Tangalos said. “We just want to focus on the present and live in the moment.”

George Laboussis, owner of G&G Hot Dogs, a Red Bank-based food truck business that provides fresh hot dogs and other food for its customers, prepares hot dogs in his food truck near the Red Bank Train Station in Red Bank, NJ Thursday, May 26, 2022.

G&G Hot Dogs

Owners: Dimi Tangalos and George Leboussis

Founded: 1972

Location: Shrewsbury Avenue next to the Red Bank train station

Open: Mondays through Saturdays