Hot dog eating competition raises funds for Entrepreneur Society

Eyes darted left and right as impatient contestants were ready to down some hot dogs. On the count of five with five minutes on the clock, the hot dogs were quickly ripped apart. Contestants ate the meat first then dipped the bun in the water to help them bite, chew and swallow faster.

On Tuesday, Cal State Fullerton students gathered around the Quad ready to witness a fast-paced hot dog eating competition.

Eleven CSUF students put their appetites to the test by entering the first-annual Hot Dog Eating Contest, co-sponsored by Quality Toyota to benefit the Entrepreneur Society.

“We put together all our skills, creativeness and everything we learned from classes and guest speakers and basically we put together this event … we kept brainstorming, and it got bigger. It was going to be a barbecue, so it turned into a barbecue and a hot dog competition,” said Araceli Rivas, president of the Entrepreneur Society. “We wanted to come up with a unique fundraiser to help our club; we want to raise money for this club to give us a chance and an opportunity to visit business conferences and more.”

Contestants competed for a hot dog eating champions belt, $50 for first place, $25 for second place and $10 for third. Quality Toyota also offered an opportunity to win free Anaheim Ducks tickets.

“Quality Toyota of Corona is a family owned and operated business that is committed to supporting community programs,” said Gina Gordon, a marketing director for the Gordon Automotive Group Inc. “We are sponsoring this event because many of our employees are undergraduates from CSUF, and we like to support. We are community driven.”

LensCrafters of Whittier also helped with the event by donating a $100 and $50 gift certificate for sunglasses to two lucky winners who purchased a hot dog combo at the barbecue. The hot dog combo included a hot dog, chips, a drink and a raffle ticket.

“We help sponsor events in hope to inspire this sale of hot dogs,” said John Ferrell, general manager at LensCrafters in Whittier.

Eight hot dogs and three cups of water were placed in front of each contestant, leading to the victory of first place winner Philemon Ahn, who consumed thirteen-and-a-half hot dogs in five minutes.

“This was kind of last minute. One of my classmates actually told me about the competition yesterday, so I didn’t have much time to prepare, so I was able to drink some water and eat a lot of cabbage and try to expand my stomach a little bit … I’ll be hitting up the gym tomorrow,” Ahn said, a business major. “I’m going to be wearing my belt every day for the rest of the week to all my classes.”

“We only had six weeks to prepare for this event. It turned out to be a great success, so I think for next year if we have more time, it will be a lot bigger and a lot better. There seems to be a lot of people pumped up and excited about the hot dog eating competition,” Rivas said.

Rivas said Entrepreneur Society members agreed to donate the extra food to a shelter in the City of Orange.

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California State University, Fullerton's Small Business Institute® has won over 40 awards for outstanding student consulting to business owners.

It won the 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2008 National Graduate Case of the Year Award from the Small Business Institute Director's Association (SBIDA), placed second in 2006, placed second in the 1999 and 2002 in the undergraduate division, placed first in the undergraduate comprehensive division in 2000 and won 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2008 Regional honors for both graduate and undergraduate (Top five in the Nation). Members of this association represent over two hundred major colleges and universities.

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