Keeping the dogs moving at Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs on Boardman-Canfield Road are Sue Goodspeed, owner Greg Petrakos, and Miranda Campbell. The restaurant marks its 100th anniversary this year.

BOARDMAN — Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs on U.S. Route 224 is hitting two big milestones this year: the 100th year of operations and the 40th anniversary of its move to Boardman.

Owner Greg Petrakos said he was going to plan something big this month, but the pandemic changed his plans. The restaurant has been operating as carry-out only for the past two months.

“We were going to have a celebration in a couple weeks,” Greg said. “But I guess we will have to do something later this year for our 100th and 40th anniversaries.”

As for the 100th, Greg pointed out how Greek immigrant Jay Pappas opened the hot dog shop on West Federal Street in downtown Youngstown in 1920. When he opened, he began selling Jay’s hot dogs for 5 cents each. That price stuck into the 1940s.

At the Boardman store is a framed photograph from around that era that shows President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s motorcade coming down West Federal and Jay’s 5-cent hot dogs advertised on a sign in the upper right hand corner.

Jay took the business through the Great Depression and World War II. He left the business to his nephew Sam Petrakos, who ran it along with his brother, Frank Petrakos.

On May 17, 1980, Frank and Sam took a chance and opened a Jay’s Famous Hot Dogs at its present day location in Boardman. The brothers kept the Youngstown store going for a year to ensure Boardman was going to get up and running. In 1981, the Youngstown store was closed.

Frank and Sam kept things going in Boardman and eventually turned the business over to Greg, Frank’s son. Sam died in 2014 at 82, followed by Frank in 2015 at 81. A photo that hangs in the restaurant today shows Frank with a half-dozen hot dogs on his arm as he serves up the chili and onions.

The business has a lot of regular customers who have been with it since it was in Youngstown. One such customer is Bill Fry of Austintown.

“My dad and I used to stop in the Youngstown Jay’s at 11 p.m. at night,” Fry said. “I never understood how my dad could eat a bunch of hot dogs then go to bed.”

Another one who is a regular is Kathy Reed, who has been coming to Jay’s for more than 20 years. She said it is Greg and the gyros that bring her back again and again. She was devastated when the restaurant was remodeled last year.

“I felt so sorry when they closed it for remodeling,” she said.

Even the staff said it is Greg that makes the place move. Among them is Miranda Campbell, who was hired a year-and-a-half before the renovations took place. She hung on and waited to be called back.

Sue Goodspeed also waited patiently for the reopening. She has been an employee for more than 30 years, and said it’s a great place to work because Greg keeps everyone happy — be it employee or customer.

“You can’t find a better boss,” Goodspeed said.

As for the future, Greg said he still wants to celebrate the two anniversaries, but at the present time he is more focused on getting through the pandemic guidelines. He does have outside seating, which is allowed to reopen on Friday, but is waiting for more information on how to reopen the inside dining room.

jtwhitehouse@tribtoday.com