Do you ever wish you were an Oscar Mayer Wiener?
You could be part of the lucky few who become “hotdoggers” — the people who drive the iconic Wienermobile across the country.
We caught up with hotdoggers Emily “Grill’Em Up Emily” Schmitt and Brady “BBQ Brady” Schroeder during their stop in Milwaukee to learn more about their unique job and the 27-foot wiener-shaped car.
Schmitt and Schroeder are two out of 12 hotdoggers that were hired by Oscar Mayer to drive one of six Wienermobiles throughout the country and “bring miles of smiles” during its year-long program.
“Every day, we get to go to really fun events,” Schroeder says. “That involves going to grocery stores, parades, festivals… where we set up, we have games that people can play, [people] can tour the vehicle, and we give out our very special weenie whistles.”
Schmitt says the duo has driven about 20,000 miles and traveled to 10 states since starting the job in June. By the time the job wraps up, each hotdogger will have traveled to about 30 states.
“There have actually been less than 500 people who have ever driven the Wienermobile,” Schmitt says. “My favorite fact is more people have been to space than have driven the Wienermobile.”
Attending ‘Hotdog High’
Before new hotdoggers can hit the road and haul buns, they have to go through two weeks of training at “Hotdog High,” which is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.
“It's the most excellent two weeks of the year,” Schroeder says. “You get to meet 11 new friends, spend time learning how to talk about the job, how to handle events, handle crowds, and most importantly, learn how to drive the Wienermobile.”
Most hotdoggers come from a marketing or journalism background, but any graduating college senior can apply.
Schmitt says she had never considered the job before applying online but felt she’d do a good job because of her interest and experience in event coordination and communications.
“I did a lot of student activities in college,” Schmitt says. “I was the trivia host at my college and… president of our improv group. So I've always sort of been used to being up on stage and leading events. It's also kind of a fun thing to be able to say that you drove the Wienermobile. That wasn't my sole motivation, but I feel like I should put my name in this pool and if I don't hear back, nothing lost, but if I do hear back, a lot gained.”
Wienermobile history
The duo says the history behind the iconic vehicle is one of the most interesting subjects hotdoggers learn at Hotdog High.
First introduced during the Great Depression in 1936, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has gone through various transformations since its initial 13-foot hotdog car to promote Oscar Mayer’s “German-style wieners.”
“Every time [the Oscar Mayer Wienermoble] has gone through iterations, they've added features, they've taken away features, but the vehicles’ basically stayed the same since the dawn of the Wienermobile program in 1988,” Schroeder says.
Schmitt says Oscar Mayer has kept the same shell of the 1995 version of the Wienermobile and has reoutfitted the vehicle with a new engine, frame, tires, etc. every 10 years.
“The shape of the Wienermobile has stayed the same since the 90s, but we have updated technology like GPS, Bluetooth and a backup camera,” she says. “The first Wienermobile you had to stick your head at the top to be able to see so I'm glad we don't have to do that nowadays.”
Each Wienermobile also comes with a horn that plays the classic Oscar Mayer Weiner jingle.
‘Relished’ memories
Schmitt and Schroeder say one of their favorite moments they share is taking the Wienermobile to get washed. They explain they often have to go to fire stations and truck washes to “clean their buns.”
“The smiles on the worker's faces at the truck wash is so awesome,” Schroeder says. “They're going from semi to semi and then the Wienermobile pops up — everyone there's looking at each other."
But Schroeder says his favorite memory is the time they drove the Wienermobile through a 45,000-person crowd at Chicago’s Pride Parade.
“Driving through thousands of people just smiling and waving at us,” he says, “Emily was on top of the vehicle putting on an absolute show for all passerbys. It was just an incredible experience and that was our second week on the job. It was insane to see the impact that [driving the Wienermobile] has and what a community can do for my spirit and what a vehicle like this can do for our community.”
Schmitt says her favorite memory happened during their previous visit to Milwaukee, and they arranged with a visiting soon-to-be bride to drive the Wienermobile to her wedding.
“We took her and the groom on a little ride and then we parked outside and they took a couple of wedding pictures outside the Wienermobile,” she says. “It was just so fun… and hopefully they'll have those pictures for a really long time. It's something I'll always remember.”
The duo says special moments like these are things that just come with the job.
“If you want to make things happen in the job, then things can happen for you, which is really nice,” Schmitt says. “You can just make someone's day and I don't know a lot of other jobs that allow you to do that pretty easily. We just pull up somewhere and the work is kind of done for us.”
Track the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile’s next visit to Milwaukee and surrounding areas here.
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