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• Filling the “Big Mouths” of Campus

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Nick Lavorato, co-owner of Big Mouth's, holds up a "real Chicago hot dog" tuesday afternoon, April 8, 2008 (Tom Root, Buzz photographer)

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Big Mouth's »
Address: 408 E. Green St. Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: (217) 328-2447
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To college students, there are four food groups: pizza, burritos, sandwiches and hot dogs and burgers — a cheap meal trumps an unclogged artery. This inversion of the food guide pyramid promotes Nick Lavorato’s personal sales pitch.

“There’s no multiunit or franchise hot dog and hamburger stand on college campuses,” Lavarato said. He is a co-owner of Big Mouth’s, a hot dog restaurant in the center of Campustown at 408 E. Green St.

Across the country, college students are able to recognize Jimmy John’s, La Bamba and Domino’s for their late-night cuisine.

“We wanted to be that fourth restaurant,” Lavorato said.

Lavorato and longtime friend Matt Martin came up with the idea of opening a hot dog stand while, coincidentally, eating hot dogs.

In 2006, hamburger tenderness and chicken finger crunch became their primary concerns. For about six months, the two friends and soon-to-be business partners sampled food from popular hot dog and hamburger stands in Chicago to build a menu stacked with their favorite items.

After researching and networking with friends within the food industry, Lavorato and Martin opened the first Big Mouth’s establishment in November 2006 at Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal.

“I always knew I wanted to work for myself,” Lavorato, 28, said. “There’s no protocol. I make it up.”

But just because you can own a hot dog stand does not mean you know how to run one. The day before Lavorato and Martin opened at ISU, the two men realized they did not know how to make french fries.

“We actually had to open up a day later because we weren’t happy with the quality of our product,” Lavorato said.

And at Big Mouth’s, quality is important. While University of Illinois students were on winter break this year, Lavorato and Martin went back to the same restaurants they originally modeled their menu on to taste how their food compared.

“We’re a Chicago-style hot dog stand,” Lavorato said. The baseball cap covering his short, cropped brown hair is proof enough: It features the city of Chicago flag with four red hot dogs where the four red stars should be.

Success at ISU led to the creation of a University of Illinois establishment in May 2007.

“The location was just so ideal for us; that’s why we jumped at the chance to come here,” Lavorato said of the Green Street late-night hotspot. Organization and flawless planning took a back seat to the excitement surrounding opening a second location.

“We just said, ‘We’ll make it work with hard work,’ and that’s kind of what we’re doing,” Lavorato said.

With orange Day-Glo walls reminiscent of a construction site, humorous signs to entertain customers and the overwhelming selection of fried food, Big Mouth’s ambiance and menu attracts a daily flow of hungry people. In fact, Big Mouth’s success at the University of Illinois has exceeded Lavorato’s expectations. Less than a year after opening, Big Mouth’s now employs nearly 20 people and has a customer base almost entirely composed of college students. The restaurant’s name perfectly describes their late-night regulars.

“They’re always yelling. They’re yelling for their food, they’re yelling at their friends,” Lavorato said of the inebriated college students keeping his business afloat.

Lavorato and Martin have noticed the increase in business associated with Big Ten schools when compared to their ISU restaurant. Lavorato and Martin will visit the college campuses of Purdue, Wisconsin at Madison and Indiana in pursuit of a third branch location.

“It’s exciting to open up another restaurant with another year of experience under our belt,” Lavorato said. Big Mouth’s is privately owned, but the idea of franchising the business is definitely a possibility, he said.

“Being in the business I am in now, I realize how much I love it,” Lavorato said. “Everyone should have this feeling.”

The entrance of two college undergraduates catches his attention. After hearing them order the Farley burger, a tribute to the late comedic gourmand, Lavorato processes their request. This two-pound charburger, loaded with double cheddar cheese, stacked with french fries and smothered in mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup and mustard, is a Big Mouth’s specialty.

After consuming this heart-attack-on-a-bun in four minutes and 13 seconds, the students force a smile so their picture can be added to Big Mouth’s “Wall of Fame.”

Although referring to his own business philosophy, Lavorato has an outlook that applies to all potential Wall of Famers: “You’ve got to dive right in and see what you’re made of.”