National Coney Island Opens in Canton, Celebrates with 20-Foot Coney Dog

It's not everyday you see a 20-foot-long coney dog, but visitors to the new National Coney Island in Canton saw just that when the new restaurant celebrated it's Grand Opening with a 'coney cutting'

Tom Giftos, president of National Coney Island, said the idea came up to have a coney cutting instead of a traditional ribbon cutting. However, 20-feet is not the largest coney National Coney Island has made.

"We tried to go for world record several years ago," he said. "It has to be one continuous piece of hotdog and bun. We had a 40-foot hotdog (at the Roseville location). But since then, I think the record is 200-and-some feet."

Representatives of Canton Township and the Canton Chamber of Commerce participated in the event and enjoyed lunch afterwards. 

National Coney Island is located at 45250 Ford Rd., across from Meijer. 

The location is 5,000 square-feet and features 140 seats. The menu features all of National Coney Island's classics, plus some unique items and specials. 

Canton is the 21st location for restaurant chain, and the first on the west side. The restaurant is bringing more than 70 new jobs to Canton.

"This is a really important store for us because we haven't grown in eight years," Giftos said. "It's a new model store, it's a new menu and we have some new features. This is closer to the kind of unit we want to build in the future. We have some pretty aggressive expansion plans, so we're excited to have Canton as our stepping off point."

For more information, visit www.nationalconeyisland.com.