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AISLE 6 · FAST FOOD
Lum's
by Lum's
Gone. The 1982 collapse took the chain, the original Miami Beach location closed in 1983, and the Bellevue holdout's 2017 closing ended it for good.
Last verified Nov 7, 2026
Hot dogs steamed in beer made the Perlman brothers' Miami Beach stand a roughly 400-restaurant chain at its 1970s peak. By September 1982 its latest owners were in bankruptcy court, and the chain collapsed.
🧾 One more thingOne franchise never got the memo: the Lum's in Bellevue, Nebraska kept steaming hot dogs for almost 35 years after the chain died, finally closing on May 28, 2017.
Filed under: Fast Food · the ’70s & earlier
📅 Timeline
- 1956Stuart and Clifford Perlman start Lum's as a Miami Beach hot dog stand; beer-steamed franks become the signature.
- 1971The Perlmans sell the chain, by then roughly 400 locations strong, to KFC's John Y. Brown; it passes to Wienerwald in 1978.
- 1982September — the chain's operators file Chapter 11 as parent Wienerwald collapses, and the chain folds; The New York Times covers the filing on September 24.
- 1983The original Miami Beach location closes.
- 2017May 28 — the last Lum's, in Bellevue, Nebraska, closes after 49 years, per the Omaha World-Herald.
❓ People also ask
Are there any Lum's restaurants left?
No. The last one, in Bellevue, Nebraska, closed on May 28, 2017 — it had outlived the chain's 1982 collapse by almost 35 years.
What was Lum's famous for?
Hot dogs steamed in beer, which carried it from a 1956 Miami Beach stand to roughly 400 locations at its early-1970s peak.
🧾 Sources
- MeTV, What ever happened to Lum's, the restaurant chain known for its beer-steamed hot dogs? (2021)
- Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (via Yahoo News), They served hot dogs steamed in beer and Ollieburgers. Whatever happened to Lum's? (2016)
🕯️ Shoppers also mourned