CONCORD — One of Concord’s most old-school, no-frills food institutions is gone.
Kasper’s Hot Dogs, the tiny cash-only stand on Clayton Road known for snappy hot dogs buried in chili and onions, has permanently closed. The Concord location was one of the last two Kasper’s restaurants still operating in the Bay Area, and its shutdown marks the end of a brand that had been serving hot dogs locally for about 95 years.
The final Kasper’s locations — in Concord and on MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland — both stopped operating in mid-October 2025, according to family members of the longtime owners. The owner’s daughter confirmed the closures and said there are no plans to reopen
An East Bay original
Kasper’s is one of those places people argue about in the comments: Kasper’s with a K, or Casper’s with a C?
Here’s the short version.
Kasper’s started with Armenian immigrant Kasper Koojoolian, who began selling hot dogs in Chicago in the 1920s after fleeing Armenia. He later moved to Oakland and opened his first Bay Area stand in 1930 at Fruitvale and MacArthur. At its height, there were at least a dozen Kasper’s Hot Dogs locations around the East Bay.
Over time, different branches of the extended family spun off. One branch continued operating Kasper’s Hot Dogs. Another branch launched a similar chain under the name Caspers Hot Dogs (with a C) in the late 1930s…